The document provides information on the early Indus River Valley civilization and how geography influenced its development. It describes the location of the Indian subcontinent and key geographic features like the Himalayan mountains and monsoon rains. It discusses the origins of civilization in the Indus River valley around 2500 BC, with major cities like Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro that had advanced urban planning with grid layouts and drainage systems. The civilization traded with others along the Indus and Tigris rivers but eventually declined around 1500 BC as Aryan groups migrated into the region.

1. Indus River Valley
Mr. O’Kieffe

2. Review
 Rivers
 Names, Geographic Features
Writing Systems
 Nomads
 Architecture-Buildings
 What was their purpose?

3. What We Will Learn Today:
How did geography effect the Indus
River Valley civilization?

4. India’s Geographic Features
 The Indian subcontinent is
a large, wedge-shaped
peninsula that extends
southward into the Indian
Ocean.
 Subcontinent: A large
region that is part of a
continent, but is separated
from the rest of the content
in some way.

9. Identification of
Geographic Features in India
Indus River
Ganges River
Peninsula
and/or
Subcontinent

10. Himalayan Mountains
 This peninsula is surrounded
on the north and northwest
by huge mountains, the
Himalayan Mountains.
 This has often limited India's
contact with other cultures.
This is known as cultural
isolation.
 You decide! How would
isolation impact the people
on Ancient Indus?

11. Seasonal winds known as monsoons bring rain every summer.
India is dependent upon monsoons to grow their crops. Not
enough rain brings drought. When there is too much rain,
rivers rise and cause deadly floods and destruction of crops.

14.  Page: 92

15. Roots of Indus Valley Civilization
 Roots of Indus Valley began
as early as 7000 B.C.E.
 Herders who moved into the
river valley during colder
months.
 They began trading by boat
along the Indus down into the
Arabian Sea, into the Persian
Gulf, and up the Tigris and
Euphrates into Mesopotamia.

16. Civilization in the
Indus River Valley Begins
 About 2500 BC, about the
time when the pyramids
were rising in Egypt, the
first Indian civilizations
were forming in the Indus
River Valley.
 Little is known about these
civilizations, but Harappa
and Mohenjo-Daro were
most likely twin capital
cities.

17. Roots of Indus Valley Civilization
 Earliest civilizations in Indus
Valley was discovered in
1856 by a railroad crew.
 Harappa
 Mohenjo-Dara or “Hill of the
Dead”
 Both cities shared urban design
and architectural features.
 3 miles in circumference with
populations of 40,000

19. Purpose of Early Cities
 Each city was large in
area and contained a
large structure located
on a hilltop.
 Many believe these
structures could have
served as a fortress or
even a temple.

22. Complexities of the Cities
 The most historically striking
feature of these two cities both
were well planned.
 Each city was laid out in a grid
pattern, the blocks similar to
those seen in modern cities.
 The homes seem to have been
built with bricks and in a pattern
repeated throughout the city.

23. Mohenjo-daro : aerial view

24. Mohenjo-daro “The Citadel”

25. Plumbing In the Cities
 In addition, these cities
seem to contain houses
with plumbing
systems, including
baths, drains and water
pipes.

26. Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa
•Private houses, almost every one
with its own well, bathing space,
and toilet consisting of a brick seat
over a drainage area.
•Brick-lined drains flushed by water
carried liquid and solid waste to
sumps, where it was carted away,
probably to fertilize nearby fields.

28. Trade with Sumer
 Most of the people of the
Indus valley were farmers.
They were the first people
to grow cotton and weave
it into cloth.
 There is early evidence of
trade with other
civilizations including
Sumer.

29. Aryans Take over Indus Valley
Approximately 1500 B.C.E. a
nomadic and pastoral people They
called themselves “Aryans” or
“noble people.”
They established small herding
and agricultural communities
throughout northern India.
Their migrations took place over
several centuries.

30. Aryan Migration
 pastoral  depended on their cattle.
 warriors  horse-drawn chariots.

31. Aryan Influence on Harappan
Society
Their arrival was not an invasion or organized military
campaign
By the time Aryans entered India, internal problems had
already brought Harappan society to the point of collapse
During the centuries after 1500 B.C.E., Dravidian and Indo-
European peoples intermarried and laid social and
cultural foundations that influenced Indian society

32. Aryan Influence on Harappan
Society
The Aryans survived on
sheep and goats.
The especially prized their
horses and cattle
The Aryans consumed both
dairy products and beef.
Centuries later cattle would
become sacred.

