Indus River Valley

Global History I: Spiconardi

Geography & It’s Impact

Location: Northernmost part of the Indian subcontinent & modern day Pakistan

Geography & It’s Impact

The Monsoons• Seasonal winds in the

winter and summer.

• If easterly winter winds prevailed, then there was drought

• If westerly summer winds prevailed, then there was severe flooding

Monsoons

Monsoons

Geography & It’s Impact Geographic Isolation

• The Indus River runs between the Himalayan and Hindu Kush mountains

• The mountain ranges often limited contact with other cultures

• Protected Harappan civilization from invasion (until Aryans in 1500 B.C.E.)

Planned Cities on the Indus

Planned urban centers of Mohenjo-Daro & Harappa• Cities laid out on a grid

(Like Manhattan above 14th Street)

• Both cities’ blocks, structures, and buildings were almost identical

• What does this suggest?

Mohenjo-Daro

Citadel

Mohenjo-Daro

Harappa

Planned Cities on the Indus

Layout of Harappa & Mohenjo-Daro• Homes

• At least two stories

• All had a courtyard with a balcony

• Most had a small well and bathtub

• Water• In Mohenjo-Daro a basin known as the Great Bath

was built

• Running water

• Shows emphasis on cleanliness & purification

Achievements & Contributions

Sewers & baths• Almost every home

had a small bathroom

• Drainage in the streets to clear waste

Achievements & Contributions

First to weave cotton Used bricks to build

structures• Mud bricks

• Wood bricks

Standard size weights and

measurements

Government Rulers within the cities of the Indus Valley

governed through the control of trade and religion rather than military strength.

The rulers carried seals with animal symbols

No monuments built to rulers; no palaces Believed to be an egalitarian society

• City-states were controlled by a small number of merchants, landowners and religious leaders

Priest-King Statue

Bull seal

Interesting Tidbit

Archaeologists have uncovered more TOYS than WEAPONS in their excavations of Harappan cultures.

Aryan Invasion

Aryans nomads who most likely originated in modern Iran• Eventually many

Aryan tribes settled in the Indus Valley forgoing their nomadic ways

Aryan Invasion

Religion• Not much is known about Indus religion

• Seals that cannot be deciphered suggest a polytheistic & nature worshipping religion

• Fertility was of paramount concern

• Under Aryans, the religion is mixed with the Aryan and Indus beliefs and Hinduism forms over a period of time

Aryan Invasion

The Vedic Period (1900 – 500 BCE)• The Vedas books in which Aryans record

their beliefs

• Development of a caste system• Emerged to subjugate the native people of India to

Aryan rule

• Term Aryan comes from the Sanskrit word “Arya,” which means “noble”