5.1 Indus River Valley

1. Geography of India

• Large peninsula

• Surrounded by water on 3 sides

• Arabian Sea

• Indian Ocean

• Bay of Bengal

• Separated from rest of Asia by Himalaya Mts.

• Barriers to travel were Hindu Kush Mts. & Himalayas

–Allowed India’s civilization to develop on its own

• Contains 3 great rivers

• Indus

• Ganges

• Brahmaputra

2. Indus River Valley

• 2500 BC Harrappans settled near Indus River

• River dominated their lives• Rich soil

• Flooded often

-built dikes and dams

-built houses high

-used mud bricks dried by sun and kilns

• Grew barley, wheat, dates, peas, melon and cotton

• 1st to grow cotton

• Weaved it into cloth and dyed the cloth

3. Cities

• Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro• About 400 miles apart• Planned communities

• Street grid• Shops• Houses

– No windows– Opened to court yard

-buildings contained wells, bathrooms,

& drains (sanitation system)

-citadel (fortress)

-granaries

4. Religion

• Polytheistic

• Female gods

5. Information

• Not much is known about civilization

• Can’t decipher written language

• Most information found on jewelry (made of gold and lapis lazuli), tools, & weapons (made from stone & copper)

• Seals made from soap stone

• Government probably headed by priest-king

• May have traded as far as Sumer

• Changes in civilization begin to occur around 1700BC

6. Natural Barriers

• Forced civilization to develop on its own

–Thar desert

–Hindu Kush Mts.

–Himalaya Mts.

–Arabian Sea

7. Decline

• Reasons

– Exhausted natural resources

-not enough food

- used too many trees

- Lost protection from floods

-Invaders