The Indus River Valley

Question 1

What makes a civilization

Answer 1

1. Surplus production (When 1 person can produce enough food to feed more than one person. Like 7 people)
2. Cities
3. Specialization of Labor
4. Trade
5. Social Stratifications
6. Centralized government
7. Shared values (generally religion)
8. Writing

Question 2

What were civilizations associated with 5k years ago?

Answer 2

Rivers (Tigris & Euphrates, Yellow River, The Nile, Amazon Basin)

Question 3

Why River valleys?

Answer 3

Flat, well watered, and when they flood they deposit nutrient rich silt

Question 4

Where is the Indus River Valley and what were its rivers?

Answer 4

Located in the flood point of the Indus and Sarasvati River (Between Afghanistan and India)

Question 5

Why is the Indus River Valley a good place to start a civilization and what else makes it awesome?

Answer 5

1. The rivers flooded very reliably twice a year - which meant it had the most available food per acre of pretty much anywhere else on the planet
2. Largest of the civilizations
3. Amazing cities (Harappa and Mohenjo Daro are the best known) with dense, multistory homes and perpendicular streets.
4. The cities and houses were oriented to catch the wind and provide a natural form of AC.
5. Was clean because it had a drainage system to carry waste out of the city.
6. The biggest building in Mohenjo Daro was the Great Bath and it was a public bath - also why the Indus River Valley was clean
7. Had their own seals on what they traded - They traded cotton cloth
8. Were peaceful - little evidence of wars and almost no weapons

Question 6

What time period did the Indus River Valley flourish?

Answer 6

Around 3000 BCE

Question 7

When was the Indus River Valley trading with the Mesopotamians?

Answer 7

As early as 3500 BCE

Question 8

What happened to the Indus River Valley

Answer 8

Sometime around 1750 BCE the Indus Valley civilization declined until it fell into obscurity.

Question 9

Why did the Indus River Valley Decline?

Answer 9

The 3 Historians’ Theories:

1. Conquest: Not having any weapons is a terrible military strategy - Possible the Indus people were overrun by people rom the Caucasus
2. Possibility they destroyed their environment and environmental disaster wiped them out
3. Earthquake changed the courses of the rivers so much that a lot of the tributaries dried up - cities couldn’t sustain, irrigation fell, civilization crumbled