34. The
 1V20e0 BdCEa-6s00
B.C.E.
Hindu core of
beliefs:
 hymns and poems.
 religious
prayers.
 magical spells.
 lists of the gods
and goddesses.
Rig Veda  oldest work.

35. The
 8Vth –e 9dth Caenstury
B.C.E.
 Dharma (right action), Artha
(purpose), kama (pleasure), and
moksha (liberation)
 Hindu core of
beliefs:---Bhagavad
Gita
 Epics- Ramayana
and Mahabharata.
 Mahabharata- ten
times longer than
Iliad and Odyssey
Rig Veda  oldest work.

36. The Vedic Age
The foundations
for
Hinduism were
established!

37. The Caste System
•Originally based on color: Aryans were “wheat-colored”
and Dravidians were darker skinned.
•Four Main Varnas or Castes:
•Priests (brahmins)
•Warriors and Aristocrats (Kshatriyas)
•Cultivators, artisans, and merchants (vsaishyas)
•Landless peasants and serfs ( shudras)
•Untouchables (people who performed dirty tasks)
added much later

38. Jati (Subcastes)
•As Vedic Society became
more complex and specialized,
the caste system changed to
include specialized
occupations.
•Occupation determined an
individuals jati (subcaste).

39. Caste System (“Varnas”)
 Brahmins: the priests
 Kshatriyas: the warriors
 Vaisyas: merchants and peasants
 Sudras: non-Aryans

40. The Development of a Patriarch Society
•Aryan Society had a strong patriarchal social order at the
time of their migration into India.
•All priests, warriors and tribal chiefs were men.
•Women influenced affairs within their families but had no
public authority.
•Women rarely learned the Vedas and were denied
formal education.
•Sati, the practice of a wife sacrificing herself on her
husband’s funeral pyre, was considered noble.

41. How does the treatment
of women in the Indus
Valley differ from the
other River Valley
Civilizations?

42. The Upanishads
•Appeared late in Vedic Age, around 800
to 400 B.C.E.
•Upanishad means “sitting in front of” and
refers to practice of disciples gathering
before a sage for discussion of religious
issues.
•The Upanishads were dialogues that
explored the Vedas.

43. Religion and Vedic Age
•Modern historians have often
interpreted the Upanishads as a
way to justify social inequalities
imposed by the Caste System.
•The doctrines of Samsara and
karma have reinforced the Vedic
social order.

44. Huang He River Valley

45. China’s Geographic Features
Huang He or
Yellow River
Yangzi River
~ Chinese civilization
grew up in the river valley
of the Huang He River
(a.k.a.the Yellow River)
and the Yangzi River.

46. Huang Ye River or
Yellow River

47. The mountains, deserts, jungles and other geographic
features have isolated Chinese culture. Having little
contact with others , the Chinese believed their culture
was the center of the earth.

48. ~ Although China
covers a huge
area, until recent
times, most people
lived only along the
east coast or in the
river valley.

51. Early Views
 The Chinese called
themselves “The
Middle Kingdom”
because they believed
they were at the center.
 This is an example of
ethnocentrism.

52. Shang Dynasty
 About 1650 BC, the Shang
gained control of northern
China. Ruling families
began to gain control,
similar to small kingdoms.
 The Shang set up the first
dynasty.
 Dynasty: A series of rulers
from a family.

54.  The ancient civilization was much like others
with nobility owning the land, merchants and
craftspeople trading and living in the cities
and a large population of peasants living in
surrounding villages.

55. Polytheistic Peoples
 Early Chinese people
were polytheistic, and
prayed to many Gods
and nature spirits.
 They also looked to
dead relatives to help
them in daily life and
to help them please the
Gods.

58. Ying and Yang
 Many Chinese also
believed that the
universe held a delicate
balance between
opposing forces.
 The Ying and Yang
must be in balance for
prosperity and happiness
to occur in one’s life.

59. Early Writing System
 The Chinese civilizations made achievements in
early writing systems that include both pictographs
and ideographs and is now as one of the earliest
writing systems.