India Flashcards

1
Q

Where is India located and what is it close to?

A

India is located in South Asia and is right next to the Indian Ocean

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2
Q

What’s important to know about India’s geography?

A

The northern part of India is covered with mountains.

These aren’t just any mountains though! These mountains are the BIGGEST and TALLEST in the entire world! They are called the Himalayan Mountains!

The biggest of the mountains in the Himalayan Mountains is called Mount Everest

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3
Q

What is a monsoon?

A

A monsoon is when there is REALLY BIG changes in wind direction.

Which might not seem like a big deal, but is a REALLY BIG FLIPPING DEAL.

Wind direction is actually why we have rain at all.

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4
Q

What does the Summer monsoon look like in India?

A

In India, during the summer, the wind blows FROM the Indian Ocean to India. This wind also carries lots of clouds and rains to India itself. The summer monsoons are always wet and rainy in India!

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5
Q

What does the Winter Monsoon look like in India?

A

In India, during the winter, the wind blows FROM India itself. This wind, because its coming from the land of India, is carrying all of the clouds that are in India itself to the Indian Ocean. Because all of the clouds are leaving India, no rain gets to fall. The winter monsoons are always dry in India!

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6
Q

Who were the first peoples to settle India?

A

The Harappan

pronounced: HUH-RAA-PIN

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7
Q

Where did the first peoples settle in India?

A

The first peoples (Harappan) settled in the Indus River Valley

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8
Q

What were some major accomplishments of the Harappans?

A

They were the first civilization to have aqueducts that carried running water into the city, in addition to having indoor toilets.

They were the first civilization to also have “standard” weights and measurements.

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9
Q

What caused the decline of the Harappan Civilization?

A

Climate Change

India’s Summer Monsoon rains stopped, which led to waaaay less water available, which meant that the people who lived in the big Harappan cities had to move to other smaller villages.

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10
Q

Which civilization came after the Harappans?

A

The Aryans migrated from central Asia to India.

They intermarried with the descendants of the Harappans, producing mixed babies.

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11
Q

What did the Aryans bring with them?

A

The Aryans brought with them their religious beliefs.

Over time, the Aryans religious beliefs turned into an official religion called Hinduism.

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12
Q

What are the major ideas of Hinduism?

A
  1. Reincarnation
  2. Dharma
  3. Karma
  4. Caste System
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13
Q

What is karma?

A

Karma means that the actions you take in this life can and will affect your future existence

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14
Q

What is Dharma?

A

Dharma refers to a Hindu’s religious duty.

A major religious duty for Hindus was to follow the Caste System.

By NOT following your Dharma, you risked getting BAD KARMA, which could mean you end up getting reincarnated as a lower being on the caste system, or a non-human

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15
Q

What is reincarnation?

A

Reincarnation is the belief that after you die, you are re-born again into the world, either in human or animal form

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16
Q

What is the Caste System?

A

The Caste System is the way Indian society was organized for 2,000-3,000 years.

Whatever caste you were born into, is the caste you had to stay for the rest of your life.

Making friends with, or marrying someone from a different caste would be violating your DHARMA, or religious duty.

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17
Q

What is Buddhism?

A

It’s a religion that was started by Sidhartha Guatama

The major parts of Buddhism are the four noble truths and the 8 fold path

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18
Q

What is the purpose of the 4 noble truths?

A

To inform that suffering is bad but that it can be avoided

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19
Q

What is the purpose of the 8 fold path?

A

The 8 things you must do in order to stop suffering

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20
Q

How are Hinduism and Buddhism similar?

A

Hinduism and Buddhism both emphasize the ideas of reincarnation and karma.

Both of these religions came out of India

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21
Q

Who founded the Mauryan Empire?

A

Chandragupta Maurya

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22
Q

What kind of things are the Mauryans known for?

A

The Mauryans had the largest standing military force during its existence, with over 600,000 soldiers.

They were the first to establish a single currency in India

They established a bureaucracy, with government workers who provided justice and security for merchants and farmers

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23
Q

How did people in the Mauryan Empire know about the laws?

A

The Mauryan Emperor, Ashoka, made laws clear by making rock and pillar edicts.

Rock and pillar edicts were large stones that altered citizens to the rules that governed them

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24
Q

How did the Mauryan Empire help merchants sell things, and what were things sold in the Mauryan Empire

A

In order to help trade, the Mauryan Empire under Ashoka built canals and roads.

