The area that stands now as Karachi was well known to the Greeks by numerous names: Krokola, where Alexander stayed to set up an expedition for Babylonia. Barbarikon, a port of the Indo-Greek Bactrian realm and ‘Morontobara’ island (old Manora island), from where Alexander’s chief naval officer Nearchus set sail. Manora was visited by the Ottoman chief of naval operations Seydi Ali Reis and referenced in his book Mir’ât ül Memâlik in 1554. As indicated by the British archivist Eliot, portions of the city and the island of Manora established the city of Debal. The island was the place of a little fort built in the eighteenth century. The Kalmati Baloch clan, which was well settled in the city, made the military guard the port from British intrusion. In 1839, these powers were destroyed when the Manora Fort was raged by the British. The fort is now underneath the ground, but the beacon is an obvious sign of the British presence. This island has served for more than 50 years as the Pakistan Navy’s fundamental base, with billets for maritime vessels situated along its eastern boundary. The launch of the new Jinnah Naval Base at Ormara shows that roughly 50% of the marine vessels have moved from Manora.
