With the recent widespread flooding in Pakistan and Afghanistan let's review this.
The Indus Valley Civilization was one of the great centers of civilization in ancient times. My belief is that the reason it didn't reach the heights of contemporary civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia is that this area is so prone to flooding and earthquakes.
The Himalayas are relatively young mountains and the tectonic collision that formed them, between the Indian Subcontinent and mainland Asia, is still going on, as can be seen in the very destructive earthquake of 2005 in this area.
Earthquakes and floods are why civilization moved away from the Indus Valley, southward into India, but this is where India began.
We have seen two great centers of early civilization in the Middle East. There was Egypt and Mesopotamia. We saw Egypt in the postings "Ramesses I" and "The Underground Orion Correlation Theory". Just as the water of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were the basis of the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt was centered around the fertile lands along the Nile River.
But there was a third center of early civilization in the general area, some distance to the east. This third center is not as well-known as Egypt or Mesopotamia. It left no spectacular pyramids like those in Egypt. The remains of it's cities were only just found in the Twentieth Century, and are not as well-known as those in Mesopotamia such as Ur, Nineveh and, Babylon.But what I want to show today is that this third center of early civilization was every bit as important as those in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
What is now referred to as Mohenjo-Daro was a city that was founded about 2500 B.C., and lasted for about 600 years. It is located in Sindh Province of Pakistan, which was part of India until 1947. Just as the other two great centers of civilization in the Middle and Near East were located around great rivers, Mohenjo Daro was built beside the Indus River. The city is believed to have been destroyed by Indus River flooding and earthquakes and rebuilt several times, before finally being abandoned.
There is another city of what is called the Indus Valley Civilization, known as Harappa, about 585 kn (365 miles) northeast of Mohenjo-Daro. The actual names of the cities, or the civilization of which they were a part, is not known. The city of Harappa is simply named for the nearest Pakistani village to it's location. The entire civilization is sometimes referred to as the Harappan Civilization. There are many other settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization, but these are the most familiar.
The Indus Valley Civilization is known for it's handling of water. It had extensive sewers and drains and flood barriers. There was trade with the other two centers of early civilization, Egypt and Sumer. Remember that I speculated on the possible religious connection with Egypt in the posting on the world and economics blog, "Ancient Egypt And Hinduism", https://www.markmeekeconomics.blogspot.com/2009/07/wage-and-price-disparity.html?m=0
A seemingly fascination connection is with the word "industry". The Indus Valley Civilization was very adept at working with metals. The much later Industrial Revolution would revolve around the use of metal, to build such new devices as steam engines. The name seems to have come from the early civilization, but I cannot find any certain connection between the two. Besides, the Indus Valley Civilization was not known until the Twentieth Century.
The reason that the Indus Valley Civilization did not last is either frequent earthquakes, climate change, Indus River flooding, or a combination of all. We can easily see today what caused it to be abandoned in the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, the tectonic collision of India with south Asia which formed the Himalayas is not quite finished yet, and the catastrophic 2010 floods in the same area.
What happened is that the Indus Valley Civilization was abandoned, leaving behind the remains that we see today. The former inhabitants migrated to the southeast. They became the founding people of India, known as the Dravidians.
No one has yet been able to read the writing of the Indus Valley Civilization that has been found, but it is believed to be related to that of the Dravidians. Those in the area today are mostly descended from later invaders, particularly the Mughals.
In the following map of Dravidian languages, notice how one group is far to the northwest of the others. The Brahui, in green, may have been the result of a later migration, rather than a remnant that stayed behind in the original area of the Indus Valley Civilization. But it is located close to this ancestral homeland of the Dravidians.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dravidian_languages#/media/File:Dravidian_subgroups.png
After the inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilization had migrated to the southeast, to become known as the Dravidians, northern India and Pakistan underwent the series of invasions which brought the new people who would make up the rest of modern India. There was the Aryans and then the Persians. The Greek empire of Alexander reached as far east as India, and traces of it remain today.
The Mauryan Empire was led by a famous king, Chandragupta. His son was Bindusara, and then his son was Ashoka. Ashoka is known to history for his conversion to, and support of, Buddhism after seeing the carnage of war. We do not usually think of India as being Buddhist, but it is actually where Buddhism began and the wheel on the Indian flag of today is actually a Buddhist symbol.
What could be called the Golden Age of early India was the Gupta Empire. This is believed to be when the idea of zero came into being, without which the modern world would be impossible. The numbers that we use, the 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, are referred to as "Arabic numerals". But it is probable that they began in India and were brought to the west by Arabs. I explained the vital importance of zero to the modern world in "The Zero Hypothesis", on the progress blog, https://www.markmeekprogress.blogspot.com/2009/06/zero-hypothesis.html?m=0 .
Pakistan first became Moslem when it was conquered by General Muhammad Bin Qasim. This brought Islam to northern India. Moslem states in India, such as the Delhi Sultanate, opposed the three related invaders who would enter northern India later, the Mongols, the Timurids and, the Mughals, as we saw in the posting on this blog, "Why We Should Understand The Mongols".
