Indus Valley Civilization Quiz Flashcards
Describe the Indus Valley Civilizations geographic location and climate.
It stretches between the mountains of western Pakistan and the That Desert. It’s very hot, and dry until monsoons come.
What is a monsoon, and how does it affect India?
Seasonal winds bring rains from the southwest that feed a second flood. This affects India because it allows India to have another season of fertile land.
What were the two main cities in the Indus Valley?
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
At its height, how many people might have lived in one of those cities?
Harappa, may have had a population 35,000 and Mohenjo-Daro serval times that.
Why do historians know so little about the Indus Civilization?
The Indus Civilization had disappeared and no one knows why. There are many theories but no one is quiet sure.
What type of ‘luxuries’ did the Indus cities have?
They had a lot more metal than other civilizations. They used them for tools and decorative pieces like jewelry.
What were the technological achievements of the civilization?
They had a lot of achievements in the field of irrigation. One example of their achievements is the potter’s wheel
What theories have historians developed to explain the end of the Indus Valley civilization?
Historians believed for the longest time that the civilization was invaded, however they think now that the civilization suffered “systems failure”. Also there could have been a natural disaster as well.
Identify two specific ways that the Indus civilization was DIFFERENT form Mesopotamia and/ or Egypt.
In the Indus civilization they didn’t have a king. Also unlike Mesopotamia they knew when their river would be flooding.
What is meant by the phrase ‘system failure’?
A breakdown of the fragile interrelationship of political, social, and economic systems that sustained order and prosperity.
There is a theory that the Indus actually had the world’s first democracy. Could this have been the case?
Yes, because in the passage there was no mention or anything historians of the Indus civilization having a king or being a monarchy.
Why might women in Mesopotamia have lost stated as time progressed? Did Egyptian women suffer a similar fate?
With a higher degree of urbanization and class stratification may have been the reason why women had lost their freedom in Mesopotamia. In Egypt however, women actually gained more freedom as more poems were released.
The text described Egypt as less urban and less socially stratified that Mesopotamia. What does that mean?
Egypt was more focused on the beauty of the world, with literature, art, and culture. Mesopotamia was all about power and government, so to say that Egypt is less urban and less socially stratified means that they weren’t very big on power like Mesopotamia.
