Early Civilisation of the Indus Valley, also known as the Harappan civilisation
•The Indus Valley or Harappan was the very first civilisation of India from 2,600 B.C.E. It was located in modern Pakistan, and had three main cities:
*Mohenjo-Dara
*Harappa
*Lothal
•In 2,600 B.C.E Indus writing began, which is about 1,500 years after the first earliest writing of Egypt and Iraq (3000-2000 B.C.E)
•From 2600 – 1900 BCE, the Indus Civilisation combined, this period lasted for 100 years and is called the ‘Harappan Culture Integration Era’, where all the three cities were combined, Mohenjo-Dara, Harappa and Lothal.
Trading
•The Indus Valley civilisation traded with the middle east, such as the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria
•India is one of the major sources for special stones and materials. They traded in luxury goods, specialising in stones and jewelleries. These luxury goods indicate that the Indus Valley Civilisation was wealthy
•The civilisation and culture was at its height in 2,100 B.C.E where it traded directly with Iraq, such as wood, gold and stones.
•It was also wealthy from large agricultural surpluses from wheat, barley and cotton, combined with marine trade with the Middle Eastern countries.
Social Structure
•They had a very sophisticated culture and different social structure from the Middle East
*In the Middle Eastern countries, the social structure was very rigid and hierarchical
•Indus Valley society was highly centralised and it was ruled by a small group of people
•The Indus Valley was a middle-class with a lot of community supervision.
•It was a river culture because the area had a good supply of water
Imagining India 2010 Welcome Tradition and Modernity students. The aim of the blog is simply to promote and facilitate on line discussion between students, and the posting of other items of interest that contribute to our exploration of South Asian traditions and modernities
I wonder if the trade routes from India to China and beyond were on the famous Silk road?? Is it possible to give us an idea of this.
ReplyDeleteI was also wondering about your comment that the Indus valley was a middle class society? What do you mean
I think the silk road began after 200 BCE. The Indus Valley Civilisation existed from 2600 BCE, which is thousands of years before the silk road began, however, they probably did use this trade route later on.
ReplyDeleteThe Harappan were a middle class society, because they were wealthy from sources of precious stones which allowed them to trade with the Middle Eastern Countries. They also lived near the river so they were rich in agricultural surpluses.