 Indian Subcontinent  India, Pakistan, Bangladesh  Himalayas separate it from Asia  Indus & Ganges Rivers  Center of the peninsula is a high plateau called the Deccan Plateau. (dry)  Monsoons  Unpredictable floods from Indus  River can change course  Unpredictable rainfall  Drought or floods

 Mountains and deserts protected the people  Rivers provided water and fertile soil.

 Was the geography of Mesopotamia OR Egypt more like that of the Indus Valley?  Mesopotamia-the floods were unpredictable.

 7000 B.C. evidence of agriculture and domesticated animals  3200 B.C. farming villages along Indus River

 2500 B.C. built cities of oven-baked bricks laid out on grid system  Built on mud brick platform  Uniform houses  Brick walls protect city & citadel  Streets in grid 30 ft. wide  Lanes separate rows of houses  No palaces or monuments  Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa

Grid system

Citadel Great Bath Ruins of Mohenjo Daro

 What do the planned cities of the Indus Valley people tell us about their culture?  High level of cooperation, strong central government.

 Almost every house had a private bathroom and toilet  Underground sewer system  The Great Bath  Street drains

 Rome was the only ancient city that had a reliable and plentiful supply of water.  By 97 AD approximately 1800 years after the decline of the Indus Valley civilization, about 85 million gallons of water were supplied to the city each day through 9 aqueducts.

 Writing system of 400 symbols  Scientists can’t decipher it

 Priests king (theocracy?)  No temples  Some religious artifacts reveals links to modern Hindu culture  Mother goddess  Fertility images  Cows  Shiva (a major Hindu god)  Polytheistic  Women important?

 What can you conclude from the fact that fertility images and representations of Shiva, and a mother goddess are part of later Indian civilization?  Some parts of the Indus culture were adopted by later peoples.

 No great social divisions  Animals important  Toys suggest prosperity WHY?

 Thriving trade with other peoples including Mesopotamia (tin, copper, gold, silver, ivory  Farming  Prosperous economy  Production of nonessential goods- toys  Few weapons

 What evidence exists to show that Indus Valley civilizations traded with Sumer?  Seals used by Indus Valley merchants were found in Sumer.

 Signs of decline begin around 1750 B.C.  Earthquakes, floods, soil depletion (overfarmed, overgrazed), drought, attack  Indus River changed course?  1500 B.C. Aryans enter and become dominant