The Baloch people or the Balochs are an ethnic group which speaks the Western Iranian Balochi language and are native to the Balochistan region of South and West Asia, occupying parts of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. There are also Baloch diaspora communities in neighbouring regions, including in Central Asia, and the Arabian Peninsula. They were traditionally nomadic pastoralists.
The majority of the Baloch reside within Pakistan. About 50% of the total Baloch population live in the Pakistani province of Balochistan, while 40% are settled in Sindh and a significant albeit smaller number resides in the Pakistani Punjab. They make up 3.6% of Pakistan's total population, 2% of Iran's population, and around 0.5%–1% of the population of Afghanistan, and the largest non-Arab community in Oman.
The exact origin of the word "Baloch" is unclear. Ernst Emil Herzfeld believes that the word Baloch is derived from the Median term brza -vačiya meaning "loud shouting".
Balochi (بلۏچی, romanised: Balòci) is an Indo-European language, spoken by the Baloch and belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch of the family. As an Iranian language, it is classified in the Northwestern group, spoken primarily in the Balochistan region of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. In addition, there are speakers in Oman, the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Turkmenistan, East Africa and in diaspora communities in other parts of the world.
There are a number of characteristic features that Balochi shares to Parthian and Median and close affinity with them.
The Balochi dialects are classified as:
Eastern group (the Soleimani dialect group)
Southern group or Makrani dialect (part of the Makrani dialect group)
Western group (part of the Rakhshani dialect group)
Koroshi is also classified as Balochi.
Many Baloch are either bilingual or multilingual, speaking the language of their respective nation of origin, such as Urdu, Persian, and Arabic as a second language alongside their native Balochi, while those in diaspora communities often speak three or more languages.
During the rule of Achaemenid, the Baloch were among rebellious Medes and Parthians who supported Bardiya against Darius I and later allied with Darius III in the Battle of Gaugamela with Alexander.
Agha Mir Nasir Khan Ahmadzai the author of seven-volume book on the history of Baloch and Balochistan, connects Balochs with Medes and considers them descendants of the Medes, the people of ancient Iran. He makes mention of all Baloch tribes are descendants of the Medes, who came to Balochistan and settled in ancient time.
Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr is a surviving Middle Persian text on Sasanian administrative geography and history, based on the source, Padishkhwārgar (located at the vicinity of Segistan) was a Sasanian province in Late Antiquity and people who contributed to building 21 cities in Padishkhwargar were the Kōfyār "mountain dweller" people called Baločān "Balochs".
The Baloch were among Kay Khosrow allies and formed part of his army headed by General Ashkash. Ashkash was assigned by Kay Khosrow to Governor of Makran and during Kay Khosrow's campaign against Turan, he commanded the Kuch and Baloch army from Makran. This is depicted in the mythological part of the Shahnamah a prose work written in Middle Persian.
Also in another piece of this pose which is depicted in the same work:
During the Sassanid era, Anoshervan and Ardashir fought against the Balochs and After initially sustaining a defeat, succeeded in subjugating the Baloch. The Baloch scattered in the Makran (modern-day Balochistan in Iran and Pakistan) and Kerman regions, areas that formed the southeastern frontier of the Sassanid Empire. Periodic uprisings or refusals to pay tribute might have been part of their interactions with the Sassanid kings.
According to Baloch lore, their ancestors hail from Aleppo in what is now Syria. After the fight against abbasid Caliph Harun under Ameer Hamza the Kharijites leader migrated to east or southeast of the central Caspian region, specially toward to east or southeast of the central Caspian region, specially toward Sistan, Iran.