INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

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

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

6. Indus Valley Civilization2500 B.C. – 1500 B.C. • Forgotten until the 19th Century when it was rediscovered by the British, while building railroads. • Harappan Civilization – due to major city discovered first

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

8. Unicorn seal with writingwriting not yet deciphered – the civilization still remains a mystery

9. 2 Major Cities – Harappa and Mahenjo-Daro • carefully planned – built on a grid with city blocks • Houses had plumbing systems – sewers beneath the streets • Had thick walls to protect from the river’s flooding Aerial view of Mahenjo-Daro

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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