1. A New Culture Arises

3.  Around 2000 B.C., farmers in the Indus River Valley began to abandon their land  Why?  Climate change  Earthquakes caused floods that destroyed canals  BUT, a new culture arrived from the north gaining power

4.  The newcomers were called Aryans or “noble”  Migrated from central Asia  Aryans rode chariots that helped them gain power  Over time, Aryan culture developed.

5.  First developed in the northern Indus valley and spread east into the Ganges valley.  By 800 B.C., these people learned to make tools and weapons from IRON  New tools, such as iron axes, made it easy to cut down trees and built:  Farms, villages and cities

7.  Early Aryan people were herders and warriors  Organized social class system:  Brahmans  Warriors and nobles  Artisans and merchants  Farm workers, laborers, and servants

8.  Each social class performed special duties  People had to stay in the class they were born into.  Caste system still exists today in India!