Tiffany Alexander

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Tiffany Alexander

• Chapter 3
• THE INDUS VALLEY
• KINGDOMS OF THE GANGES
• EARLY CIVILIZATION IN CHINA

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Getting Started

• Before getting started, there are a list of
  vocabulary words that may help you along to
  better understand this chapter.
• Subcontinent this is a large landmass that juts
  out from a continent.
• Plateau raised area of level land
• Monsoon is a seasonal wind
• Castes social groups into which people are born
  and which they can not change
• Mystics these are people who devote their lives
  to seeking spiritual truth.
• Clans groups of families who claim a common
  ancestor.
• Calligraphy fine hand writing
• Feudalism was a system of government in which
  local lords governed their own lands but owed
  military service and other forms of support to
  the ruler
• Veneration special regard for
• Dynastic cycle the rise and fall of dynasties

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THE INDUS VALLEY

• The Indus valley is a subcontinent that is
  located in the region which is known as South
  Asia.
• The Indus valley is where India gets its name
  from.
• The northern border of the Indus Valley is marked
  by snow covered mountain ranges known as the
  Hindu Kush and the Himalayas.
• These mountains hindered the Indian people from
  having contact with other lands yet helped them
  to have a distinct culture.
• Two main cities in the Indus Valley were Harappa
  and Mohenjo- Daro. Each of these were dominated
  by hill top structures that were so carefully
  planned out which showed how these cities were
  well organized goverments.

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Geography of India

• The Indian subcontinent is a huge, wedge-shaped
  peninsula extending into the Indian Ocean .
• This land is divided into three major zones.
• Northern Plane
• Triangular Deccan
• Coastal Plains

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THE NORTHERN PLANE

• The northern plain is a fertile, well- watered
  region that lies just south of the mountains in
  India.
• This plain is watered by three major rivers.
• The Indus River
• The Ganges
• The Brahmaputra
• These rivers are very important to the Indian
  people because they help in contributing to their
  agriculture. They are also very sacred to the
  people who live in India for religious reasons.

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The Deccan

• The Deccan is a triangular plateau that juts into
  the Indian Ocean.
• The Deccan is not as populated as the northern
  plain because the land is less fertile there
  which inhibits people from wanting to live in
  this particular area.
• It is very dry and unproductive and lacks the
  impacts of the rivers in the northern plain.

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Weather in India

• Indian life is greatly effected by its weather.
• India is most known for its monsoons which occur
  at different times of the year and have different
  effects on the people which live there.
• In October, the winter monsoons bring hot, dry
  air which comes from the northeast. This withers
  crops and affects India's farmlands.
• During May however, wet summer monsoons blow from
  the southwest and bring drenching rain that
  downpours daily on the Indian subcontinent.

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The Coastal Plains

• Indias third region, the costal plains are
  located between two mountain ranges.
• These two mountain ranges are the Eastern and
  Western Ghats.
• It is very moist in the coastal plains because
  they get heavy seasonal rains which are good for
  agriculture.
• The seas in the coastal plains are great for
  trading as well as fishing.

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The Start of Indian Civilization

• India although great in size, had many diverse
  languages and traditions which made it hard to
  unite and come together as a people.
• The earliest Indian civilization emerged about
  2500 B.C but there is little to know about how it
  came about.
• Most people who lived in the Indus Valley were
  farmers which grew a wide variety of crops such
  as barley, melons, dates and wheat.
• People who werent farmers were merchants and
  traders.
• The people of this time were religious people who
  were polytheistic. They believed in a mother god
  and sacrificed many animals including the bull.
  With a veneration for cattle.

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The Disappearance of the Indus Valley

• The Indus valley had many ordered cities which
  slowly began to decline in keeping up their
  standards.
• Some believe that damages to local environments
  may have contributed to the decline or too many
  trees were cut down in order to fuel the ovens of
  brick makers.
• Others believe that deathblow fell when nomadic
  people arrived in larger numbers from the north.
• Whatever the case, many scholars are unclear
  about what exactly may have happened to the
  people of this time.

