sean+R+INDIA

home Location
 * Southwest Asia

Geography
 * subcontinent: large piece of a continent
 * highest mountains in the world,--Hindu Kush, Karakorum, Himalayan ranges
 * separates from rest of Asian Continent
 * Large desert to east protect the Indus valley from invasion
 * Indus and Ganges rivers link from subcontinent to the sea
 * Indus flows SW from Himalayas to the Arabian Sea
 * Farming only in areas directly watered by the Indus
 * Ganges flows eastword across northern India- joins the Brahmapotra River it frows to the Bay of Bengal
 * Indo-Gangetic Plain: stretch of 1700 miles of watered land from rivers
 * Rivers-irragation, silt,rich land for agriculture
 * Indo-Gangetic Plain: peninsula that thrusts south into the Indian river
 * Deccan Plateau- center of peninsula
 * Eastern and Western Ghats= mountains keep moist air from reaching the plateau making it a dry region

Time Period
 * Arose 2500 B.C.
 * agricultulture 700B.C. to 3200B.C.
 * 2500B.C.-India's first cities

Environmental Challenges
 * Monsoons: carry moisture from ocean in great rain clouds, flooding occurs, if none - drought often causes crop disasters
 * Flooding: unpredictable, mad rich soil
 * rivers changed courses
 * monsoons were unpredictable, made people go hungy

Government
 * developed strong central government

Writing
 * not deciphered Indus writing

Language
 * linguists have not found any inscriptions that are billingual
 * found on stamps and seals, carved stones
 * 400 symbols make up the languaeg
 * decipt an object/phonetic sonds
 * some stand alone, others combine into woods

Settlement
 * no one is sure how human settlement began
 * maybe, people who arrived by sea from africa settled the south
 * north migrants came from Khyber Pass in the Hindu Kush mountains

Technology
 * built srong levees, earth walls- keep water out of cities
 * oven baked bricks
 * plumbing and sewage systems
 * people retrieved water from a river or central well
 * dumped wastes into open drainage ditches or carted out of town
 * only rich had own bathroom
 * Mohenjo-Daro, almost almost all had own bathroom

Institutions
 * human made islands to raise cities above possible flood waters
 * 100settlements along Indus
 * Kalibangn, Mohejo-Daro, Harappan civilization
 * sophisticated city planning
 * precise grid planning
 * citadel- fortified area, contained the major buildings of the city, protection for royal family, served as a temple
 * oven baked bricks cut in standard sizes
 * built on mudbrick platforms to protect it from flooding
 * thick brick wall- three and a half miles surrounding it
 * streets- 30 feet wide
 * Walls divided residential districts

Culture
 * social divisions in the society were not great
 * relativily prosperous society, could afford to produce non-essential goods
 * few weapons of war, conflict was limited

Caste system
 * Four major groups: Brahmins, kshatriyas, vaishyas, shudras
 * The groups came from Purusha, the original man
 * Untouchables became a group in 1935
 * People are born into certain groups which they really cannot move out of
 * If you marry somone of a lower class, you move into that group
 * Possible to be exiled from the group for crimes