First Empires of India

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First Empires of India

• Mauryan and Gupta Empires

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Mauryan Empire

• Chandragupta Maurya conquered the remains of
  Alexander the Greats kingdom and controlled most
  of present-day India
• Forced people to pay high taxes, sometimes up to
  50

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Mauryan Empire

• Chandraguptas grandson, Asoka, expands empire
  throughout India by war
• Battle of Kalinga Asoka sees the damage of war
  and converts to Buddhism
• Under Asoka unified Northern India and promoted
  the spread of Buddhism
• Taught Religious Toleration - acceptance of
  people who have different beliefs

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Mauryan Empire

• Accomplishments During Asokas Reign
• Religious Toleration
• Built roads so he could travel to all parts of
  his empire
• Improved communication in the vast empire
• Demonstrated concern for Asokas subjects
• Promoted policies of toleration and non-violence

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Vocabulary

• Religious Toleration
• Acceptance of people who held
  different religious beliefs

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Mauryan Empire

• Spread of Buddhism under Asoka

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Tamil Family Groups

• Broke away after Asokas death
• Primarily in southern India
• Matriarchal culture based on the mother
• Divided into three kingdoms
• Always at war with each other and other groups

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Vocabulary

• MATRIARCHAL
• The mother was the head of the family
• Mostly southern India (Tamil)

• PATRIARCHAL
• Eldest male was the head of the family
• Mostly northern India

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Gupta Empire

• No relation to Chandragupta (Mauryan Empire)
• Returns India to Hinduism
• Expands India through northern regions

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Gupta Empire

• First Indian Empire that historians have
  information about daily life
• Traded with cities throughout Mediterranean and
  along the Silk Road
• Used marriage to keep alliances and spread the
  empire
• Indians experienced great advances in art,
  literature, science and mathematics

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Classical or Golden Age of India

• Literature Kalidasa poet/playwright
• Astronomy Round Earth!! (over a 1000 yrs before
  Columbus/Europeans!)
• Math developed the Arabic system
• concept of Zero
• Decimal system

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Classical or Golden Age of India

• Science Medicine
• Classified over a 1000 diseases
• surgery (plastic surgery too)
• Time used calendars based on
  cycles of sun rather than moon
• Adopted seven days in a week
  and 24 hours in a day
• After 200 years of Civil War, India is finally
  united under one government!!!

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Spread of Indian Trade

• Silk Road Caravan route that crossed central
  Asia, introducing silk from China to Western Asia
  and onto the Roman Empire

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Spread of Indian Trade

• Silk Road was used to trade silk from China to
  western Asia and on to Rome
• Indians made huge profits by acting as middlemen
  on the Silk Road
• Indians would buy goods like Silk from the
  Chinese then sell the good to traders that were
  traveling to Rome

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Spread of Indian Trade

• Increased trade along the Silk Road also
  increased banking system.
• Bankers would lend money to merchants charge
  high interest rates
• Trade items such as spices, cotton cloth, ivory,
  gems, timber, and eventually silk
• Indian styles of art, architecture, dance and
  religion were impacted by Indian traders on
  Southeast Asia.