Geography and Early India

1
Geography and Early India

• Questions to ask your neighbor
• Using the map, discuss what continent India is
  located on.
• What are some countries that border India? What
  are some bodies of water that border India?

2
India is MASSIVE!
India is a peninsula.
The most important river to flow from
the Himalayas is the Indus River.

• India is a subcontinent.
• A subcontinent is a large landmass that is
  smaller than a continent.
• Usually, subcontinents are separate from
  continents by physical features like mountains or
  rivers.
• India is separated from Asia by the Himalayas to
  the north and the Kush to the west.

The Himalayas are the highest mountains in the
world.
3
The Indus River
Were floods always a good thing for farmers?
Why?

• The Indus River is located in present day
  Pakistan.
• When heavy snow in the Himalayas caused by
  monsoons melted, the Indus flooded.
• It was the silt from this flood water that made
  agriculture possible in India.

What other civilizations have relied on rivers
to survive?
Monsoons are seasonal wind patterns that
cause wet and dry seasons.
4
Harappan Civilization
MOHENJO DARO

• The civilization that grew in the Indus River
  Valley was called the Harappan Civilization.
• The civilization survived because of irrigation,
  surpluses, and improved agriculture.
• Two major cities in the Harappan Civilization
  were Harappa and Mohenjo Daro.

H A R A P P A
The people who lived in these cities
enjoyed indoor plumbing.
City streets were paved with brick and lined with
stores, workshops, markets, and houses.
5
Harappan Achievements

• Harappans developed a system of weights and
  measures.
• They made excellent pottery, jewelry, ivory
  objects, and were the first to make cotton
  clothing.
• Harappans developed Indias first writing system
  that scholars have yet to crack.
• Harappans are believed to have had kings and a
  strong central government, but the truth is
  unknown because we cant read their writing.
• Compare and contrast the amount of information we
  know about Egyptians with how much we know about
  Harappa and its people.

6
Aryan Invasion
What do you think caused Harappan society to
collapse?
While most of the Vedas were about religion,
some of them were about battles fought in India.

• The Harappan civilization collapsed in the early
  1700s BC, but nobody is sure why.
• A new people, the Aryans, took over.
• The Aryans were very skilled warriors who fought
  with advanced weapons and chariots.
• Much of what we know about the Aryans comes from
  a collection of writings called the Vedas.

The Vedas are collections of poems, myths, and
rituals written by priests.
7
Aryan Government and Society
Raja

• Originally, Aryans were nomads, moving along with
  herds of animals.
• Aryans then began to form small communities where
  they learned to farm.
• Each community had its own leader, or raja, who
  was usually a powerful warrior.
• Rajas sometimes became allies but often times
  fought one another.

Herders
Farmers
How do Harrapan and Egyptian societies differ?
8
Aryan Language
What source provides much of the information we
know about the Aryans?

• The most important language of ancient India was
  Sanskrit.
• Sanskrit made it possible for us to study Indias
  past as we have today.
• The language is no longer spoken but is the root
  of many South Asian languages.

Come up with a sentence that explains the
importance of language in the study of ancient
cultures.