K2 (Baltoro Muztagh), the world's second-highest mountain. Credit

Pakistan is a country located in South Asia and the Greater Middle East. It has a 1046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and the People's Republic of China in the far northeast.

Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world and is the second most populous Muslim country. Its territory was a part of pre-partition British India, and has a long history of settlement and civilisation including the Indus Valley Civilisation. Most of it was conquered in the 1st millennium BCE by Persians and Greeks. Later arrivals include the Arabs, Afghans, Turks, and Mongols. The territory was incorporated into the British Raj in the nineteenth century. Since its independence, the country has experienced both periods of significant military and economic growth, and periods of instability, with the secession of East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh). Pakistan is a declared nuclear weapons state.