Shahbandar Village
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Shahbandar Village
Head-quarters of the taluka of the same name in Karachi District, Sind, Bombay, situated in 24 10' N. and 67 56' E,, in the delta of the Indus. Population (1901), 785. Shah- bandar stood formerly on the east bank of the Malir, one of the mouths of the Indus, but it is at present 10 miles distant from the nearest point of the river. A great salt waste commences about a mile to the south-east of the town, and on its westward side are extensive jungles of long bin grass.
It was to Shahbandar that the English factory was removed from Aurangbandar when the latter place was deserted by the Indus ; and previous to the abandonment of the factory in 1775, it supported an establishment of fourteen vessels for the navigation of the river. The disastrous flood which occurred about 1819 caused material changes in the lower part of the Indus, and hastened the decay of Shahbandar, which is now an insignificant village. Carless states that the native rulers of Sind had a fleet of fifteen ships stationed here. Vessels entered by the Richal, the only accessible mouth, and, passing into the Hajamro through what is now the Khedewari creek, ascended that stream to about 10 miles above Ghorabari, where it joined the Malir.
