Indus Valley Civilization
Harrappan Civilization
The Harappan Civilization
3300 BCE - 2400 BCE
Civilization Emerges on the Indus
• Indus Valley Civilization
– Influenced an area larger
than Mesopotamia or
Egypt
• Earliest Arrivals
– About 7000 B.C.E.,
evidence of agricultural
and domesticated
animals
– By 3200 B.C.E., people
farming in villages along
Indus River
Indus or Harappan Civilization
• Early civilization in India developed in the
Indus River valley.
• A civilization flourished there from 3000 to
1500 B.C.
• Archaeologists have found remains of over a
thousand settlements in this area.
Main Idea 1:
Located on the Indus River, the Harappan civilization also
had contact with people far from India.
• Archaeologists think that the Harappan civilization thrived between 2300
and 1700 BC.
• The Harappan civilization controlled large areas on both sides of the
Indus River.
• The largest settlements were two cities: Harappa and Mohenjo Daro.
• The Harappan civilization was dependent on agriculture and grew a
variety of crops—from wheat and barley to dates and vegetables.
• The Harappans traded with people as far away as southern India and
Mesopotamia.
Indus or Harappan Civilization
• Two sites have ruins
of the major cities
Harappa and
Mohenjo-Daro.
Indus or Harappan Civilization
• The advanced
civilization that
flourished for
hundreds of years in
these cities is called
the Harappan or Indus
civilization.
Indus Valley
• The Indus River is located
in Pakistan. Find it on the
map. It was along this
river that a civilization
developed around 2,500
BCE. It is called the
Indus Valley Civilization.
Two major cities of this
civilization were Harappa
and Mohenjo-Daro.
Government
• Well organized, powerful leaders, possibly priest-
kings, made sure all had steady supply of food
• Buildings suggest government planners
• Had to have mathematical skills to put together
• Planned Cities
– By 2500 B.C.E., people
build cities of brick laid
out on a grid system.
– Engineers create
plumbing and sewage
systems
– Indus Valley called
Harrapan civilization
after Harappa, a city.
Indus or Harappan Civilization
• Public wells supplied water, and bathrooms
used an advanced drainage system.
• A chute system took household trash to public
garbage bins.
• The careful structure of these cities showed
that this civilization had a well-organized
government.
Mohenjo-Daro: The First Planned
City?
• 2,500-1,300 B.C. Indus River
Valley had planned cities
• Mohenjo-Daro was built on
a plateau to deal with
unpredictable river flooding
• To allow easy movement city
streets were divided into
squares
• Houses and shops were built
within these squares
Mohenjo-Daro: The First Planned
City?
• To protect its citizens a citadel, a
fortress, was built in the center
of the city
• Mohenjo-Daro had a heated
religious pool, storage facilities
for crops, two story buildings
made of mud bricks, defensive
towers and a sewer system
• Had a written language which
used pictographs; sign that
expresses a thought or idea
Harappa: A Merchant City
• Harappa, 3,000-1,300 B.C. was a
city built on local and
international trade
• City trade went as far as
Mesopotamia, Persia and
southern India
• Traded intensively in gold, ivory,
spices, cloth and copper
• Harappans domesticated
animals and grew crops
• First to grow cotton and produce
cloth
Indus or Harappan Civilization
• Harappan rulers based their power on a belief in
divine assistance.
• As in all ancient civilizations, religion and political
power were linked closely.
• Priests probably performed rituals to a fertility
goddess to guarantee a good annual harvest.
• The Harappan economy depended on agriculture.
• The chief crops were wheat, barley, and peas.
