India

World History Core

River Valleys

Geography/Interaction with the Environment

• Location:– Asia

• Subcontinent: – India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh

• Mountains:– Hindu Kush, Karakorum, and Himalayas

• Deccan:– Plateau at the center of the Indian peninsula

Geography/Interaction with the Environment

• Indus River– Flows SW from Himalayas to the Arabian Sea

• Ganges River– Flows E from Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal

Geography/Interaction with the Environment

• Monsoons:– Seasonal winds

• Oct – Feb, NE-W (Dry)• June – Sept, E-SW (Wet/Floods)

Challenges Solutions

Yearly floods are unpredictable Built villages up high (man-made islands)

Monsoons are unpredictable

Geography/Interaction with the Environment

• Khyber Pass:– Hindu Kush mountain range

• Mountain pass between Pakistan and Afghanistan• Isolated India from the rest of the world

– Along with oceans/seas

Power and Authority

• Harrapan Civilization:– City in India where the most artifacts have

been found

• Planned Communities:– Grid: built towns on a “grid” much like modern

cities– Kiln Fired Bricks: oven baked bricks, made

them stronger and a uniform size– Plumbing: pipes connected each house

removing waste

Power and Authority

• Central Government:– Uniformity of cities planning and construction

suggests that the Indus River Valley Civilization had a strong central government

Religious and Ethical Systems

• Polytheistic: – Belief in many gods

• Animism:– Belief that living things have spirits

• Linked to Hinduism:– Artifacts found suggests a connection to a

Hindu god Shiva

Cultural Interaction/Economics/Empire Building

• Diverse Trade:– Gold/silver from Afghanistan– Semiprecious stones from Persia

• Contact with Mesopotamia:– Found seals in Sumer which they also found

in Harrapa

• Stamps and Seals:– Picture of animal and writing = used for

trading

Cultural Interaction/Economics/Empire Building

• Geography Limits Expanison– East and West = rivers– North = mountains– Seas on three sides

• Aryans:– Nomadic people from the North

Science and Technology

• Written Language:– No bilingual text = unable to translate language

• Planned Communities and Plumbing• Cotton:

– Grew, popular trading item

• Mathematics:– Dimension of bricks (4:2:1)– Geometry (planned cities)– Systems of weights