Geography of India

1. Geography and Early India
Questions to ask your neighbor:
1. Using the map, discuss what continent
India is located on.
2. What are some countries that border India?
What are some bodies of water that border
India?

2. India is MASSIVE!
• India is a subcontinent.
• A subcontinent is a large
landmass that is smaller
than a continent.
• Usually, subcontinents are
separate from continents
by physical features like
mountains or rivers.
• India is separated from
Asia by the Himalayas to
the north and the Kush to
the west.
India is a
peninsula.
The Himalayas are
the highest mountains
in the world.
The most
important river
to flow from the
Himalayas is the
Indus River.

3. The Indus River
• The Indus River is located
in present day Pakistan.
• When heavy snow in the
Himalayas caused by
monsoons melted, the
Indus flooded.
• It was the silt from this
flood water that made
agriculture possible in
India.
What other civilizations
have relied on rivers to
survive?
Were floods always
a good thing for
farmers?
Why?
Monsoons are seasonal wind patterns that cause
wet and dry seasons.

4. Harappan Civilization
• The civilization that grew in the
Indus River Valley was called
the Harappan Civilization.
• The civilization survived
because of irrigation, surpluses,
and improved agriculture.
• Two major cities in the
Harappan Civilization were
Harappa and Mohenjo Daro.
MOHENJO DARO
H
A
R
A
P
P
A
City streets were paved
with brick and lined with
stores, workshops, markets,
and houses.
The people
who lived
in these
cities
enjoyed
indoor
plumbing.

5. Harappan Achievements
• Harappans developed a system of
weights and measures.
• They made excellent pottery, jewelry,
ivory objects, and were the first to
make cotton clothing.
• Harappans developed India’s first
writing system that scholars have yet
to crack.
• Harappans are believed to have had
kings and a strong central
government, but the truth is
unknown because we can’t read their
writing.
• Compare and contrast the amount of
information we know about
Egyptians with how much we know
about Harappa and its people.

6. Aryan Invasion
• The Harappan civilization
collapsed in the early 1700s BC,
but nobody is sure why.
• A new people, the Aryans, took
over.
• The Aryans were very skilled
warriors who fought with advanced
weapons and chariots.
• Much of what we know about the
Aryans comes from a collection of
writings called the Vedas.
What do you
think
caused Harappan
society to
collapse? While most of the Vedas
were about religion,
some of them were about
battles fought in India.
The Vedas are
collections of
poems, myths, and
rituals written
by priests.

7. Aryan Government and
Society
• Originally, Aryans were nomads,
moving along with herds of
animals.
• Aryans then began to form small
communities where they learned to
farm.
• Each community had its own
leader, or raja, who was usually a
powerful warrior.
• Rajas sometimes became allies but
often times fought one another.
Raja
Herders Farmers How do Harrapan and Egyptian societies differ?

8. Aryan Language
• The most important
language of ancient India
was Sanskrit.
• Sanskrit made it possible
for us to study India’s past
as we have today.
• The language is no longer
spoken but is the root of
many South Asian
languages.
Come up with a sentence that explains the importance of language in the study of ancient cultures.
What source
provides
much of the
information
we know about
the Aryans?