Indus River Valley

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Indus River Valley
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Review

• Rivers
• Names, Geographic Features
• Writing Systems
• Nomads
• Architecture-Buildings
• What was their purpose?

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What We Will Learn Today

• How did geography effect the Indus River Valley
  civilization?

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Indias Geographic Features

• The Indian subcontinent is a large, wedge-shaped
  peninsula that extends southward into the Indian
  Ocean.
• Subcontinent A large region that is part of a
  continent, but is separated from the rest of the
  content in some way.

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Identification of Geographic Features in India
Indus River
Ganges River
Peninsula and/or Subcontinent
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Himalayan Mountains

• This peninsula is surrounded on the north and
  northwest by huge mountains, the Himalayan
  Mountains.
• This has often limited India's contact with other
  cultures. This is known as cultural isolation.
• You decide! How would isolation impact the
  people on Ancient Indus?

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Seasonal winds known as monsoons bring rain every
summer. India is dependent upon monsoons to grow
their crops. Not enough rain brings drought.
When there is too much rain, rivers rise and
cause deadly floods and destruction of crops.
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Civilization in the Indus River Valley Begins

• About 2500 BC, about the time when the pyramids
  were rising in Egypt, the first Indian
  civilizations were forming in the Indus River
  Valley.
• Little is known about these civilizations, but
  Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were most likely twin
  capital cities.

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Purpose of Early Cities

• Each city was large in area and contained a large
  structure located on a hilltop.
• Many believe these structures could have served
  as a fortress or even a temple.

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Film Early History of India
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Complexities of the Cities

• The most historically striking feature of these
  two cities were the way in which they were both
  well planned.
• Each city was laid out in a grid pattern, the
  blocks similar to those seen in modern cities.
• The homes seem to have been built with bricks and
  in a pattern repeated throughout the city.

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Plumbing In the Cities

• In addition, these cities seem to contain houses
  with plumbing systems, including baths, drains
  and water pipes.

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Trade with Sumer

• Most of the people of the Indus valley were
  farmers. They were the first people to grow
  cotton and weave it into cloth.
• There is early evidence of trade with other
  civilizations including Sumer.

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Aryans Take over Indus Valley

• Just like not much is known about the development
  of this region, not much is known about its
  decline.
• For unknown reasons, around 1750 B.C. the Indus
  Valley began to decline. Then about 1500 B.C.,
  nomadic warriors known as the Aryans conquered
  the Indus Valley.

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Huang He River Valley

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Chinas Geographic Features
Huang He or Yellow River

• Chinese civilization grew up in the river
  valley of the Huang He River (a.k.a.the Yellow
  River) and the Yangzi River.

Yangzi River
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Huang Ye River or Yellow River
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The mountains, deserts, jungles and other
geographic features have isolated Chinese
culture. Having little contact with others , the
Chinese believed their culture was the center of
the earth.
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Although China covers a huge area, until
recent times, most people lived only along the
east coast or in the river valley.
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Early Views

• The Chinese called themselves The Middle
  Kingdom because they believed they were at the
  center.
• This is an example of ethnocentrism.

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Shang Dynasty

• About 1650 BC, the Shang gained control of
  northern China. Ruling families began to gain
  control, similar to small kingdoms.
• The Shang set up the first dynasty.
• Dynasty A series of rulers from a family.

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• The ancient civilization was much like others
  with nobility owning the land, merchants and
  craftspeople trading and living in the cities and
  a large population of peasants living in
  surrounding villages.

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Polytheistic Peoples

• Early Chinese people were polytheistic, and
  prayed to many Gods and nature spirits.
• They also looked to dead relatives to help them
  in daily life and to help them please the Gods.

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Ying and Yang

• Many Chinese also believed that the universe held
  a delicate balance between opposing forces.
• The Ying and Yang must be in balance for
  prosperity and happiness to occur in ones life.

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Early Writing System

• The Chinese civilizations made achievements in
  early writing systems that include both
  pictographs and ideographs and is now as one of
  the earliest writing systems.

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Hinduism
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Hinduism has no single founder, but originated
from the mixing of Harappan and Aryan cultures in
ancient India around 1500 BCE.
Hindus believe in one unifying spirit, Brahman.
Brahman can manifest in many, polytheistic, forms
or in one, monotheistic.
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Hinduism is based on the concept of reincarnation
(Spirits return to earth many times in different
forms trying to become one with Brahman). The
soul moves up or down a hierarchy depending on
their behavior in life.
A person moves closer to Brahman by obeying the
law of karma. Karma is the sum of all your
deeds, good and bad. Good deeds involve
following your dharma, or duties dependent on
your position, gender and occupation.
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The caste system (outlawed since 1948) was an
important part of Hinduism. Castes are social
classes into which a person is born and lives
their entire life. If a person has a good karma
they may be reincarnated into a higher caste.
This life
Next life
Good Karma
Higher caste
Born into A caste
Bad Karma
Lower caste
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The caste system separated Indian society into
distinct social classes in which everyone knew
their place and believed that if they followed
the dharma of their caste, they would be
reincarnated into a better caste.
Brahman
Kshatriya
Vaisya
Sudra
Untouchables
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Over the centuries Hindu beliefs were recorded
into a number of sacred texts including the Vedas
and the Upanishads.
The Ramayana is a Hindu creation story.
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Hindus believe the Ganges River is sacred and
often wish to be cremated and have their ashes
sprinkled in the river upon death.
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Buddhism
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• Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama in
  northern India around 560 BCE.
• Gautama was born into a wealthy Hindu family, but
  renounced his wealth to seek spiritual
  enlightenment.
• Buddhism is neither monotheistic or polytheistic,
  instead a path is followed to reach Enlightenment

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Buddhism spread through cultural diffusion to
eastern Asia, including China, Thailand, Korea
and Japan. In other areas, Buddhism was
adapted and took on new forms.
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Buddhism is based on the Four Noble Truths.
3. The way to eliminate suffering is to
eliminate desire.
1. All life is suffering.
2. Suffering is caused by desire for things that
are illusions.
4. Following the Eightfold path will help people
to overcome desire.
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Buddhism has much in common with Hinduism, but
important differences.
Buddhism like Hinduism Reincarnation Karma Dharma
But not Caste system Hindu gods Hindu priesthood
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Sacred Buddhist Texts
                                       
Buddha did not record his teachings, but after he
died, his followers collected them into the
Tripitaka.
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Todays Tibetan Buddhists are led by the Dalai
Lama, who advocates for freedom from China.