Planned Cities on the Indus Chapter 2 Section

+ Planned Cities on the Indus Chapter 2: Section 3

+ n Geography Geographers often refer to the landmass that includes India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh as the Indian subcontinent n There are mountains to the north n Desert to the east n Both of these items guarded this area from foreign invaders n The Indus and the Ganges are the two rivers that make this area such a fertile land n Like the Tigris, the Euphrates, and the Nile, these rivers carry not only water for irrigation, but also silt which produces rich land for agriculture n Below the Indo-Gangetic Plain, southern part of the subcontinent is a peninsula

+ n Geography Continued Monsoons n Seasonal winds called monsoons dominate India’s climate n From October-February, winter monsoons from the NE blow dry air westward across the county n Then they shift in June n When the summer monsoons fail-drought occurs causes crop disasters but if too much than it floods and could wipe out entire villages n Environmental Challenges n Similar to that of Mesopotamia and Egypt n Yearly floods spread deposits of rich soil n Unpredictable flooding n Cycle of wet and dry seasons brought those monsoon winds

+ n Civilization Emerge in the Indus Historians know less about the Indus than any of the other River Valleys n The main reason is we have not deciphered their writing system n What we do know comes from archaeological digs, however, the floods took away many artifacts n No one is sure how human settlement began in the Indus n Some think they came from the sea via Africa n Some think Northern immigrants made their way through the Hindu Kush mountains

+ Planned Cities n Around 2500 B. C. while Egyptians were building the pyramids the people of Indus were setting up shop n They had strong levees and walls to keep water out n When that didn’t work they made islands to raise the cities above possible flood waters n The largest cities were Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. n The Indus is sometimes referred to as Harappan Civilization n One of the most remarkable achievements of the Indus River Valley was their planning n n n Mesopotamia was a hot mess of buildings connected by a maze of winding streets whereas Indus laid out their cities on a grid system In the center was the Citadel which was the major buildings of the city Engineers of the time also created a plumbing and sewage system n These systems were better than anything built before the 19 th century in other civilizations

+ Harappan Culture n Language n Impossible to decipher n Unlike the other civilizations we have not found and inscriptions that are bilingual n Culture n Uniform in Religion and Culture n Artifacts such as clay and wooden children’s toys suggest a relatively prosperous society that could afford to make nonessentials n Presence of animal images on many artifacts suggest that animals were important part of the culture n Some of these show animals of the area and some show beast with several different animal parts

+ Religion and Trade n n Ruler of the Harappan civilization believed in close ties to religion n We think they were a theocracy however no site of a temple has been found n Figures show what may have been the Hindu figure Shiva Thrived on trade with peoples in the region n Gold and Silver came from the north in Afghanistan n Excellent means of transportation for trade goods n Provided a link to the sea

+ Indus Valley Culture Ends n 1750 quality of building the cities of the Indus Valley declined n Cities fell to decay and really what happened remains a mystery n You can tell that there were shifts in tectonic plates and that could have caused earthquakes and floods and altered the course of the Indus River n Some cities suffered, some survived, and some were destroyed n Another theory is that they suffered soil that was exhausted by overuse n Final theory is that Nomadic people swept into the Valley