1. Early Civilizations (of India)
Chapter 9, Lesson 1

2. The Geography of India
India and several other modern-day countries make up the subcontinent of India.
Subcontinents are a large landmass that is smaller than a continent.
The Indian subcontinent is part of the continent of Asia.

3. Mountains, Plains, and Rivers
In the north, India is separated from the rest of Asia by rugged mountain systems.
The Himalayas are one of these mountain systems.
Mount Everest is the highest peak of the Himalayas standing at more than 29,000 ft. (nearly 5.5 miles or 8.8 KM) making it the tallest mountain in the world.
At the base of this mountain range exist wide fertile plains which get their fertile soil from the three great rivers that flow through the region.
The Indus (IHN-duhs), the Ganges (GAN-jeez), and the Brahmaputra (BRAHM-uh-POO-truh).
The people of India rely on these rivers for farming, transportation, and trade.

4. Mountains, Plains, and Rivers
The landforms in central and southern India are much different from the landforms in the north.
The east and west coasts of the subcontinent have lush fertile lands.
Further inland there are two chains of mountains that have been worn down over time through erosion, and left behind rugged hills.
Between the mountains is a dry highland known as the Deccan Plateau which makes up two-thirds of southern India.

5. Mountains, Plains, and Rivers
India’s civilization has been shaped by its climate and physical landscape.
India has been largely influenced by seasonal winds called monsoons.
During winter, monsoons blow cold, dry air from the Himalaya east to west.
During the summer, warmer land temperatures cause the winds to change directions heading from west to east from the Arabian Sea, bringing with it wet air and pouring rains.
The summer rains are necessary for farmers to grow their crops and with good rainfall can produce large amounts of crops.

6. Mountains, Plains, and Rivers
People celebrate the monsoon rains for this.
The monsoons can also cause a lot of damage.
Very heavy rains can sometimes cause flooding that ruins crops and can even kill people and animals.
Too little rain cause also be a problem.
If the rains come late, there may be a long dry period called a drought and can mean disaster for farmers in the form of ruined crops which can then cause people to go hungry or starve.

8. The Indus Valley Civilization
India’s first civilization pops up thousands of years ago in the valley around the Indus River.
The Indus Valley civilization is called the cradle of ancient India.
Like Mesopotamia and Egypt, it also developed near a great river system.
About 5,000 years ago, nomads settled in the valleys around the Indus River in an area that is now Pakistan.
The first settlements were around the shores of the river where the soil was rich, allowing farmers to grow large crops of wheat, barley, and beans.

9. The Indus Valley Civilization
This abundance of crops means that not everyone needed to be a farmer.
Others created tools and constructed homes.
Some supported themselves by trading extra food and goods.
They began to prosper and build cities spreading over much of western India and Pakistan.

10. Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa
The Indus culture flourished between 2600 B.C. and 1900 B.C.
We know much about this culture from studying the ruins of two major cities, Mohenjo-Daro (moh-HEHN-joh-DAHR-oh) and Harappa (huh-RA-puh).
At their peak, they had more than 35,000 residents and looked almost exactly alike.
Contained dozens of streets.
Streets were paved with tan-colored bricks.
The smaller streets crossing them were usually left unpaved.
At the west end of each city was a large fortress built on brick platforms and surrounded by strong, thick walls.

11. Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa
The people of the Indus valley constructed their homes using oven-baked bricks and had flat wooden roofs.
Homes also had enclosed courtyards and were several stories tall.
It’s civilizations engineers were highly skilled.
Large buildings stored grain for the entire population.
Wells supplied water, and each home had at least one indoor bathroom.
Wastewater flowed through pipes and outside the city-walls.
Homes also made use of garbage chutes that were connected to bins in the streets.

13. What was Life Like?
Archaeologist learned much about the Indus Valley culture through the ruins left behind.
We know it is likely that the royal palace was enclosed in a fortress which give us the insight that religion and government in were important to this civilization.
Most Indus Valley people lived in farming villages surrounding the cities
They grew rice, barley, wheat, peas, and cotton.
City Residents were merchants, shopkeepers, and artisans.
They made and sold copper and bronze tools, clay pottery and cotton cloth.
Also made jewelry from shells, ivory, and gold.
Some archaeologist have even found toys at the ruins.

14. What was Life Like?
Indus Valley merchants traveled as far as Mesopotamia in order to trade often going through difficult mountains.
Others probably sailed to Mesopotamia along the southern coast of Asia.