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The Beginning of a New Civilization

• Over many centuries the Aryans were a warlike
  people who destroyed cities in the Indus valley,
  however they later became builders of the same
  habitat in which they terminated.
• Their civilization began northeast along the
  Ganges River rather than northeast along the
  Indus.
• Aryans migrated across Europe and Asia seeking
  water and food from their horses as well as their
  cattle.

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Aryan Society

• The early Aryans built no cities and left behind
  not much about themselves, however they did leave
  behind the Vedas which is their collection of
  prayers, hymns and religious teachings.
• Many of the priest of this time recited the Vedas
  for thousands of years before they were ever
  written down. As a result , the period starting
  from 1500 B.C to 500 B.C is known as the Vedic
  Age.
• As mentioned before, the Aryans were warriors who
  fought in chariots with bows and arrows. They
  valued cattle which provided them with food and
  clothing and loved eating, drinking, music and
  diced games.
• Later these people became settled farmers. But
  their new change didnt interfere with their
  value in animals.

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Religious beliefs of the Aryan People

• Just as the first inhibitors of the Indus Valley,
  the Aryan people were also polytheistic. They
  worshipped many gods and goddesses which embodied
  natural forces such as the sun and the sky.
• Many of their gods were Indra, the chief god of
  war, Varuna the god of order and creation and
  Agni the god of fire.
• The Aryans called on their gods for wealth,
  health and victory in the time of war.
• Many of the people were Mystics who used
  meditation and yoga for spiritual and bodily
  discipline.

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Change in Aryan Society

• As the Aryan people began to conquer lands they
  also adopted the ways of the people they
  overtook.
• Gradually, the Aryans yielded to their nomadic
  ways and began to settle into villages where they
  grew crops.
• The Aryan society started to spread eastward
  where they continued to colonize. Due to their
  expansion, they learned to make tools out of
  iron. Some such as iron axes and weapons.
• As the Aryans society grew a new Indian
  civilization emerged. There started a new culture
  which was rooted in both Aryan and Dravidian
  traditions.
• In thanks to the blending of these cultures, the
  Indian people had developed a written language
  known as Sanskrit.

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Contributions of the Aryans

• The Aryans were the first of many to travel into
  India via the Hindu Kush and leave a lasting
  affect.
• Scholars today are not left with much about the
  Aryan migration however, they know that their
  traditions and beliefs were the foundation for
  later Indian civilization.
• For example, the religious beliefs of the Aryans
  would evolve into major world religions such as
  Hinduism and Buddhism.

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The Start of Civilization in China

• The ancient Chinese land was called Zhongguo or
  the Middle Kingdom. Chinas early civilization
  began in the valleys of the Hung He or Yellow
  River.
• At the beginning of this time, China is the most
  isolated from its near by lands because of its
  physical barriers.
• In the west and southwest of China there are high
  mountain ranges known as the Tien Shan and the
  Himalayas.
• Toward the southeastern part of China thick
  jungles prevented communication with Southeast
  Asia.
• Despite the Chinese isolation, they traded with
  neighboring people which helped Chinese goods to
  be spread throughout the Middle East.

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China under the Shang Dynasty

• From about 1650 B.C to 1027 B.C a group of people
  called the Shang gained control of northern
  China.
• During the Shang period noblemen as well as
  noblewomen fought in battles and drove off
  nomadic invaders.
• Shang kings and princes were the head of
  important clans in a centralized government.

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Social Classes in Shang Society

• The social classes of the Shang dynasty was that
  of other early civilizations.
• In this society the royal family was first
  followed by the noble warriors. Then were
  artisans and merchants which produced goods for
  nobles and exchanged food and traded with people.
  And last were the peasants. Most of the people in
  Shang China were that of a poor lifestyle. They
  lived in cluttered farming villages or pit houses
  where they lived grueling lives.

