Pakistan (urdu: پاکِستان), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in south asia. It has a 1,046 kilometres (650 mi) coastline along the arabian sea and gulf of oman in the south and is bordered by afghanistan and iran in the west, india in the east and china in the far northeast. Tajikistan also lies very close to Pakistan but is separated by the narrow wakhan corridor. Thus, it occupies a crossroads position between South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. The region forming modern Pakistan was at the heart of the ancient Indus valley civilization and then later was the recipient of vedic, persian, indo-greek, turko-mongol, Islamic and Sikh cultures. The area has witnessed invasions and/or settlements by the indo-aryans, persians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, Afghans, Mongols and the British.
Pakistan covers 340,403 square miles (881,640 km2), approximately equalling the combined land areas of France and the United Kingdom. Its eastern regions are located on the indian tectonic plate and the western and northern regions on the iranian plateau and Eurasian landplate. Apart from the 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) Arabian Sea coastline, Pakistan's land borders total 6,774 kilometres—2,430 kilometres (1,509 mi) with Afghanistan to the northwest, 523 kilometres (325 mi) with China to the northeast, 2,912 kilometres (1,809 mi) with India to the east and 909 kilometres (565 mi) with Iran to the southwest.
The northern and western highlands of Pakistan contain the towering Karakoram and Pamir mountain ranges, which incorporate some of the world's highest peaks, including K2 (28,250 ft; 8,611 m) and Nanga Parbat (26,660 ft; 8,126 m).
The Baluchistan Plateau lies to the West, and the Thar Desert in the East. An expanse of alluvial plains lies in Punjab and Sindh along the Indus river. The 1,000-mile-long (1,609-km) Indus River and its tributaries flow through the country from the Kashmir region to the Arabian Sea.
Pakistan has four seasons: a cool, dry winter from December through February; a hot, dry spring from March through May; the summer rainy season, or southwest monsoon period, from June through September; and the retreating monsoon period of October and November. The onset and duration of these seasons vary somewhat according to location. Rainfall can vary radically from year to year, and successive patterns of flooding and drought are also not uncommon.