Rise and Fall of Indus Civilization

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The Rise

"The story of Indus valley civilization, also known as Harappa civilization, is a story of a people intricately tied to their environment. The geography of India is one of great extremes, encompassing desert, mountains, forest, and jungle". The Indus valley is an area that contains unpredictable periods of floods, drought, and monsoons. Even though they Indus valley civilization lived in one of the harshest climates in the world they have some great military advantages. "The Himalayas provided a great deal of protection from nomadic and military invasions from the north, and other mountain ranges provided similar protection in the west and east. The waterways of the Indus valley provided an excellent resource for trade and commerce throughout India's history, and were vital to the civilizations throughout the Indus". The people in the Indus valley lived simple farmers lives but archaeologist have found huge pots for boiling wheat and other grains. So maybe they was a higher authority than them, that controlled the food and made sure it was equally provided. This authority may also have controlled there internal trade and international trade. "Traded goods included turquoise, copper, and cotton from as far away as Arabia". The commoners were able to have a harvest twice a year because of natural disasters like earthquakes and monsoons that can shake the soil up replenishing the old soil with the new. "... valley civilizations were dependent upon the lush alluvial soil of the Indus River, which produced high yields of cereal grains and cultivated plant materials". These factors all attributed to the rise of of the Indus valley Civilization.

CF Manual (126) Video Notes

The Fall "Various factors contributed to the decline of Mohenjo-Daro. Today the Indus flows to the east of the site and the Saraswati riverbed is dry. The drying up of one river and the shifting of the Indus across the site were undoubtedly major factors contributing to the decline of the ancient city. On the one hand, changes in the river flow patterns and correspondent widespread flooding would have disrupted the agricultural base, but did not destroy the city directly". The farmers used the Saraswati rivers for thousands of years harvesting its power. But the river became smaller and monsoons came less frequently. Soon the river was just dirt, the once mighty river reduced to dried up dirt. Soon newcomers arrived bringing ideas and valuable goods so the Indus civilization assimilated with them and never made the huge impact they had before.

CF Manual (129)