Sukkur, or Sakhar, a town and district of British India, in Sind, Bombay. The town is situated on the right bank of the Indus, 24 m. N.W. of Skikarpur. Pop. (1901), 31,316. Sukkur has always commanded the trade of Sind, and the river is now crossed by a cantilever bridge carrying the North-Western railway to Kotri. The town was ceded to the Khairpur mirs between 1809 and 1824. In 1833 Shah Shuja defeated the Talpurs here with great loss. In 1842 it came under British rule.
The District Of Sukkur was created in 1901 out of part of Shikarpur district, the remainder of which was formed into the district of Larkana. Area, 5403 sq. m. It is chiefly alluvial plain, but there are slight hills at Sukkur and Rohri. In the higher-lying parts are salt lands (Kalar), or even desert in the area known as the Registan. The climate is hot, dry and enervating. The annual rainfall at Sukkur town averages only 42 in. The population in 1901 was 523,345, showing an increase of 10% in the decade. A considerable part of the district is irrigated, the principal crops being wheat, millets, rice, pulses and oil seeds. Earthen, leathern and metal ware, cotton cloth and tussore silk are manufactured, also pipe-bowls, snuff-boxes and scissors. Lines of the North-Western railway serve the district, and there is a branch from Sukkur towards Quetta.
