1. HISTORY - INDIA Your Name ______________________________
Period ______________
Unit 2 – India
Lesson 4 – Early History of India

2. Essential Questions
How have invasions changed India, and created a unique culture?
What impact did Europe, especially the English, have on India?

3. Indus River Valley Civilizations
Dravidian Era (3000 B.C B.C.)
dark skinned people (Dravidians)
no written records: artifacts for studying
polytheistic: worshipped animals
CLOSE TO RIVER
Food
transportation

4. Invasions and Integration (mixing)
Aryans: fair skin
Very racist: no mixing w/ Dravidians
To avoid mixing: created “caste system”
Told stories (Vedas) - passed down verbally
Stories were later written in “Sanskrit”
Dravidian
Aryan

5. Aryans (Arrival of Aryans and Aryan Culture, found on p. 173)
What were the Aryans like?
How did they arrive in India?
What did they do once they arrived?
What is a Veda?
What is Sanskrit?
What were the four social classes the Aryans developed?
Warlike, lighter skinned, urban, literate
Swept in as invaders
Overran towns and cities
Religious stories – meant to teach morals
Written language of India
Priests, warriors, landowners and merchants, servants and peasants

6. Muslim & Mongols (Mughals)
Muslim Empire (750 – 1500)
lower castes embraced Islam
Gave rise to Sikhs: Muslims with adaptations of Hinduism
Mughal Empire (1200s)
Most famous: Shah Jihan
Taj Mahal to Mumtaz Mahal
(she had died after 14th child)
click

7. Click – History Channel (deconstructs the Taj)

13. Quick Quiz Describe what the Taj looks like. What IS the Taj Mahal?
How many people are IN the Taj today?
All white
Persian style (onion looking dome, four tall pillars, reflecting pool)
A tomb for the wife of a powerful leader
(she is Mumtaz Mahal, he is Shah Jihan)
A single body, just Mumtaz

14. European Invasion 1857 – Sepoys rebelled – led to general rebellion
1. Age of European Imperialism (1500s – 1947)
1498 – Portugal
1707 – Dutch East India company
French Mississippi Company
British East India Company took Western Cities of India
– hired SEPOYS to help in fight (Indian soldiers)
1857 – Sepoys rebelled – led to general rebellion
2. Britain annexed India
Queen Victoria became EMPRESS VICTORIA
Next 100 yrs – British ruled India
forced Indian farmers to grow cash crops
Was called the “BRITISH RAJ”

15. European Interest & Trade with India
What did Europe see in India that was valuable?
SPICES
TEA
OPIUM

16. Indian Assimilation The British built:
Schools, hospitals, roads, railroads
and forced Indians to grow “Cash Crops”
The most educated learned to
speak English, and
act English
The least educated were
just left behind…
and poor…

17. Rebellion by Indians Sepoy Rebellion, 1857
Sepoys were Indians hired to be soldiers
British merchants hired them for protection
British government started using them as military
Sepoys rebelled
The guns were loaded with cartridges
Cartridges were coated with animal fat
Indians didn’t want to bite into animals

18. English Annexation of India
(Start of the “British Raj”)
Britain saw the danger of trusting Sepoys as their main military in India
British government annexed India
Goal: greater control
This ended Indian independence
Indians would now be treated as slaves
Queen Victoria
Empress Victoria