India

Outcome: Geography & Early Civilization

Constructive Response Question

1. Describe the geography of the Indian Subcontinent:

2. Trace the development and significance of the

civilization that developed in the Indus River Valley.

What will we learn?

1. Geography of India

2. Indus River Valley cultures

3. End of the Indus River Valley cultures

Geography & Early Civilization

1. Setting the Stagea. Not much knwn of early Indian cultr. b/c lang. cant b translated.

Indian

Sub-Continent

Geography & Early Civilization

2. The Geography of the Indian Subcontinent

a. Ind, Paki, Bangladesh make up landmass of Ind. Subcontinent

b. Area seperate from Asia by mny mountain ranges, highest in the wrld

i. Hindu Kush, Karakorum, & Himalayas

Indian

Sub-ContinentMountain

Ranges

Geography & Early Civilization

c. Indus River

i. Farm posble in areas dirctly watered by Indus

ii. Lowr Indus Valley occupied by Thar Dsrt.

Geography & Early Civilization

d. Ganges River

i. Gnges flws frm the Himalayas & across nrthrn Ind.

ii. joins Brahmaputra Riv as flows to Bay of Bengal

Indian

Sub-ContinentRiver

Systems

Geography & Early Civilization

e. rivers make up area called the Indo-Gangetic Plain, grt for agri, transpt, and irrig

f. Season winds cald monsoons dom. Ind’s climate

g. Environ challenges

i. Yearly floods- unpredictable

ii. Riv. Can chge course

iii. Monsoons cycles unpredic wet and dry seasns

Indian

Sub-ContinentIndo-Gangetic

Plain

Monsoons

Early Civilization

Along the Indus

Geography & Early Civilization

3. Civilization Emerges on the Indus

a. Historians cnt trnslt the Indus systm writing

b. Unkn civilization bgn evidence shws peep using domesticated goats and sheep

circa 7000 B.C.

c. The Indus Valley civ. aka Harappan Civ b/c archeological discov. made there

d. Grt achvmnt City planning

e. Usd grid syst/ Mesopotamia’s usd maze of winding strts

f. Engineers used plumbing system simlr to 19th century plbing

g. This suggst that Indus peep had strng cntrl govrnt

Grid System

Mohenjo-Daro

Plumbing

Geography & Early Civilization

4. Harappan Culture

a. Housing separations suggsts divs in society not great

b. Toys&clay pots sggst prosperous society

c. Few weapns mnt conflict was limited

d. Animals important

e. Harappan civ. a theocracy, Hindu

Geography & Early Civilization

5. Indus Valley Culture Ends

a. Circa 70s sug shift in tectonic plates caused earthquakes, flooding, and caused the

Indus to change course

b. Cities survived the disasters but other cities food supplies were affected

c. Aryans would sweep into the area and take control

Constructive Response Question

1. Describe the geography of the Indian Subcontinent:

2. Trace the development and significance of the

civilization that developed in the Indus River Valley.

Ancient China

Outcome: Geography & Culture

Constructive Response Question

1. Describe China’s geography and give

examples as to how the Chinese

adapted to it?

What will we learn?

1. Geography of China

2. The earliest dynasties (Xia, Zhou, Shang)

3. Development of Chinese culture

Satellite Image

Geography & Culture

1. Setting the Stage:

a. Unlike othr cult. civilization began in China 4000 years ago its still arnd

Geography & Culture

2. The Geography of China

a. Natural barriers isolated ancient China

b. East: The Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and Pacific Ocean

c. West: Taklimakan Desert and 15,000 ft Plateau of Tibet

d. Southwest: Himalayas

e. North: Gobi Desert and Mongolian Plateau

f. Mountain ranges and desert dominate 2/3 china

Geography & Culture

g. River Systems

i. Huang He (Yellow River) in the north

1. Deposits yellowish silt called loess.

2. Loess blown from deserts into riv

Huang He (Yellow River)

Geography & Culture

i. Chang Jiang (Yangtze) in ctral China

1. Flows east frm the Yell. Sea

2. 3,988 miles lng, longest riv Asia

Geography & Culture

h. Environmental Challenges

i. Disastrous floods frm the Huang He

ii. Trade was difficult became self-dependent

iii. Geography did not make invasion impossible

Geography & Culture

i. 10% of China’s land is suitable for farming

j. farmable land is on North China Plain Yellow River and Yangtze

Earliest Dynasties

Zhou & Shang Culture

Geography & Culture

3. The Development of Chinese Culture

a. humans lived in SW China 1.7 million years ago

b. 1st Chinese dynasty, The Xia Dynasty, circa 2000 B.C.

c. Chinese…anyone outside their culture barbarians

d. Chin. view center of civilized world

e. Chinese name for China was Middle Kingdom

f. Family central Chinese society; respect parents

g. Women as inferiors

h. Girls arrange marriage bwt 13 and 16

Geography & Culture

i. Religion: Spirits of ancestors bring good fortune; not seen as gods

j. Oracle Bones- priests scratch question on bones, hot poker, bone would

split, interpret cracks

Geography & Culture

k. No links between spoken and written language

l. One could read Chinese without being able to speak the language

m. All parts of China learned the same system of writing even if spoke different

language thus unifying parts of China

n. Know 1500 characters just to be considered literate; scholars knew 10,000

characters

Chinese alphabet

Zhou dynasty contributions

Geography & Culture

4. Zhou and the Dynastic Cycle

a. 1027 B.C. a people called the Zhou overthrew the Shang, culturally similar

b. Zhou believed in Mandate of Heaven or divine approval to rule

c. Mandate of Heaven became central to Chinese view of government

d. This helped explain the dynastic cycle: a pattern of rise, decline, and

replacement of dynasties if the spirits did not approve of one king’s rule

Mandate of Heaven

Dynastic Cycle

Geography & Culture

4. Zhou and the Dynastic Cycle

e. The use of royal families controlling different regions was known as feudalism

f. Zhou Dynasty innovated roads/canals, coined money, blast furnaces

g. The Zhou were generally peaceful

h. Later years of Zhou Dynasty known as warring states period due to

weakened power of Zhou kings, attacking nomads and greedy lords

Warring States period

Geography & Culture

• Result: China’s culture has been shaped by the geography surrounding it’s people. A highly

evolved culture that began with the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties will become one of the

world’s oldest. This unique people will be regularly disrupted by rise and fall of

governments, that will later be known as the dynastic cycle. Our studies in this unit will focus

on 5 of those dynasties: The Qin, The Han, The Tang, The Song, and the Yuan.

Constructive Response Question

1. Describe China’s geography and give

examples as to how the Chinese

adapted to it?