Bhakkar: History
Bhakkar was founded probably in late 15th century by a group of colonists from Dera Ismail Khan, and is named after Bakhar Khan. It came under Humayun's rule after he restored the Mughal Empire in 1555 and appointed Khan Khanan as the governor of the city alongside Multan, as Multan was a province of the Mughal empire that included the city of Bhakkar.
Fray Sebastian Manrique, a 17th-century Portuguese traveller, visited the city in 1641 and described it as the capital of Kingdom of Bhakkar.
During British rule, Bhakkar town was part of Bhakkar Tehsil in Mianwali District. It was located on the left bank of the Indus River, and the North-Western Railway line passed through it.
The Imperial Gazetteer of India described the town as follows:
It stands on the edge of the Thal or sandy plain overlooking the low-lying alluvial lands along; the river, a channel of which is navigable as far as Bhakkar during the floods. To the west of the town the land is low, well cultivated, and subject to inundation, while to the east the country is high and dry, treeless, and sandy. A rich extent of land irrigated from wells lies below the town, protected by embankments from inundations of the Indus, and produces two or three crops in the year. The neighbouring riverain is full of date groves and fruit gardens; and in it stands a famous mango-tree, the fruit of which used to be sent to Kabul in the old days of Afghan rule. The municipality was created in 1874. Its income and expenditure during the ten years ending 1902–3 averaged Rs. 7,700. The income in 1903-4 was Rs. 7,500, chiefly derived from octroi; and the expenditure was Rs. 8,600. The population according to the 1901 census of India was 5,312, at that time the town contained a dispensary and a municipal vernacular middle school.