The things that merchants and traders would sell would be silk, textiles, and spices.

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25
Q

What did the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka do that was different from previous Emperors?

A

He converted himself to Buddhism and promoted the Buddhism religion so that more people could become Buddhists.

He converted because he felt bad for all the people he killed.

To show how bad he felt, he would construct Stupas, which were Buddhist statues.

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26
Q

Why did the Mauryan Empire collapse?

A

After the death of Ashoka, the Mauryan Empire was unable to hold itself together as people fought for control over the empire.

As a result, India separated into smaller kingdoms, and would remain that way until the rise of a new Empire, the Gupta Empire.

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27
Q

What were important books written during the time of the Mauryans and Guptas?

A
  1. The Bhagavad Gita was written during the time of the Mauryans. The book is about a warrior who is leading an army that is about to go to war. Right before he goes to war, he sees that some of the people he is fighting against are his own family. He decides that the war is not worth spilling all of their blood, and he wants to surrender. However, one of the Hindu Gods comes in and explains to him that because he is a warrior, it is okay to spill their blood. The Hindu God also says that there is no such thing as life and death because we are never really born, and because we are never born, we can never die.
  2. The Kamasutra was written during the time of the Guptas. It translates to “the laws of love”. It was written specifically for higher-caste males and discussed a variety of topics, from grooming and hygiene to selection of wives and lovemaking.
28
Q

How did the Gupta Empire go from being really small, to very large?

A

Gupta Kings often preferred to negotiate with local princes and intermarry with their families. This expanded their influence and territory, without constant military violence.

29
Q

How did the Mauryan Bureaucracy differ from the Gupta Bureaucracy?

A

Mauryans actually had government workers who helped to maintain security and justice for the people

Guptas did not have a bureaucracy, instead, the relied on the local rulers to have local control, as long as they recognized the Gupta as rulers.

30
Q

What was the official language of the Mauryans and Guptas?

A

They used the Sanskrit language for official business, but the common people spoke different languages based on where they lived.

The Mauryans and Gupta did not force people to speak one language, so different regions had different languages.

31
Q

Who was Aryabhatta?

A

Aryabhatta was a Gupta scientist who accurately calculated the length of a solar year (365 days) as well as accurately calculating the circumference of the Earth.

32
Q

What were accomplishments in math for the Guptas?

A

The numerical system we use today was created during the Gupta Empire.

The Guptas were also the first in the history of the world to discover the concept of zero, as well as negative numbers and square roots.

33
Q

What empire came after the Gupta Empire?

A

The Delhi Sultanate

34
Q

What background do the people who started the Delhi Sultanate have?

A

They are mostly Turkish people from central Asia, who had converted to Islam.

35
Q

Who ruled the Delhi Sultanate?

A

Sultans. Who are Muslim rulers. That’s why its called “The Delhi SULTANate”

36
Q

What did Muslim rulers (Sultans) try to do in the Delhi Sultanate to the Hindus?

A

They tried to convert them to Islam.

They targeted the low-caste Hindus, such as the untouchables.

37
Q

In what way is Hinduism the opposite of Islam?

A

Hinduism says that because of the caste system, not all people are created equal before God. Some people (like the untouchables) are less equal than people who are higher caste (like Priests)

Islam on the other hand, says that regardless of who you are, EVERYONE is equal before god.

38
Q

What did Muslims do to convert as many Hindus as they could?

A

They declared Hindus as “people of the book”, and charged the Hindus the Jizya so that they could collect more taxes from Hindus.

As a result, many Hindus converted to Islam to avoid the high taxes.

39
Q

What was the greatest military accomplishment of the Delhi Sultanate?

A

Defeating the Mongols and stopping them from taking over the Delhi Sultanate

40
Q

What’s the most significant artistic accomplishment of the Delhi Sultanate?

A

They were able to successfully blend Hindu architecture and Islamic architecture.

When you have two cultures blend, its called Cultural Diffusion

41
Q

What does Islamic architecture look like?

A

Islamic architecture has a dome for rooftops, and has these long sticks that come out of the ground that are called “Minarets”.

42
Q

What does Hindu Architecture look like?

A

They have a “mountain” appearance to them. That is because these “mountains” were supposed to be sacred.

43
Q

Is this Islamic architecture or Hindu?

A

Islamic

44
Q

Is this Islamic architecture or Hindu?

A

Hindu

45
Q

What empire came after the Delhi Sultanate?

