India is a subcontinentsub = belowNorthern PlainDeccan PlateauCoastal Plains
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Today
What does this picture tell youabout the Indus Valley people?
1750 BC
They disappeared and no one knows why.
Aryans1750 BC
We know about them through the Vedas.
Aryans divided their society by occupations.
Priests Warriors
Merchants/HerdersServants/Workers
•You are born into a caste
•You may never leave your caste while you live
•You may only marry someone of the same caste
polytheistic
Shiva
Vishnu
Brahma
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Holy Shit!
Maurya Empire321 BC -- 185 BC
•1st Indian Empire•Secret police•Harsh rule•Asoka (grandson)•Converts to Buddhism
Gupta Empire320 AD—550 AD India’s Golden Age
aka Yellow River
aka “The River of Sorrows”
loess
The Middle KingdomHimalayan Mts.
Gobi Desert
Pacific Ocean
jungles
Huang He River
Yangtze River
Huang He RiverHuang He River
Religion
•polytheistic
•Ancestor Veneration
Yin and Yang
•Balance equals harmony
Yin
•Earth•darkness•female
Yang
•Heaven•light•male
Writing System
•pictographs
•calligraphy
•oracle bones•thousands of characters
Huang He River
Yangtze River
The right to rule by the gods.
•trade route with the West•silk
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