A Guide to India

1. A Guide to India A brief look at weather, science, history, and writing.

2. India and Weather • In India, there was only one big weather event every year, and that was the monsoon. One day it would start raining, all at once. • It would keep raining for about a month, every day, all day long. • Farmers hurried to catch the water in their irrigation canals and lead the precious water to their fields.

3. India and Science • Indian scientists and mathematicians were leaders in many different fields. They especially stood out in mathematics and engineering. • The Harappans in 2500 BC had a sewage system at their city of Mohenjo-Daro, and carefully laid out, straight streets. So even though we can't read their writing, we know that the Harappans understood a lot of geometry.

4. India and History • Aryan push to the Ganges (800-600 BC/BCE)Alexander invades IndiaMauryan Empire (ca. 325-184 BC)Period of small kingdoms (184-320 AD)Guptas (320-550 AD) (Huns invade)Post-Gupta golden age (600-1100)Muslim invasions and Delhi Sultanate (1100-1526)Tamerlane and the Mongols invade (1397)

5. India and Writing One of the earliest known writing systems came from India, probably around 2500 BC. Unfortunately, we can't read the Harappan writing yet. But we know people were using this writing to mark their property, so other people couldn’t steal it, and to keep track of things. The writing was in pictographs, like Egyptian hieroglyphs.

6. Sources All information in this presentation came from http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/india/