Indus River Valley: Geography, Government, and Economics

Indus River Civilization Geography

The Indus River (located mostly in Pakistan, but also in India and China) flooded like the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates rivers. Just like for Egypt and Mesopotamia, the floods had both positive and negative effects because they could be unpredictable but left behind useful soil. This area faced a unique environmental challenge of Monsoons (seasonal heavy wind and rain). Despite these obstacles, the people who formed the Indus River Valley Civilization formed the largest of the Ancient River Valley Civilizations.

Map: the Indus River Valley Civilization in modern-day Pakistan, India, and China. Today they are also called the Harappan Civilization (2800-1800BCE) after one of their two largest cities, Harappa. Unfortunately, we don't know much more about them because we cannot decipher their script. They left us lots of written information about themselves- but we simply cannot read it. So, historians have used the archaeological evidence left behind to surmise a history for them.

Government and Economics

The Harappan Civilization’s government is better understood by what we don’t know than what we do know. From the artifacts, we know they made busts of special people but didn’t leave elaborate burial chambers. This leaves historians confused about their leaders. Did they have a royal family? Was the civilization unified under one leader or many? We know a little more about their economics. Archeologists have found Harappan seal stones dating back to 3500 BCE in Mesopotamia and the Iranian Plateau (where Persia would be 3000 years later!). They have also found evidence of wheeled transportation and boats, which supports the idea of such far-away trade partners. Additionally, archeologists have not found much evidence of weapons and warfare, so this might have also indicated their focus on peace (within their own civilization and with others).

Ultimately, in South Asia, home of the Indus River Valley Civilization, people unified over a shared language (Sanskrit) and a shared belief system (Hinduism), rather than through a unified political system or by military conquests as occurred along the Nile River and in Mesopotamia.

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