Karachi grew from the fishing village of Kolachi into British India's busiest port, then absorbed millions of Partition refugees in 1947. Its history hides in Talpur-era mosques, Gothic churches, Art Deco Parsi colonies and a necropolis of 500,000 tombs.
A necropolis of sandstone tombs carved between the 15th and 18th centuries by Jokhio and Baloch tribes, 29 km east on the National Highway. The stacked slabs bear rosettes, horsemen and jewellery motifs marking male and female graves.
Built 1644–47 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for the people of Thatta, its 93 domes create acoustics that carry the imam's voice without amplification. The blue-and-white Sindhi kashi tilework is the finest in South Asia.
Widely identified as Debal, the port Muhammad bin Qasim stormed in 711 CE, bringing Islam to the subcontinent. Excavated layers run Scytho-Parthian to early Islamic, including one of South Asia's oldest mosques, dated 727 CE by inscription.
The 13th-century shrine of Haji Syed Sakhi Sultan, Karachi's oldest continuously visited pilgrimage site, set beside sulphur hot springs and a pond of marsh crocodiles the Sheedi community has venerated for centuries.
The 1868 colonial villa Jinnah bought in 1943 and where his sister Fatima lived until 1964. Rooms hold his suits, cigar cases, library and the furniture exactly as left — a quieter, more human counterpart to the marble mausoleum.
Two Edwardian giants in yellow Gizri limestone. The High Court (1929) served as the seat of Pakistan's judiciary in the capital years 1947–59; the KPT headquarters (1916) ran the port that made Karachi imperial India's wheat outlet.
Built 1863–65 in Venetian Gothic to honour Commissioner Bartle Frere, who made Sindhi the language of administration. The upstairs gallery holds Sadequain's unfinished ceiling mural 'Arz-o-Samawat', left mid-brushstroke at his death in 1987.
St Patrick's (1881) is Pakistan's largest cathedral, seat of the Karachi archdiocese and school to Jinnah's era of city elites. Nearby Holy Trinity (1855) has a truncated tower once used by ships as a navigational landmark on the approach.
The walled village of Kolachi stood here until 1839; Kharadar ('salt gate') faced the sea, Mithadar ('sweet gate') the Lyari river. Jinnah was born at Wazir Mansion in 1876, now a national monument with his family rooms preserved.
The Cusrow Baug and Jamshed Quarters were laid out from 1918 for Karachi's Zoroastrians, who funded the city's water works, hospitals and Jinnah's own schooling. Jamshed Nusserwanjee, first mayor, gave the quarter its name.
Built 1849 on M.A. Jinnah Road, the Swaminarayan Mandir sheltered thousands of refugees in both directions during Partition in 1947 and still serves Karachi's Hindu minority. The cave temple at Clifton is older still, cut into the cliff.
Denso Hall (1886) anchors M.A. Jinnah Road's restored colonial stretch, recently pedestrianised as Rahguzar. Pakistan Chowk Community Centre nearby runs archives, talks and walking tours on Karachi's disappearing built heritage.