Ancient India
Ancient India
Geography
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Like ancient Egypt, India’s early civilization
developed along a river which flooded and left
fertile silt.
Ancient Indian civilization began in the Indus
River Valley. (Indus & Ganges River)
Geography
India is a subcontinent because it is separated
from the rest of Asia by the Himalayas, the
highest mountains in the world.
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
Monsoon season
Winter/Summer
Indus Valley Civilization:
The first
settlements ca.
3000 B.C.E.,
when farmers
settled along
the Indus
River in what
is now
Pakistan.
By 2500 B.C.E.
Two cities:
Harappa and
Mohenjo-Daro
Harappa-Mohenjo Daro
35,000 people!!
Harappa:
Traded with
Iran &
regions to
the east.
Mohenjo-Daro
Traded with
the Persia &
Sumer to the
west.
Political
Structure:
Cities ONLY
Share language &
culture.
•Trading Seals
Writing
developed from
earlier trading
stamp, which
had the
merchants name
and symbols of
trade items.
Terra Cotta Trade Seals.
•First
matrilineal
society
(female led
society.)
Religious beliefs:
•Great Bath Tanks were used for the
purification of the body & soul.
•Priest
meditated
in yogi
style to
become
connected
with the
gods.

The people who lived in these marvelous
cities disappeared around 1500 BCE. Perhaps
they ran out of wood to hold back flooding, or
perhaps their soil gave out and no longer
would grow crops. No one knows what
happened these people, or where they went.
Aryan invaders:
Around 1500 B.C.E., the Indus culture
were
conquered
by the
Aryans.
ARYAN INVASION
After the Harappan civilization collapsed, another
group of people called the Aryans began settling in
the region. They became a new civilization.
The Aryans were
nomads that came
from central Asia
and began moving
into the Indus River
valley around 1500
B.C.
Aryan Migration
2000-500 B.C.


The Aryans—hunters and raised
cattle (eventually became sacred)
warriors with metal tipped spears
and wooden chariots w/horses.
(invented iron plows and canals)

Written language = SANSKRIT
•
Aryan tribes were led by a raja,
or prince.

There were four classes called varnas in India’s
social system with one group of people that did
not belong to any varna. They were called the
Untouchables. CASTE SYSTEM
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
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Men’s lives were considered more important than
women’s lives.
In most cases, only men could inherit property.
Only men were allowed to go to school or become
priests.
Parents arranged marriages, and divorce was not
allowed.
guru = teacher
A new marriage tradition. The
red dot on an Indian woman’s
forehead goes back to the
Aryan tradition of having a
groom apply a spot of his blood
on his bride’s forehead, as a
sign of marriage.
Reasons for the caste system:
- Upper class
control economy.
- It was created as an alternative to
open slavery.
India’s First Civilizations
Under the caste system in India, what aspects of life
are affected by a person’s caste?
A person’s caste affects what job they will have, who
they can marry, and who they can socialize with.
India’s First Civilizations
Describe the cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were planned cities with
wide main streets and a wall around each neighborhood.
Each mud brick house had a flat roof and was laid out
around a courtyard. Each city had public wells, a
sewage system, and garbage disposal.
India’s First Civilizations
Why are monsoons important to Indian farmers?
They cause soil-enriching floods.
India’s First Civilizations
Cause and Effect What caused the collapse of
Harappan civilization?
earthquakes, floods, the Indus River changing its
course, and the Aryan invasions
India’s First Civilizations
Explain How did the Aryans control the people
they conquered?
Possible answers: strong military, effects of caste
system