Ancient Civilizations: The Indus Valley

Indus River Valley: Geographic and Climate Setting

Indus River Valley: Mountain Pathways and Barriers

Mohenjo-Daro: The First Planned City?Indus River Valley: Harappa A Conquered

People

Indus River Valley: Geographic Setting

The Indus River Valley civilization first appeared in 2,500 B.C.

It was located in the western part of India

India is actually a subcontinent; a large land mass that extends out from a continent (Asia)

Himalayan and the Hindu Kush Mountains to an extent isolate India from Asia

Indus River Valley: Climate Climate is dominated by monsoons, are heavy

rains accompanied by strong winds Monsoons appear during winter from northeast

region and summer monsoons are powered by the Indian Ocean

Summer monsoons provide life giving rains but if weak or late they can weaken the harvest

If the summer monsoon bring exceedingly heavy rains rivers will cause massive floods that can devastate villages on river fronts

Indus River Valley: Mountain Pathways and Barriers

Passes of Hindu Kush mountains allowed invading armies to reach India

The Indus River begins in the mountains and is a product of the mountain snow melting

Indus eventually flows onto the floodplains of India and makes large scale faring possible

Floodplains; area around a river that becomes flooded when the water levels of the river rise

Indus River Valley: Mountain Pathways and Barriers

Rich soil in valley provided farmers with a surplus of wheat and grain

Surplus food allowed civilization to flourish and grow (villages became cities)

Population grew as well because of food surpluses

Mohenjo-Daro: The First Planned City?

2,500-1,300 B.C. Indus River Valley had planned cities

Mohenjo-Daro was built on a plateau to deal with unpredictable river flooding

To allow easy movement city streets were divided into squares

Houses and shops were built within these squares

Mohenjo-Daro: The First Planned City?

To protect its citizens a citadel, a fortress, was built in the center of the city

Mohenjo-Daro had a heated religious pool, storage facilities for crops, two story buildings made of mud bricks, defensive towers and a sewer system

Had a written language which used pictographs; sign that expresses a thought or idea

Harappa: A Merchant City Harappa, 3,000-1,300 B.C.

was a city built on local and international trade

City trade went as far as Mesopotamia, Persia and southern India

Traded intensively in gold, ivory, spices, cloth and copper

Harappans domesticated animals and grew crops

First to grow cotton and produce cloth

Indus River Valley: A Conquered People

Aryans; warrior nomads, migrated into the Indus valley around 2,000 B.C.

Introduced a caste system that ranked people in society

Aryans were able to conquer the Indus Valley due to natural disasters in form the of famines, devastating floods and over usage of topsoil

These events allowed the Aryans to sweep across the valley region