The Baloch are an Iranian-speaking ethnic group native to Balochistan, a historical region divided between Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, traditionally organized into tribal confederacies led by hereditary chiefs called sardars, and historically dependent on pastoral nomadism, herding, and oasis agriculture in one of the most arid inhabited regions of Asia. The Baloch language belongs to the Northwestern Iranian language family, related to Kurdish and Persian, and Baloch identity has been shaped by a long history of resistance to central government control, including multiple armed insurgencies against the Pakistani state since the country's 1947 independence. Baloch communities also exist as a diaspora across the Gulf states and East Africa, tracing back to historic trade and migration networks.
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