Transcript Chapter 13 Geography and the Early Settlement of India

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India is a subcontinent of Asia.
◦ It is attached to Asia yet is surrounded on
three sides by water.
Early walled civilizations appeared around
2500BC.
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The Brahmaputra River starts high up in the
Himalayas.
◦ The water is clear and cold as it rushes over the
sharp rocks.
◦ It becomes slower and deeper as it moves into
the valley.
◦ Seasonal monsoon rains add to the river flow and
therefore cause the river to overflow its banks.
 Monsoon – a large wind that brings lots of rain.
◦ The flooding waters recede and leave behind the
silt that it carried down the river from the
mountains.
◦ The river joins the Ganges River and where they
meet the land is very fertile (good for farming)
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The Deccan Plateau is a triangle-shaped area
between two mountain ranges in southern
India.
◦ A plateau is an elevated, or raised, area of land that
is flatter than a mountain.
◦ The plateau is fairly dry.
◦ There are few rivers.
◦ The soil is black, red or yellow.
 The black soil is rich in iron and good for growing
cotton.
 The red and yellow soil are missing important
minerals.
 Farmers have a hard time growing crops in these two
soils.
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The Eastern and Western Ghats are long
mountain chains near the coast of India.
◦ They form a large V shape when seen from above.
◦ They have steep slopes, narrow valleys, thick
hardwood forests and heavy rains.
◦ Travel is not safe on the Ghats.
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The Ganges River flows across most of
northern India.
◦ It starts in the Himalaya Mountains.
◦ The river deposits rich sediment after the
floods recede.
 The northern plains contain some of the
most fertile farmland in the world.
 The river provides fresh water for the
fertile farms.
 However, during the rainy season, the
river can flood and destroy crops planted
along its banks.
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The Himalayas are located along India’s
northern border.
They form a natural barrier between India and
the rest of Asia.
They are the highest mountain range in the
world.
◦ Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, is part
of the Himalayas.
◦ It reaches 5 ½ miles into the sky!
◦ They may receive 120 inches of snow in a single
snow storm!
◦ The mountain range is growing every year.
 Earthquakes and landslides are very common.
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This mountain range is not as tall as the
Himalayas, but it is still one of the highest in
the world!
Snow and ice permanently cover the steep
slopes and peaks.
Khyber Pass is a 28 mile-long gap between
the mountains.
◦ It connects central Asia to the Indian subcontinent.
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The Indus River begins in the Himalaya
Mountains.
◦ It gets water from the melting snow from the Hindu
Kush mountains.
◦ A wide variety of fish and shrimp are caught.
◦ The Indus River valley contains some of the best
farmland in the world.
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The Indus River has often been compared to
Egypt’s Nile River.
It is an important source of fresh water for
the farmland that lies along its banks.
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The massive Thar Desert in northern India is
mostly sand and stone.
There is very little plant life.
◦ The heat is unbearable.
◦ There are no rivers.
 Rain is rare. Monsoons occasionally bring rain.
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A variety of animals make their home in the
desert region.
◦ For example, reptiles and birds can be found in the
desert region.
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The ancient people of India first settled
around rivers.
◦ The rivers provided food, water, transportation and
trade.
◦ The first settlements appeared around the Indus
and the Sarasvati Rivers.
 The Sarasvati river dried up around 1900 BCE.