kbohara+India

Kaela Location:

Geography:
 * Located in modern day Pakistan.

Enviromental Challenges:
 * A wall of the highest mountains in the world, the Hindu Kush, Karakorum, and Himalayan ranges seperates this region from the rest of the Asian Continent.
 * The worlds tallest mountains to the north larg desert to the east helped protect the Indus Valley from invasion.
 * The Indus River flows southwest from the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea.
 * The Indus and Ganges and the land they water make up a large area that stretches 1,700 miles across Northern India and is called the Indo-Gangetic Plain. [[image:imagesfds.jpg width="65" height="84" link="Kaela"]]
 * A narrow border of lush, tropical land lies along the coast of Southern India.

Culture:
 * Yearly floods spread deposits of rich soil over a wide area, however the floods alond the Indus were unpredictable.
 * The rivers sometimes changed course.
 * They cycle of wet and dry seasons brought by the monsoon wind was unpredictable.
 * If there was to much rain floods swept away villages and if there was to little the plants went hungry.

War/Military:
 * The culture was based on agriculture.
 * The housing suggests that the social divisions were not that great.
 * Artifacts such as clay and wooden childrens toys suggests a relativly prosperous society that could afford to produce nonessential goods.
 * The presence of animal images on many types of artifacts suggest that animals were an important part of culture.

Religion: Trade: Time Period: Economy/Agriculture: Cities: Writing: The Decline of the Indus Valley: Important People: Caste System:
 * Few weapons of warfare have been found suggesting that conflict was limited.
 * The tulers of the Harappan Civilization are believed to have close ties to religion.
 * Archaeologists think the culture was a theocracy.
 * Priests likely prayed for good harvests and safety from floods.
 * Religious artifacts reveal links to modern Hindu culture.
 * Figures show what may be early repersentations of Shiva, a major Hindu god
 * Other figures relate to mother goddesse, fertility images, and worship of the bull.
 * All these later became part of later Indian Civilization.
 * The Harrappans conducted a thriving trade with people in the religion.
 * The Indus River provided an excellent means of transportation for trade goods.
 * Brightly covered cotton cloth was a desirable trade item since few people knew how to grow cotton.
 * Seals probably used by Indus Merchants to identify their goods have been found in Sumer.
 * Trading begun as early as 2600 B.C. and continued until 1800 B.C.
 * 7,000 B.C. to 1750 B.C.
 * Archaeologists have found evidence in higlands of agriculture and domesticated sheep dating about 7000 B.C.
 * By 3200 B.C. people were farming in villages along the Indus River.
 * Traded gold, silver, and bright colored cloth.
 * The Indus River provided a link to the sea. This access allowed Indus Valley inhabitants to devolope trade with distant people.
 * The city was partially built on mud brick platforms to protect it from flooding.
 * The streets grid system were as wide as 30 feet.
 * Houses varied in size, some may have been 3 stories high.
 * Narrow lanes seperated rows of houses, which were laid out in block units.
 * Houses featured bathrooms where waste water flowed out to the street and then the sewege pits outside the city walls.
 * Around 2500 B.C. when Egypt was busy building pyramids the people in the Indus Valley were busy laying bricks out for Indias first city.
 * The Harappan culture devolped a written language.
 * The Harappan language has been impossible to decipher.
 * The Harappan language is found on stamps and seals made of carved stone used for trading pottery and tools.
 * About 400 symbols make up the language.
 * Some signs stand alone and some seem combined into words.
 * Around 1750 B.C., the quality of buildings in the Inus Valley cities declined.
 * Gradually the great cities fell into decay.
 * Some cities along the rivers apparently suffered through these disasters and survived.
 * Shiva, Major Hindu god.
 * The word caste derives from the portuguese casta, meaning breed, race, or kind.
 * Many castes are traditionally associated with an occupation
 * The first four varnas apparently existed in the ancient Aryan society of Northern India.