Bedard+India+Notes

Back to Homepage Location:__**
 * __ India
 * South of Himalayas
 * Southern Asia
 * Arabiain Sea is to the left and Bay of Bengal to right
 * __Enviromental Challenges:__**
 * Yearly floods were unpredictable
 * Rivers sometimes changed course
 * Cycle of wet and dry seasons brought by the monsoon winds was unpredictable
 * Monsoons were seasonal winds that brought rain
 * __Literature:__**
 * Impossible to decipher
 * No inscriptions that are bilingual
 * 400 symbols make up language
 * __Economy/Agriculture:__**
 * Could afford to produce nonessential goods
 * Few weapons of warfare
 * Animals were an important part of culture
 * Around 1750 B.C. the quality of buildings declined
 * Great cities fell into decay
 * Plate movements probably caused earthquakes and floods
 * The shifts may have caused the river sarswati to dry up
 * trade on this river became impossible
 * __Time Period:__**
 * 7,000 B.C. - about 1,500 B.C.
 * __Geography:__**
 * Indus and ganges rivers
 * Flooding (Unpredictable)
 * 2/3 of India is made up of Mountains
 * Monsoons are winds (Sometimes with heavy rainstorms)
 * Highest mountains in the world (Natrual barrier)
 * Desert in Platue (Also Natrual barrier)
 * Khyber Path may have been used in the North for travel
 * Worlds tallest mountains to the North and a large desert to the East
 * Indus River flows southwest from the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea
 * These rivers carry not only water for irrigation, but also silt
 * The center of the peninsula is a high plateau cut by twisting rivers
 * __Caste System:__**
 * There are 5 main groups of Indias caste system
 * The original man Purusha was sacerficed
 * The brahmins came from his mouth
 * The kshatriyas from his arms
 * The vaishyas from his thighs
 * The shudras from his feet
 * And the untouchables
 * Every person had a dhrama (duty) appropirate to his or her caste, sex, and job
 * __Social Class:__**
 * Brahmins were the highest class
 * Middel class were the farmer and artisan groups, such as, potters, barbers, and carpenters
 * Last are very low-ranking "Untouchables" leatherworkers, butchers, launderers, and latrine cleaners