9/29 & 9/30Objectives

•Locate and label physical features and early river civilizations of the Indus River Valley

•Explain how India’s geography impacted the development of early settlements

•Discuss the PERSIA G of the Indus RiverValley Civilization

The Indus River Valley

Indus River

2-2

On what continent is India?

Asia

How would you describe the Geography of India? Take 30seconds and talk to your neighbor.

Mountains:•Himalayas•Hindu-Kush•Karakoram

Rivers:Indus Ganges

Other features:Deccan plateauEastern and Western GhatsKhyber pass

Important geographic features:

India is considered a subcontinent because:

•It is surrounded on three sides by water (it is a peninsula)•Mountains to the northwest and northeast separate it from the rest of Asia

What are monsoons?

Hindu Kush Himalayas

Winter and summer winds that blow across India

Karakoram

India in the summer

What geographic challengesdid the monsoons representfor the first civilizations of India?

Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were the first civilizations of India and theydeveloped on the IndusRiver.

Why did they develop in this location?

Flooding along the Indus River wasunpredictable. It did leave behind nutrient-rich silt which made the soil fertile for farming.

Harappa andMohenjo-Daro developedaround 3200 BCE.

Historians know less about Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro becausethe writing system hasnever been decoded.

What they do know comesfrom these excavated cities. The cities were planned. How do we know this? Why is that important?

Political

Economic• Traded long

distances• Artifacts found

show that Sumer and Indus traded for about 350 years

Religious• Artifacts show

links to modern Hindu Culture–Shiva- is a major

Hindu god• Worshipped

Cows

Cows are sacred todayin India

Politically, planned cities suggest a centralized government.

What can you infer about society if all of the houses were the same size? There were few differences

between social classes –There was no wealthy ruling class

Society

This is also from Mohenjo-Daro.

Anyone want to guess what it is?

It’s a toilet. Indoor plumbing was an achievement ofthe Indus River civilizations.

Achievements

The great bath and granary at Mohenjo-Daro

Achievements• Sophisticated city planning – very

detailed and organized–Used a grid system

• Citadel – a fortified area surrounded by a wall that protected the major buildings in the city–Public buildings, bath, granaries and

religious quarters

By 1750 BCE, The Indus River civilizations had declined. No one really knows why. Theories surrounding the decline:

•Sudden natural disaster•Overfarming•Invasion, possibly by an Indo-European people called the Aryans.

The Ganges River in the east would become the center of later civilizations in India.

https://cougar.collegiate-va.org/psinkler/indus_valley/valley_map.jpghttp://www.glogster.com/media/4/25/77/41/25774100.jpghttp://nimg.sulekha.com/others/original700/india-monsoons-2009-6-30-6-20-51.jpghttp://i85.servimg.com/u/f85/13/45/78/37/harapp10.jpg

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/ancient/images/sw/mohenjo-daro-pakistan-sw.jpghttp://www.imagesofasia.com/html/mohenjodaro/images/large/toilet.jpghttp://www.iloveworldhistory.com/index.php?action=resources&id=3http://cdn8.wn.com/o25/ar/i/25/6b1b4007e9514a.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/Indus_river_from_karakouram_highway.jpg/800px-Indus_river_from_karakouram_highway.jpghttp://www.sewerhistory.org/images/w/wam/moh_wam15.jpg