Ancient Civilizations: The Indus Valley

1. Ancient Civilizations: The Indus Valley Indus River Valley: Geographic and Climate Setting Indus River Valley: Mountain Pathways and Barriers Mohenjo-Daro: The First Planned City? Indus River Valley: Harappa A Conquered People

3. Indus River Valley: Geographic Setting • The Indus River Valley civilization first appeared in 2,500 B.C. • It was located in the western part of India • India is actually a subcontinent; a large land mass that extends out from a continent (Asia) • Himalayan and the Hindu Kush Mountains to an extent isolate India from Asia

5. Indus River Valley: Climate • Climate is dominated by monsoons, are heavy rains accompanied by strong winds • Monsoons appear during winter from northeast region and summer monsoons are powered by the Indian Ocean • Summer monsoons provide life giving rains but if weak or late they can weaken the harvest • If the summer monsoon bring exceedingly heavy rains rivers will cause massive floods that can devastate villages on river fronts

7. Indus River Valley: Mountain Pathways and Barriers • Passes of Hindu Kush mountains allowed invading armies to reach India • The Indus River begins in the mountains and is a product of the mountain snow melting • Indus eventually flows onto the floodplains of India and makes large scale faring possible • Floodplains; area around a river that becomes flooded when the water levels of the river rise

8. Indus River Valley: Mountain Pathways and Barriers • Rich soil in valley provided farmers with a surplus of wheat and grain • Surplus food allowed civilization to flourish and grow (villages became cities) • Population grew as well because of food surpluses

10. Mohenjo-Daro: The First Planned City? • 2,500-1,300 B.C. Indus River Valley had planned cities • Mohenjo-Daro was built on a plateau to deal with unpredictable river flooding • To allow easy movement city streets were divided into squares • Houses and shops were built within these squares

12. Mohenjo-Daro: The First Planned City? • To protect its citizens a citadel, a fortress, was built in the center of the city • Mohenjo-Daro had a heated religious pool, storage facilities for crops, two story buildings made of mud bricks, defensive towers and a sewer system • Had a written language which used pictographs; sign that expresses a thought or idea

13. Harappa: A Merchant City • Harappa, 3,000-1,300 B.C. was a city built on local and international trade • City trade went as far as Mesopotamia, Persia and southern India • Traded intensively in gold, ivory, spices, cloth and copper • Harappans domesticated animals and grew crops • First to grow cotton and produce cloth

14. Indus River Valley: A Conquered People • Aryans; warrior nomads, migrated into the Indus valley around 2,000 B.C. • Introduced a caste system that ranked people in society • Aryans were able to conquer the Indus Valley due to natural disasters in form the of famines, devastating floods and over usage of topsoil • These events allowed the Aryans to sweep across the valley region