Ancient Indian History

• The history of India begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens as long as 75,000 year.
• The first people seem to have reached India from Africaaround 40,000BC.
• The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent from c. 3300 to 1300 BCE, was the first major civilization in India.

• Indus Valley Civilization Their Major Cities And Their Features:

  Mohenjodaro

  The literal meaning is THE MOUND OF DEAD. Mohenjodaro (Sind) is situated on the right bank of the Indus.It was the first city to be discovered in 1922 by Dr. R.D.Banerjee.The chief feature of Mohenjodaro, that amazes all curious spectators, is its superb town planning. The streets, which divided the city into neat rectangular or square blocks, varied in width but always intersected each other at right angles.
  The city had an elaborate drainage system consisting of horizontal and vertical drains, street drains and so on. The architecture of the buildings was clearly intended to be functional and minimalist, and certainly not to please the aesthete.
  
  

  Harappa

  Harappa (Punjab, Pakistan) is located on the left bank of the Ravi.People of Harappa knew the process of making tarcoal.
  
  

  Chanhudaro

  Chanhudaro lies on the left bank of the Indus about 130 km south of Mohenjodaro. It is situated in Sindh(Pakistan)
  
  

  Kalibangan

  Kalibangan (Rajasthan) was on the banks of the river Ghaggar which dried up centuries ago.It was discovered in 1953.
  
  

  Lothal

  Lothal is at the head of the Gulf of Cambay.A dockyard has been found here.
  
  

  Banawali

  Banawali (Haryana) was situated on the banks of the now extinct Sarasvati River.
  
  

  Surkotada

  Surkotada (Gujarat) is at the head of the Rann of Kutch.
  
  

  Dholavira

  Dholavira (Gujarat) excavated is in the Kutch district. It was discovered in 1992 by J.P.Joshi.

  The Harappa people used an early form of writing based on hieroglyphs, like theEgyptians. But we can't read it, because there isn't very much left of it.

  
  

  The Vedic Age/ARYAS(1500-800 BC)

  About 1500 BC, India was invaded by Indo-Europeanpeople. These people came from the area between theBlack Sea and the Caspian sea. Between 2500 and 2000 BC, many Indo-Europeans migrated all over Eurasia. Some went to Europe and became theRomans and the Greeks, some settled in Turkey and became the Hittites. Others migrated south-east instead. Some of them stopped in Iran, while others continued south-east to Pakistan and India. The slow migration did not arrive in northern India until about 1500 BC. In India, the Indo-Europeans are usually called the Aryans.

  Some people have disputed this arrival of the Indo-Europeans, and if you search the web you will find some sites saying that it never happened. But there are written records of the language that these Indo-European people brought with them to India, Sanskrit. We can read Sanskrit, and we can easily see that many words in Sanskrit are basically the same as in other Indo-European languages. In addition, recent genetic evidence supports the arrival of the Indo-Europeans.

  In addition to their language, the Aryans brought their gods with them to India. These gods form the basis of the Rig Veda and other sagas which were first written down in Sanskrit. They also brought the domesticated horse.

  The Aryans first settled along the Indus River, in the same place where the Harappa people had lived. They settled down and mixed with the local Indian people. They lived there from about 1500 BC to about 800 BC. It seems to be at this time that the caste system got started in India.About 800 BC, the Aryans learned how to use iron for weapons and tools. They probably learned to work iron from the people of West Asia, the Assyrians, who had learned it from the Indo-European Hittites. Once the Aryans learned how to use iron, they used their new weapons to conquer more of India, and moved to the south and east into the Ganges river valley. They settled there not long after 800 BC.

  
  

  
  

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