15. Aryan Migrations and Settlements
Sometime around 1900 B.C., the people of the Indus Valley began to abandon their cities and villages.
Archaeologists have found some probable causes for this.
There was a severe a severe drought that lasted for hundreds of years, killing crops, and causing people to starve.
Earthquakes and floods killed many people and changed the course of the Indus River.
All while these things were occurring a group of people called Aryans migrated to India causing a new civilization to emerge.

16. The Indo-Europeans The Aryans were not a race or ethnic group.
Many believe that their language was a part of a large language family (a group of similar languages) known as Indo-European.
Many modern Indian languages, like Hindi, art apart of the Indo-European family.
English and a lot of other European languages are also apart of it.
The Aryans were speakers of Indo-European languages.

17. The Indo-Europeans
Indo-European people lived in central Asia but began migrating to other places.
Some moved west to Europe or south to Iran.
The Aryans made their way to India.
Like most Indo-Europeans they raised cattle for meat, milk, and butter moving from place to place to find clean water and pastures for their cattle.
They were also skilled horse riders and hunters, as well as fierce warriors.
As they moved they sometimes raided nearby villages.
From around 1500 to 1000 B.C. groups of Aryans moved around India and mixed with the descendants of the Indus Valley people creating a new culture.
Over time the Aryans in India adopted a new way of life by settling down in one place and becoming farmers and still raised cattle.
Eventually, they begin to see their cattle as sacred and banned their use as food.

18. The Indo-Europeans
The Aryans began to make iron tools to clear forests so they could farm land also building an irrigation system.
Over time, they turned the Ganges River valley into a productive farm land.
In the north they grew grains such as wheat, millet, and barley.
Farmers planted rice in the fertile river valleys.
In the south, farmers grew crops such as cotton, vegetables, pepper, ginger, and cinnamon.
The Aryans lived in tribes and each one was led by a raja (RAH-jah) which means prince.
They created their own small kingdoms, which often fought each other over cattle, treasure, and land.

20. The Indo-Europeans
Like most nomadic people, the early Aryans had no written language.
After they settled in villages, they developed a written language called Sanskrit allowing people to record sales, trade, and land ownership.
Eventually, Aryan Hymns, stories, poems, and prayers were also written in Sanskrit.
They later recorded and collected these into sacred text known as the Vedas (VAY-duhs).

22. Ancient Indian Society
As the Aryans settled into India, people set up towns along India’s Ganges river.
Most people still farmed for a living.
Some specialized in crafts such as carpentry or weaving.
Others took part in trade.
As India’s economy grew, a system of social classes gradually developed.

23. What were the Varnas?
The four social classes of ancient India are called varnas. (vurnehs)
People were considered part of the varnas they were born into.
The most powerful were the Brahmins (BRAH-mihns) and the Kshatriyas (KSHA-tree-uhs)
The Brahmins were the priests (the people who performed religious ceremonies.
The Kshatriyas were warriors who ran the government and the army.

24. What were the Varnas?
Following this were the Vaisyas (VYSH-yuhs) or commoners.
These were usually farmers, craftspeople, and merchants.
Below the Vaisyas were the Sudras (SOO-druhs)
These were manual workers and servants who had few rights.
Most Indians were in the Sudra varna.
The four varna were divded into thousands of smaller groups known as jati (jah-tee).
Many jati were based on the type of work a person did.
They had their own strict rules for diet, marriage, and social customs.

26. What were the Varnas? At the lowest level were the untouchables.
Scholars refer to the varna system as a caste (KAST) system.
In these systems people remained in the same caste or social group for life.
People’s caste determined the jobs they may get.
It even affected who they may be able to get married to.
At the lowest level were the untouchables.
They were not part of the varna system.
They did work that varna Indians would not do, such as trash collecting, skinning animals, and carrying dead bodies.

27. What were the Varnas?
The family was the center of life in ancient India.
Grandparents, parents, and children lived together in extended families.
The elder family members were to be respected.
The oldest male in the family was in charge of the entire household.
Indian men had more rights than women.
Males inherited property unless there were no sons in the family.
Men attended school or became priests, while women were educated at home.

28. What were the Varnas?
In India’s leading families, a boy had a guru (GUR-oo) or teacher until he attended school in the city.
Young men in these family could only marry after finishing 12 years of education.
In India parents set up marriages for their children a tradition that is still practiced today.
In early India boys and girls married in their teens, and people could not get divorced.