JC+Indus+River+Valley

**JC Homepage** 3200-1750 B.C. __**
 * __ Indus River Valley Civilization (India)
 * __Geography__**
 * India is a subcontinent
 * It is separated from Asia by the Himalaya, Hindu Kush, and the Karakorum mountains, some of the tallest mountain ranges in the world
 * The mountains to the north and the desert to the east were natural barriers
 * The people live off of farming on a fertile plain caused by the Indus and Ganges rivers, both rivers lead to the sea
 * The plain is called the Indo-Gangetic plain, which fills with silt when the river floods
 * The monsoon is the seasonal winds
 * In October-February, the monsoon blows dry winds.
 * In June-October, a moist monsoon causes flooding.
 * Without a summer monsoon, a catastrophic crop disaster occurs and people starve.
 * Earthquakes are suggested to be the end of the first civilization, they probably changed the course of the river, starving people, and could have destroyed cities.


 * __Environmental Challenges__**
 * Floods fertilized soil, but were unpredictable
 * The rivers sometimes changed course
 * The cycle of monsoon seasons was unpredictable
 * Too much rain destroyed villages not protected by levees and human-made platforms, too little rain makes people starve because crops can't be grown.


 * __Culture__**
 * No one knows how humans got to where the civilization started, they could have come from the sea or through the Khyber Pass
 * Very uniform culture
 * Thought to be prosperous, many items not needed for survival found
 * Animals very important in culture
 * Some combined animal images have been found-meaning is still unknown


 * __Religion/Government__**
 * Likely theocratic government
 * No temple site has been found, but the citadel, the center of the city, is suspected to have been where the temple was
 * Figures may show Shiva, who is a major Hindu god,
 * All religion became part of following civilizations
 * Religion shows links to modern Hindu culture
 * Likely polytheistic religion

__**Trade**__ > **__Technology__** > > __**Language**__ > > **__War__** > > **__Social Class/Caste System__** > > **__Comparisons to Mesopotamia and Egypt__**
 * Thrived within group
 * Gold, cotton, and semiprecious were traded
 * Trade was over land and sea with other civilizations
 * 2600-1800 B.C. was the time period people traded in
 * Seals identified goods
 * Sewage/Drainage systems
 * Plumbing systems
 * Planned cities and streets
 * Made and cut bricks for buildings (sun-dried clay)
 * Levees and platforms
 * Archaeologists have never been able to decipher the language, no bilingual tablet has been discovered
 * 400 symbols, used to depict objects and sounds
 * Very few weapons have been discovered, suggests that war was rare
 * Natural barriers protected the civilization from invaders
 * Social divisions not large, no one was extremely rich or extremely poor, strong middle class
 * Showed by housing
 * Wealthier had leisure time
 * The caste system was put in place by the Aryans, who created civilzation in India after the first civilization fell. The Aryans were thought to have invaded around 1500 B.C.
 * The caste system is comprised of the groups from highest to lowest class: Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors and kings), Vaishyas (traders and farmers), Shudras (laborers and artisans), and "Untouchables" (butchers, leather workers, people who do dirty work).
 * Like the Nile and the Tigris and Euphrates, India's Indus and Ganges rivers brought silt for farming
 * The flooding of the Indian rivers was unpredictable, just like the Mesopotamian rivers
 * Egypt, Mesopotamia, and India all domesticated animals
 * All theocracies
 * All in Eastern Hemisphere
 * All had written language

__**Map of Indus River Valley Civilization **__