Planned Cities on the Indus

Planned Cities on the Indus

1. Geography of the Indian Subcontinent

   • Highest mountains in the world separate Indian from the rest of Asia
   • Rivers, Deserts, Plains and Plateau
     • Indus and Ganges River, Thar Desert, Indo-Gangetic Plain, Deccan Plateai
   • Monsoons- rainy and dry season
   • Environmental Challenges
     • Floods
     • River changes course
     • Monsoons could be unpredictable

2. Civilization Emerges on the Indus

   • Historians know little because Indus system of writing is not yet deciphered
     • Information comes from archaelogical digs
   • Early Arrivals
     • By sea from Africa
     • Migrants through a pass in the Hindu Kush mts
     • 7000 BC evidence of domesticated animals, 3200 BC farming in villages
   • Planned Cities
     • Ruins of more than 100 settlements along Indus and tributaries
       • Brick walls, levees, man-made islands to protect against flooding
     • Kalibangan, Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa
       • Harappan civilizations
         • many discoveries at that site
     • 2500 BC
     • Cities are laid out on a grid system
       • Citadels, fortified area with major buildings within
       • Building made of standard-sized oven baked bricks
       • Sophisticated plumbing and sewage system
       • Uniformity of cities suggests Indus people had a strong central government

3. Harappan Culture

   • Language
     • Written language which has been impossible to decipher
       • No inscriptions have been found that are bilingual
     • Believe symbols represent an object and a phonetic sound
   • Toys show a prosperous society
   • Few weapons suggestion conflict was limited
   • Housing suggests little difference between social classes
   • Animals were an important
     • Beasts are depicted with different animal parts, their meaning is a mystery
   • Religion
     • Rulers had close ties to the religion
       • Theocracy
     • No temple has been found
     • Links to modern Hindu culture
       • Shiva
       • Worship of the bull
   • Trade
     • Gold and silver from Afghanistan
       • Jewelry
     • Semiprecious stones from Persia and Deccan Plateau
     • Traded brightly colored cotton cloth
     • Indus River excellent transportation
       • Land routes to Persia and Caspian Sea
         • Water routes to Mesopotamia
           • Trade with Mesopotamia from 2600 BC until 1800 BC

4. Indus Valley Culture Ends

   • 1750 BC the quality of building began to decline
     • Cities slow fell into decay
   • Why the civilization ended is a mystery
     • Tectonic plate movement caused earthquakes and floods that may have altered the course of Indus River
       • This would affect both agriculture and trade
         • People may have left the cities to survive
     • Arayans, nomadic people from the north entered Indus Valley in 1500 BC