Indus River Valley Mr. Stover

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

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

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.

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

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?

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.

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.

The Harappan Civilization 3300 BCE BCE

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.

Complexities of the Cities  The most historically striking feature of these two cities were the way in which they were both 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.

Indus valley civilization  B.C.E. Harappan civilization of planned cities. Grid system of brick structures in 2 main sites: Harappa and Mohenjo - Daro  Planned urbanization  Designed on mud brick platforms to protect against flood waters  Brick walls protect the city and its citadel (central buildings like stupa)  Streets designed in 30 foot wide grid system  Houses with bathrooms separated by streets with sewage drainage system

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

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.

Aryans Take over Indus Valley  Just like not much is known about the development of this region, not much is known about its decline.  For unknown reasons, around 1750 B.C. the Indus Valley began to decline. Then about 1500 B.C., nomadic warriors known as the Aryans conquered the Indus Valley.

No one is quite sure why they migrated Unlike the earlier inhabitants of the Indus Valley, the Aryans had not developed a written language

Indo-Europeans Migrate . They were also a pastoral people and counted their wealth in cows.

Aryans (Indo-Aryans)  They crossed over the northwest mountain passages into the Indus Valley  They left almost no archaeological evidence  They left their sacred literature: The Vedas  This left a fairly accurate account of Aryan Life

Vedas  Four collections of prayers, magical spells, and instructions for performing ritual  The oldest sacred texts of Hinduism.  For many years, no written form of the Vedas existed. It was orally transmitted

They developed a rigid class system Rigid caste system (hereditary), which influenced all social interactions and choices of occupations

Aryans – A Caste System Develops  They called the original people in India Dasas (referring to their dark skin)

Caste System  The Caste System determined the work they did, the man or woman they married, the people whom they could eat with  People were born into the caste and could not change their caste system during their lifetime

Aryan Social Classes  Brahmins - Priests  Warriors  Peasants or traders  The class that an Aryan belonged to determined his or her role in society  Over time, a fourth class developed: Shudras - laborers

Social Classes

Ritual purity was very important. Habits of eating and washing that made a person physically and spiritually clean – became important. Those who were impure because of their work (butcher, gravediggers, collectors of trash) lived outside the caste structure

“Untouchables”  They were ‘untouchable’ because their touch endangered the ritual impurity of others  Ritual impurity was very important  Indians that were ‘untouchable’ lived outside the city and would need to ring a bell to warn they were entering the city or coming near.  Even a shadow of an untouchable falling on an upper caste member would contaminate the upper caste member

Aryan Kingdom  Aryans extended their kingdom east along the Ganges River

Aryan Kingdoms Arise  Around 1000 B.C., kings of territorial kingdoms fought each other for land and power, each claiming their authority by the right of the gods.  Out of all this fighting emerged a major kingdom; Magadha.  During this kingdom, Magadha began expanding south and by the 6 th century, Magadha expanded to control almost the entire Indian subcontinent.

Asoka  Asoka was a very influential emperor during the Magadha Empire in Ancient India.  The early part of Asoka's reign was apparently quite bloodthirsty. Asoka was constantly on the war campaign, conquering territory after territory.  His last conquest was the state of Kalinga on the east coast of India  As the legend goes, one day after the war was over, Asoka ventured out to roam the eastern city and all he could see were burnt houses and scattered corpses.  This sight made him sick and he cried. The brutality of the conquest led him to adopt Buddhism

Gupta Empire  The Gupta dynasty (320 to 550 A.D.) covered most of Northern India, parts of eastern Pakistan and what is now western India and Bangladesh.  The time of the Gupta Empire is referred to by some scholars as the Golden Age of India in science, mathematics, astronomy, religion and Indian philosophy.  ChandraGupta was the most famous of the rulers of this empire

Huang He River Valley

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.

Huang Ye River or Yellow River

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.

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

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

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.

 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.

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.

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.

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.