Bellwork

1
Bellwork

• In a few sentences, write anything down that you
  know about India. It could be
• Religion
• Geography (location)
• People
• Language

2
World History

• Section 3, Unit 3 (pt. 1)
• Indus Valley

3
Objectives

• Describe the geography of India and the
  surrounding area including
• Major geographic features
• Difficulties regarding geography
• Rivers
• Explain the emergence (and disappearance) of
  early civilizations

4
Review

• Prior to this lesson, we discussed Egypt and
  Mesopotamia, both of which have risen and fallen.
• Farther to the east, another civilization was
  growing around 2500 B.C.
• There is very little information about the true
  early Indian Civilizations, but as we move
  forward, we will learn more about the advanced
  societies that would follow.

5
Geography of Southern Asia

• Southern Asia- including India, Pakistan, Nepal,
  and Bangladesh- are all separated from the rest
  of Asia thanks to the Himalayan, Hindu Kush, and
  Karakoram Mountain ranges, which are some of the
  highest ranges in the world.

6
Geography of Southern Asia (cont.)

• The large mountain ranges are believed to have
  occurred when India collided with the rest of
  Asia millions of years ago.
• These ranges have helped form what is known as
  the Indian Subcontinent- a self contained
  landmass that is a division of another continent.

7
Geography of Southern Asia (cont.)

• These high mountain ranges guard an enormous flat
  and fertile plain formed by two rivers- Indus and
  Ganges Rivers.

Question What effect have rivers had on other
civilizations (Mesopotamia and Egypt?)
8
Indus and Ganges Rivers

• The two rivers, and the land they are near,
  stretch across 1,500 miles across northern India
  and are referred to as the Indus-Ganges Range.
• Along the Indus River specifically, existed the
  Indus Valley.
• South of the rivers, the rest of the continent is
  a peninsula that stretches into the Indian Ocean.

9
Weather

• Seasonal winds often occur in India. These are
  called monsoons and dominate Indias climate when
  they occur.
• From October to May, winter monsoons blow dry air
  across the continent from the northeast. During
  June, however, the winds shift and instead blow
  from southwest, carrying moisture from the ocean.
  
• Question What effect would this have had on the
  development of civilizations?

10
Environmental Challenges

• The early Indian civilizations faced similar
  problems that the Egyptians and Mesopotamians
  faced, including flooding- which in India was
  unpredictable.
• As well, increased winds mixed with too much rain
  and flooding could devastate a village, while too
  little rain could cause crops to wither away.

11
Environmental Challenges

• However, the benefit of the Indus River
  outweighed the cost the river flowed into the
  sea, allowing the Indus people to trade with
  others, including the Mesopotamians.

This is very similar to the Ancient Egyptians,
who used the Nile to trade with those along it or
transport goods.
12
Civilization Emerges

• Historians know very little about the
  civilization that formed in the Indus Valley of
  western India.
• The writing system has yet to be decoded, but
  some information is coming from archeological
  evidence. However, keeping in mind the flooding,
  much evidence is believed to have been washed
  away.
• However, despite lack of evidence, most
  historians agree that the civilizations that
  formed here controlled an area larger than either
  Egypt or Mesopotamia.

13
Arrival to India

• No one is exactly sure how the early people
  settled in India, but we do know that overtime,
  nomadic people that lived there began to
  domesticate animals and crops by around 7000
  B.C..
• By around 3200 B.C., people began to truly farm
  near the Indus River, benefiting from the
  flooding that was occurring.

Skulls of the Indus River Valley People
14
Formation of Cities

• By 2500 B.C., as the Egyptians were building
  pyramids, people of the Indus Valley were laying
  mud bricks for homes and small settlements- over
  a 100 settlements would have existed within this
  time period.
• The largest of these settlements are Kalibangan,
  Mohenjo-Daro, and Harappa.

15
City Planning

• A remarkable achievement of the Indus Valley
  people was sophisticated city planning, which
  included
• precise grid layouts of cities
• fortified areas that contained major buildings
• separate residential areas
• plumbing
• sewage systems.
• The uniformity of these systems rivaled any
  system that would exist by the 19th century.

16
Central Government

• Because of the sophisticated city planning, most
  historians agree that the early Indus Valley
  civilizations had a strong central government.

17
Culture and Trade

• Archeological evidence shows that Indus
  civilizations were very stable and quite uniform
  (there was few social divisions).
• Artifacts, such as toys, provide evidence that
  the society was prosperous enough to afford goods
  that were not essential to survival.
• As well, few weapons have been found in the
  cities.

Clay Figurine
18
Religion

• Archeologists have discovered religious artifacts
  that reveal links to modern Hindu culture (we
  will discuss Hindu in a feature lesson).
• Figures show what may be representations of
  modern Hindu gods, such as Shiva.

19
Trade

• Stamps and seals have also been found and were
  probably used to identify goods (merchants would
  stamp their goods).
• This would probably reveal that the Indus people
  engaged in long-distance trade.
• Trade is believed to have occurred around 2350
  B.C. and ended around 2000 B.C.

Stamps
20
Disappearance

• Around 1750 B.C., the quality of the building in
  the Indus Valley declined.
• Gradually, the cities fell into decay.
• Archeological evidence shows that the decay
  caused the great cities to be abandoned.

21
What happened?

• Why? There is no explanation as to why this
  occurred.
• The little archeological evidence that does exist
  shows that the mud bricks were exposed to extreme
  intense heat1, which is similar to other
  cultures that have disappeared mysteriously.
• Activity With your group, write four things you
  think could have happened to these people to
  cause their cities to deteriorate? You have one
  minute be prepared to discuss at the beginning
  of class.

1www.ancient.eu.com/India
22
Disappearance (cont.)

• There are theories as to what happened
• Overuse of the land (could no longer grow crops)
• Flood
• Natural Disaster
• Attack from another group
• The intense heat exposed to the bricks has yet to
  be fully explained.

23
Disappearance (cont.)

• The Indus Valley people finally disappeared
  around 1500 B.C., in which a large scale
  catastrophe occurred.

24
Forming of a New Empire

• After the fall of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa,
  another Indian culture would take their place by
  around 1700 B.C.

25
Review the Objectives

• Describe the geography of India and the
  surrounding area including
• Major geographic features
• Difficulties regarding geography
• Rivers
• Explain the emergence (and disappearance) of
  early civilizations

26
Video

• Lets watch a Crash Course video over the concept
  of the Indus River Valley.

27
Questions?

• If you have any questions, please feel free to
  ask now.

28
Next Lesson

• In the next lesson, we will be looking at the
  growth of Indian cultures due to the arrival of
  Indo-European nomads.

29
Review

• What effect could the large mountain ranges have
  had on the people in the Indus Valley?
• What were the two rivers that the early Indus
  people settled near?
• Name at least two causes for the decline of the
  Indus Valley people. Pick a cause and identify
  how this may have also caused the decline of
  either Egypt or Mesopotamia.
• What 5 characteristics of the Indus Valley
  civilizations showed that they may have been
  highly sophisticated?
• What was the effect of the Indus River on trade?
  How was this similar to Ancient Egypt?