A

The Mughal Empire

46
Q

Who was the greatest of all the Mughal Empire’s Emperors?

A

Akbar the Great

47
Q

What were Akbar the Great’s accomplishments?

A
  1. More Hindus served in his Islamic government than in the Delhi Sultanate
  2. He allowed non-Muslims to NOT PAY the Jizya, BUT only if they served in the military
  3. Where the first Indian civilization to use gunpowder weapons
48
Q

What kind of religion was Mughal Empire?

A

Islamic

49
Q

What led to the decline of the Mughal Empire?

A

British Imperialism.

The British East India Company was a company (like McDonalds) that had conquered small parts of India. They did this because they wanted to make some money.

However, they the Company realized they were stronger than the Mughals, and had better guns, so they took over the Mughal Empire themselves.

50
Q

What was weird about the way the Mughals were conquered by the British East India Company?

A

The British East India company allowed the princes to continue to rule like they had, but the princes had to obey whatever the British said to do.

51
Q

What caused the famine that led to 33% of all Indian people dying?

A

The British East India company ordered the Princes to tell farmers to stop growing food and to grow more cotton instead.

When a drought happened, and the small crops that were for food didn’t grow anything, 33% of the Indian people died.

52
Q

What caused the Indian mutiny of 1857?

A

A rumor caused it.

The rumor was that the British were putting pig fat and cow fat on the bullets that would be used for shooting guns.

Because of this, many sepoys (sepoys are Indian soldiers fighting for the British) betrayed the British army and tried to fight them.

Tens of thousands of British civilians, merchants, and allies of the British died.

53
Q

What was the major effect of the British Mutiny?

A

The British East India Company lost control of India because the British government didn’t like the job they were doing.

So basically, the British government told the company that they couldn’t control India anymore. So the British government decided to control it themselves.

54
Q

What do you call the time period that starts with…

The control of India by the British East India Company

all the way until

the British allow India their full independence?

A

This time period in Indian history is called the “British Raj”

55
Q

Indian soldiers, who served in the British army, were called what?

A

Sepoys

56
Q

What is the Indian National Congress?

A

It was a political party in India. The Indian National Congress supported full 100% independence for India so that India could become its own country.

57
Q

Who was the most important figure of the Indian National Congress?

A

Mahatma Ghandi

58
Q

What did Ghandi fight for, and what was his strategy?

A

Ghandi wanted India to be its own country, fully 100% independent from the British.

His strategy was to be 100% peaceful/non-violent.

59
Q

What is a boycott?

A

A boycott is when you are able to organize a majority of a specific group of people to not buy something that someone made.

For instance, if you were Anti-Trump, and it turned out that Walmart was supporting President Trump, you could say “I want to boycott Walmart for supporting Trump”. By boycotting Walmart, you wouldn’t buy anything that had to do with Walmart.

60
Q

What is Civil Disobedience?

A

Civil Disobedience is breaking the law for a good cause.

Civil Disobedience is a form of protest.

When the British government made it illegal for people in India to make their own salt, Ghandi encouraged people to produce their own salt anyway, which was breaking British law

61
Q

How did the British give India their independence?

A

They split India into two different countries in what was called “The Partition of India”.

One of them was called Pakistan, which would be a majority Islamic country

The other was called India, which would be a majority Hindu country?

62
Q

What happened when the British partitioned India?

A

Hindus who lived in the newly created country of Pakistan migrated to India

Muslims who lived in the newly created country of India migrated to Pakistan

During the migrations, religious violence erupted between Muslims and Hindus, killing one million people.

63
Q

Who rules India today?

A

Home to almost 1.5 billion people (20% of the world’s population) India is supposed to be a secular country, according to their constitution.

However, in 2014, the newly elected Prime Minister of India (Narendra Modi) *wants* to make India a Hindu country where secularism is no more and Hindus have more power in government. He has not been successful so far.

64
Q

What is secularism or a secular country?

A

To be Secular/Secularism means that the government doesn’t force you to believe in a specific religion.

The USA is a secular country because the government doesn’t force you to believe in any particular God.

Countries that are not secular will usually persecute whoever is in the religious minority. So secularism is a great thing for people who believe in the minority religion.

65
Q

What does Pakistan look like today?

A

Pakistan is not a secular country, because the official religion of Pakistan is Islam.

Pakistan (home to 200 million people) is not a stable country today, due to the influence of terrorist groups. These terrorist groups are made up of Islamic extremists who kill anyone who talks trash about Islam or Allah.