5-1
describe Harappa and Mohenjo Daro
- 300 miles apart but very similar - both were well planned - each stood near a towering fortress where defenders could look down at the cities - brick streets crossed at right angles and lined with storehouses, workshops, market stalls and houses - both cities had public wells
describe the Aryan government
- Aryan political system was unlike the Harappan political system - Aryans lived in small communities based on mostly family ties - no single ruling authority existed - each group had its own leader, often a skilled warrior
describe the Aryan society
- Aryans took along their herd of animals as they moved, like the nomads - eventually settled in villages and began to farm - did not build big cities, unlike the Harappans - each village was governed by a raja - villagers farmed some land for the raja - they used other sections of the land for their cows, horses, sheep and goats
describe the Harappan writing system
- India's first writing system - historians think the Harappans had strong kings and a strong central government - people may have worshipped king as god
what is a major source of information about the Aryan society
- Sanskrit records
what is a raja
- a leader who ruled a village and the land around it - many rajas were related but didn't always get along - sometimes fought together against a common enemy - often went to war against each other - Aryan groups fought each other nearly as often as they fought outsiders
when and how did the Aryans arrive and spread
- arrived in India in the 2000s BC - crossed into India through mountain passes in the northwest (Himalayas + Kush) - after many centuries they spread east and south into central India - moved even farther east into the Ganges River Valley
who were the Aryans
- civilization that arrived in the Indus Valley not long after the Harappan civilization ended - originally from area around the Caspian Sea in Central Asia - became the dominant group in India
when and why did the Harappan civilization end
- ended by the early 1700s BC - no definite reason - could be due to natural causes like floods or earthquakes
what was the Harappan civilization
- first Indian civilization that grew in the Indus River valley was the Harappan civilization - many Harappan settlements were found along the Sarasvati river, southeast of the Indus - towns and cities appeared in India as farmers produced surpluses of food
describe the climate of India
- mostly hot and humid - heavily influenced by monsoons (seasonal wind patterns that cause wet and dry seasons) - monsoon winds blow into India from the Indian Ocean, bringing heavy rain that can cause terrible floods (100-200 in.) during summer - winds blow down from mountains and force moisture out of India and create warm, dry winters
describe the Indus River
- one of the major rivers that flows out of the Himalayas - the Indus River valley was the location of India's first civilization - located in present-day Pakistan, west of India - flooded when snow from Himalayas melted - flooding left behind a layer of fertile silt that created ideal farmland for settlers
what did archaeologists discover near Harappa
- ruins of the Harappan civilization - that the civilization thrived between 2300 BC and 1700 BC
describe the Aryan language
- the first Aryan settlers did not read or write - they had to memorize the poems and hymns that were important in their culture, such as the Vedas - if people forgot the poems and hymns they would be lost forever
describe Sanskrit
- the language that the Aryan poems and hymns were composed by - the most important language of ancient India - was initially only a spoken language - people later learned how to write it down and keep records - Sanskrit is the root of many modern South Asian languages
describe Aryan religious writings
- their religious writings are known as the Vedas - a collection of poems, hymns, myths and rituals that were written by Aryan priests
describe the land in India
- vast desert to the west of the Himalayas - rest of India is covered by fertile plains and rugged plateaus - several major rivers flow out of the Himalayas
describe the Harappan civilization in detail
- very advanced - most houses had indoor plumbing - artisans made excellent pottery, jewelry, ivory objects and cotton clothing - they used high-quality tools and developed a system of weights and measures
what mountain ranges are in India
Himalayas, the highest in the world - north Hindu Kush with paths into India - west
what is a subcontinent
a large landmass that is smaller than a continent
what makes India a subcontinent?
mountains largely separate India from the rest of Asia
what was the Harappan civilization named after
the modern city of Harappa in Pakistan (population of 40,000 people)
what are the greatest sources of information about the Harappan civilization
the ruins of the cities Harappa and Mohenjo Daro