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A System of Writing Emerges

• The ancient Chinese developed a system of writing
  in which they used pictographs and ideographs
  which were signs that expressed thoughts or
  ideas.
• The Chinese have over 10,000 characters or
  symbols that represent their way of communication
  whereas we only have over two dozen letters in
  our Alphabet.
• In their way of writing the Chinese mastered the
  art of calligraphy into an elegant art form.
• By using the same system of writing, people in
  China who could not understand each other in
  language could however understand each other in
  writing.

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Religious Beliefs

• The Chinese people prayed to many gods and nature
  spirits. One god that they prayed to was a mother
  goddess who brought plant and animals to earth.
• But they didnt believe that mere mortals were
  the ones who could pray directly to the gods but
  instead that only the spirits of the greatest
  mortals could pray on their behalf.
• These great spirits were that of kings who have
  departed and so the family of which is still
  alive must pray to their great ancestor on behalf
  of the whole community which ensured a plentiful
  harvest and victory in time of war.

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Rise of the Zhou Dynasty

• In 1027 B.C the Zhou peopled marched out of their
  land in order to overthrow the Shang Dynasty.
• The Zhou believed that in right to the Mandate of
  Heaven, or divine right to rule, they had every
  right to take over. They also believed that
  because of the cruelty of the last king of the
  Shang Dynasty, that the gods had sent them to
  punish him.
• The Zhou Dynasty believed that due to the
  dynastic cycle as well as the Mandate of heaven,
  if a dynasty provided good government than the
  gods would be on their side.
• However, of they did not then the Heaven or gods
  would be against them.

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The Start of Feudalism and Economic Growth

• Under the Zhou, China became a a feudal state in
  which it rewarded supporters by granting them
  control over particular region.
• During the Zhou Dynasty Chinas economy began to
  grow. New developments such as iron axes and iron
  plows helped in building and farming. Also there
  was the production of growing new crops such as
  soybeans.
• Feudal lords of this time organized large scale
  irrigation works which helped in making farming
  more productive.
• The Chinese also began to use money for the first
  time. This made trade easier and more efficient.
• Due to economic expansions a rise in population
  also occurred. Because of the Zhou Dynasty, China
  in this time flourished in prosperity.

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QUIZ TIME!!!
1. The history of which classical civilization
was shaped by the monsoon cycle, the
Himalaya Mountains, and the Indus
River? (1)Maurya Empire (2)
ancient Greece (3) Babylonian Empire
(4) ancient Egypt
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2. In which region did Chinas earliest
civilizations develop? (1) Gobi Desert
(2) Yellow River Valley (3) Himalaya Mountains
(4) Tibetan Plateau
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Base your answers to questions 6 and 7 on
the statements below and on your knowledge of
social studies. Speaker A We must return to the
ideas of the Bible. We should encourage people to
read and interpret religious scripture for
themselves. Speaker B Our people worship many
gods, who control the peoples activities, such
as birth, death, and commerce. Speaker C Our
people received the Ten Commandments at Mount
Sinai. We are few in number, but we will bring
these commandments to all people. Speaker D We
trace our religions birth to the flight of our
greatest prophet from Mecca to Medina. 3.Which
speaker is expressing an idea from a
polytheistic religion? (1) A (3) C (2) B (4) D
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4. Archaeological studies of the Indus Valley
cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro show evidence
of (1) dynastic rule (2) social
equality (3) Monotheism (4) urban
planning
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5.One way in which the Huang He, the Indus,
and the Nile civilizations were similar is that
they each (1) flourished by trading salt and
gold (2) developed monotheistic religions (3)
suffered repeated invasions (4) originated in
river valleys
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Answers

• THE ANSWER TO 1 IS 1
• THE ANSWER TO 2 IS 2
• THE ANSWER TO 3 IS 2
• THE ANSWER TO 4 IS 4
• THE ANSWER TO 5 IS 4

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STUDY HARD FOR THE REGENTS !!!

• GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!