Indus River Valley

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Indus River Valley

• Global History I Spiconardi

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Geography Its Impact

• Location Northernmost part of the Indian
  subcontinent modern day Pakistan

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Geography Its Impact

• The Monsoons
• Seasonal winds in the winter and summer.
• If easterly winter winds prevailed, then there
  was drought
• If westerly summer winds prevailed, then there
  was severe flooding

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Monsoons
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Monsoons
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Geography Its Impact

• Geographic Isolation
• The Indus River runs between the Himalayan and
  Hindu Kush mountains
• The mountain ranges often limited contact with
  other cultures
• Protected Harappan civilization from invasion
  (until Aryans in 1500 B.C.E.)

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Planned Cities on the Indus

• Planned urban centers of Mohenjo-Daro Harappa
• Cities laid out on a grid (Like Manhattan above
  14th Street)
• Both cities blocks, structures, and buildings
  were almost identical
• What does this suggest?

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Mohenjo-Daro
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Mohenjo-Daro
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Harappa
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Planned Cities on the Indus

• Layout of Harappa Mohenjo-Daro
• Homes
• At least two stories
• All had a courtyard with a balcony
• Most had a small well and bathtub
• Water
• In Mohenjo-Daro a basin known as the Great Bath
  was built
• Running water
• Shows emphasis on cleanliness purification

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Achievements Contributions

• Sewers baths
• Almost every home had a small bathroom
• Drainage in the streets to clear waste

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Achievements Contributions

• First to weave cotton
• Used bricks to build structures
• Mud bricks
• Wood bricks

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Interesting Tidbit

• Archaeologists have uncovered more TOYS than
  WEAPONS in their excavations of Harappan cultures.

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Aryan Invasion

• Aryans ? nomads who most likely originated in
  modern Iran
• Eventually many Aryan tribes settled in the Indus
  Valley forgoing their nomadic ways

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Aryan Invasion

• Religion
• Not much is known about Indus religion
• Seals that cannot be deciphered suggest a
  polytheistic nature worshipping religion
• Under Aryans, the religion is mixed with the
  Aryan and Indus beliefs and Hinduism forms over a
  period of time

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Aryan Invasion

• The Vedic Period (1900 500 BCE)
• The Vedas ? books in which Aryans record their
  beliefs
• Development of a caste system
• Emerged to subjugate the native people of India
  to Aryan rule
• Term Aryan comes from the Sanskrit word Arya,
  which means noble