India is a subcontinentsub = belowNorthern PlainDeccan PlateauCoastal Plains

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Today

What does this picture tell youabout the Indus Valley people?

1750 BC

They disappeared and no one knows why.

Aryans1750 BC

We know about them through the Vedas.

Aryans divided their society by occupations.

Priests Warriors

Merchants/HerdersServants/Workers

•You are born into a caste

•You may never leave your caste while you live

•You may only marry someone of the same caste

polytheistic

Shiva

Vishnu

Brahma

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Holy Shit!

Maurya Empire321 BC -- 185 BC

•1st Indian Empire•Secret police•Harsh rule•Asoka (grandson)•Converts to Buddhism

Gupta Empire320 AD—550 AD India’s Golden Age

aka Yellow River

aka “The River of Sorrows”

loess

The Middle KingdomHimalayan Mts.

Gobi Desert

Pacific Ocean

jungles

Huang He River

Yangtze River

Huang He RiverHuang He River

Religion

•polytheistic

•Ancestor Veneration

Yin and Yang

•Balance equals harmony

Yin

•Earth•darkness•female

Yang

•Heaven•light•male

Writing System

•pictographs

•calligraphy

•oracle bones•thousands of characters

Huang He River

Yangtze River

The right to rule by the gods.

•trade route with the West•silk

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