KEY IDEAS

1. The first civilization to arise in the Indian subcontinent developed along the Indus river.

2. IVC had large, well-developed cities with a strong government and extensive trade.

3. We cannot decifer their language so their politics, religion and history is unknown.

For a while, South Asia was known as just India.

The Himilayas and Kush mountains separate India from the rest of Asia.

Monsoons are seasonal winds that affect India’s climate.

Countries that make up South Asia:

• Afghanistan

• Bhutan

• Bangladesh

• India

• Maldives

• Nepal

• Pakistan

• Sri Lanka

GEOGRAPHY

Indus river flows into Pakistan.

Ganges river flows across northern India.

CLIMATE

Mainly Tropical climate

Agriculture, and life in the region depends on monsoon.

Winter: dry monsoon winds, from the land to the sea, little rainfall.

Summer: humid monsoon winds, from the sea to the land, lots of rainfall.

monsoons→ rain → crops

ADVANCEMENTS

Farming started around 7000 BC.

Steady food supply → population increase.

By 2500 BC Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro had become well structured cities.

Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro became the centers of Indus Valley advancements.

Archaeologists discovered irrigation canals, channels, gnaries* and brick lined sewers.

*gnary: a special building that holds grains

Cities were laid out like a grid.

LIVING SITUATIONS

Wealthy people: comfortable homes, wells for water, bathrooms with pipes that carried the waste into the main drains and the first ever toilets found here.

FARMING AND TRADE

Agricultural economy

Wheat and barley were grown.

Domesticated oxen and cattle which they used as beasts of burden, or work animals.

Jewelry, pottery and stone seals that were used as stamps have been found.

Farming and trade were considered important economic activities.

They had accurate scales, weights and measures that helped promote trade.

They traded with the Sumerians.

MYSTERIES

No one has been able to decipher their language so their politics, history, and religion remain a mystery.

They mysteriously disappeared around 1700 BC, possible explanations include:

• Invasion

• famine due to overgrazing

• flooding

• disease due to standing water in drains that caused mosquitos

• climate change

• drought

GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION

They were organized and had strong, centered governments due to their high level of planning, common system of weights and measure, and huge citadels*.

*citadel: fortress

They had no obvious temples or clear signs of priests.

Some statues they have found, however, resemble some of the gods in Hinduism.