INTRODUCTION TO ANCIENT INDIA
The first civilizations arose sometime between 5000 and 5500 years ago (3500 – 3000
BC). Historians and archaeologists do not always agree about the details, such as which
civilization came first, whether the idea of civilization spread from a common center of
origin or whether it was independently invented in different places at about the same time.
The fragmentary archaeological evidence from that distant time is simply not sufficient to
settle such questions to everyone's satisfaction. Nonetheless, it is clear from the evidence
currently available that the first civilizations arose in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), Egypt,
India, China, and on the island of Crete. The possibility of direct contact between the
peoples of these areas, particularly by sea, cannot be ruled out. The Indus river valley in
present-day Pakistan lies quite close to both Egypt and Mesopotamia by sea, as the map
below illustrates, and contains some of the world's earliest civilized settlements. Contact
between India and China could have been by either land or sea.
India's earliest civilization is often referred to as the Harappan culture and is named for the
first ancient city, Harappa, to be excavated in the Indus river valley in the 1920's. At the
time, the Indus was located in India, and in fact the term "India" originally referred to the
region around this river. In 1947, the region was incorporated into the modern state of
Pakistan, so today, ironically, the first Indian civilizations can only be studied in Pakistan.
Evidence for this early Indian civilization and culture began to emerge gradually during the
mid-1800's, when British travelers and engineers first discovered ruins along the Indus.
Remains of more than 500 Harappan cities have now been identified, only a few of which
have been excavated. The two sites most extensively uncovered and studied are Harappa
itself and Mohenjo Daro.
After about 1500 years, India's Harappan culture collapsed (c.1700 BC). The reasons for
this collapse are unclear, but prominent theories involve climate change unfavorable to
agriculture and changes to the Indus river system itself, possibly due to geological changes.
Some aspects of Harappan culture, however, appear to have left their mark on later Indian
civilizations.
Harappan culture was followed by the so-called Vedic Civilization, which lasted to around
600 BC. It too was centered in western India (now Pakistan), somewhat north of the cities
of the Harappan culture. This region lies on the eastern edge of the Hindu Kush mountains
and near a historically important gap in the mountains called the Khyber Pass (3500 feet
altitude) which leads westward into Afghanistan. It is believed that the founders of Vedic
culture, sometimes called Indo-Aryans, may have been invaders from the west who entered
India through the Khyber Pass. They are credited with laying the foundations of India's
principal religion today, Hinduism, and with developing Sanskrit, the language of classical
Indian literature. It was this language, in fact, which is related to western languages like
Latin and Greek, which first suggested the theory that these Indo-Aryans may have been
invaders from the west.
Around 500 BC, toward the end of the Vedic era, a royal prince from a small kingdom in
northeast India, named Siddhartha Gautama, set out on a personal quest to discover the
cause of human suffering. His quest laid the foundations of a new religion, Buddhism, and
he himself would become known as the "Buddha" or "the Enlightened One." Buddhism
subsequently spread from India to China and Japan, and eventually to the rest of the world.
Today, there are at least 400 million Buddhists in the world, and possibly many more who
remain uncounted.
Macedonian Greek soldiers invaded western India in the 300's BC, bringing eastern and
western cultures into close contact for the first time, but the Greeks retreated homeward
soon afterward, and India remained relatively isolated from the West until modern times.
Its closest cultural contacts would be with its nearest neighbors: China, Japan, Afghanistan,
Malaya, Vietnam, and the islands of the Indian Ocean.
Today, India is the world's second most populous nation (after China), with over a billion
people and 17% of all the world's people. It is, in fact, projected to surpass China in
population sometime this century. Thus, India has had and continues to have an important
impact on the development of world history.