But India is actually named for the Indus River. The names of the predominant language and religion, Hindi and Hindu, as well as Pakistan's Sindh Province, all come from the name of the river. All of the later invaders, who arrived from the northwest, did not know that they were passing through the territory of the Indus Valley Civilization, where it all began, because cities like Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa were not found until the Twentieth Century.
The following scenes are of Mohenjo-Daro, in Pakistan's Sindh Province.
https://www.google.com/maps/@27.325136,68.132802,3a,75y,95.29h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOHUt0WAG65IHUh1hVVzUR3ug9rPifIgOAtpV7H!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOHUt0WAG65IHUh1hVVzUR3ug9rPifIgOAtpV7H%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-2.4429874-ya95.947296-ro-2.2188778-fo100!7i2508!8i1254
This is Harappa, to the northeast of Mohenjo-Daro, in Pakistan's Punjab Province. The sidewalk for visitors was put there in recent times.
https://www.google.com/maps/@30.6292817,72.8643789,2a,75y,40h,100t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sMmUnZ25OoZnVD3D3Axf2Xg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DMmUnZ25OoZnVD3D3Axf2Xg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D40%26pitch%3D-10%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
Here is the city of Dholavira, in India's Gujarat State. Notice how this city is made of stone, in contrast with the mud brick of Mohenjo-Daro.
https://www.google.com/maps/@23.8870254,70.2140201,3a,75y,341.36h,76.73t,1.02r/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sL_R_-1w9-i5M_q4TNEnvyw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DL_R_-1w9-i5M_q4TNEnvyw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D214.5%26pitch%3D-2.9338646%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
In the following map of Dravidian languages, notice how one group is far to the northwest of the others. The Brahui, in green, may have been the result of a later migration, rather than a remnant that stayed behind in the original area of the Indus Valley Civilization. But it is located close to this ancestral homeland of the Dravidians.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dravidian_languages#/media/File:Dravidian_subgroups.png
After the inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilization had migrated to the southeast, to become known as the Dravidians, northern India and Pakistan underwent the series of invasions which brought the new people who would make up the rest of modern India. There was the Aryans and then the Persians. The Greek empire of Alexander reached as far east as India, and traces of it remain today.
The Mauryan Empire was led by a famous king, Chandragupta. His son was Bindusara, and then his son was Ashoka. Ashoka is known to history for his conversion to, and support of, Buddhism after seeing the carnage of war. We do not usually think of India as being Buddhist, but it is actually where Buddhism began and the wheel on the Indian flag of today is actually a Buddhist symbol.
What could be called the Golden Age of early India was the Gupta Empire. This is believed to be when the idea of zero came into being, without which the modern world would be impossible. The numbers that we use, the 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, are referred to as "Arabic numerals". But it is probable that they began in India and were brought to the west by Arabs. I explained the vital importance of zero to the modern world in "The Zero Hypothesis", on the progress blog, https://www.markmeekprogress.blogspot.com/2009/06/zero-hypothesis.html?m=0 .
Pakistan first became Moslem when it was conquered by General Muhammad Bin Qasim. This brought Islam to northern India. Moslem states in India, such as the Delhi Sultanate, opposed the three related invaders who would enter northern India later, the Mongols, the Timurids and, the Mughals, as we saw in the posting on this blog, "Why We Should Understand The Mongols".
But India is actually named for the Indus River. The names of the predominant language and religion, Hindi and Hindu, as well as Pakistan's Sindh Province, all come from the name of the river. All of the later invaders, who arrived from the northwest, did not know that they were passing through the territory of the Indus Valley Civilization, where it all began, because cities like Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa were not found until the Twentieth Century.
The following scenes are of Mohenjo-Daro, in Pakistan's Sindh Province.
https://www.google.com/maps/@27.325136,68.132802,3a,75y,95.29h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOHUt0WAG65IHUh1hVVzUR3ug9rPifIgOAtpV7H!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOHUt0WAG65IHUh1hVVzUR3ug9rPifIgOAtpV7H%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-2.4429874-ya95.947296-ro-2.2188778-fo100!7i2508!8i1254
This is Harappa, to the northeast of Mohenjo-Daro, in Pakistan's Punjab Province. The sidewalk for visitors was put there in recent times.
https://www.google.com/maps/@30.6292817,72.8643789,2a,75y,40h,100t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sMmUnZ25OoZnVD3D3Axf2Xg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DMmUnZ25OoZnVD3D3Axf2Xg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D40%26pitch%3D-10%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
Here is the city of Dholavira, in India's Gujarat State. Notice how this city is made of stone, in contrast with the mud brick of Mohenjo-Daro.
https://www.google.com/maps/@23.8870254,70.2140201,3a,75y,341.36h,76.73t,1.02r/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sL_R_-1w9-i5M_q4TNEnvyw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DL_R_-1w9-i5M_q4TNEnvyw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D214.5%26pitch%3D-2.9338646%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
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