1. INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION
Global History and Geography – 9
Dr. Afxendiou

2. Physical Map 1

3. Physical Map 2

4. The Ghats – not true mountains, the fluted edge of the Deccan Plateau

5. Indus Valley Civilization 2500 B.C. – 1500 B.C.
Forgotten until the 19th
Century when it was
rediscovered by the British,
while building railroads.
Harappan Culture – due to
major city discovered first

6. The Indus Valley Civilization had contact with other civilizations by 2000 B.C.

7. Unicorn seal with writing writing not yet deciphered – the civilization still remains a mystery

8. 2 Major Cities – Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
carefully planned – built on a grid with city blocks
Houses had plumbing systems – sewers beneath the streets
Had thick city walls to protect from the river’s flooding
Aerial view of Mohenjo-Daro

9. What we know comes from artifacts…
Evidence of polytheistic religion
First to cultivate cotton and weave the fibers into cloth
Economy:
people were mostly farmers
Traditional economic system – based on farming and trade

10. The Decline and Disappearance
Explanations – suggestions not certainties
Ecological disaster due to cutting of too many trees
Climate change – shifting monsoon patterns
Volcanic eruption blocked the Indus and it flooded Mohenjo-Daro thus weakening the civilization
Earthquake evidence
Weakened by natural disasters, the civilization was overrun by invaders the ARYANS

11. Who are the Aryans? Light skinned invaders from the North
They speak an Indo-European language
They come through the Hindu Kush Mountains through the Khyber Pass
Warlike people
The predecessors of Hindu culture
They built their civilization along the Ganges River
Established the Caste System

12. Caste System ~1000 BC The divine order of four castes - “Varnas”
Brahmins: the priests
Kshatriyas: the warriors
Vaisyas: merchants and peasants
Sudras: non-Aryans – perhaps
the captured indigenous
peoples