When entering Chapter 2 "Ancient Civilizations of Asia and America" in the textbook, the first thing to do is " Indus Valley Civilization , one of the four major civilizations in the past. ] Will be learned.
This time Indus Valley Civilization Before entering, we will investigate the geography and climate characteristics of India.
Let's take a look at the geographical features of India
The Indus Valley Civilization, learned as the first civilization of ancient India, is a civilization that took place around the Indus River, where most of the river flows through what is now Pakistani territory. The map below shows the westernmost river.
Indus River Is a 3,180 km long river that begins on the Tibetan Plateau in the Tibetan Autonomous Region and flows into the Arabian Sea. The estuary has a wide triangular shape (=estuary), and it seems that a phenomenon called the tidal bore, which is rare in the world, will occur.
Indus River Thar Desert on the east side of Spreads, Indus River And Thar Desert On the west side of the mountain, the Sulaiman Mountains has a total length of 450 km and a maximum peak of 3,487 m. Are in a row. Himalayas And Hindu Kush It feels low because there are high mountains in the neighborhood, but you can see that it is a reasonable height because it is about 300m lower than Mt. Fuji, the highest peak in Japan.
Himalayas Needless to say, it is a very high mountain with the highest peak in the world. The Karakoram Mountains to the north Himalayas in a broad sense This mountain range is also very high because it is included in (most of the top 100 height rankings on the wiki are the Himalayas and the Karakoram Mountains).
As you can see from the map, ancient India was a developed region at that time Orient World And (I haven't written an article yet) China A wide variety of civilizations were born from the location of the place between the two.
At the same time, the area around India is surrounded by some of the highest mountains and seas in the world, hard to attack, and conversely hard to attack . However, I think that few dynasties have acquired a territory as large as the Orient world (the Indian subcontinent itself is a fairly large land).
Let's see the climate of India
Land
Indus Valley Civilization Was cultivated by the fertile soil on the banks of the Indus River. Egypt Similarly, fertile soil is said to have been carried by flooding rivers, and in ancient India, " flood farming " ] Is being done.
Karakoram Mountains in the north And Himalayas Is new orogenic belt It is an area called. In a relatively new era (still in progress), the region was active in orogeny, with short periods of weathering and high, steep mountains.
Areas with active orogeny are volcanic rock-rich areas But there is also. Soil was created by weathering and scraping, part of the mountain range that collapsed due to its own weight, flowing to the neighborhood and alluvium, and magma ejected by volcanic activity and chilled and solidified volcanic rocks were scraped.
India's Deccan Plateau A lava plateau composed of basalt (one of the volcanic rocks) spreads around the area, and the soil derived from this basalt is called regur, which is ideal for wheat cultivation and cotton cultivation.
* Even if it is derived from the same volcanic rock, a completely different soil will be created due to the mixture of volcanic ash and the difference in vegetation.
Also, in the map above, the upstream is three-pronged (one in the image of the Hindustern Plain), but in reality, there are more than one branched river Indus River . It is a form that joins. In addition, the Ganges Indus River / Ganges River because it is a river that flows over a very wide area. An arc-shaped alluvial plain spreads out in the basin (= Hindustern Plain ).
This Hindu Stern Plain Is currently the most intensive agricultural region in the world.
Climate around India
North Himalayas Mountainous areas including the Deccan Plateau in the central part The climate is completely different in the vicinity, and the Thar Desert The climate is also completely different. It may be natural to say that it is a very large area with many mountains.
The southern plains around the Indus River have a dry desert climate throughout the year. , Northern plains have a steppe climate It belongs to, but most of the other places are clear monsoon in the rainy season and the dry season. Climate It belongs to the climate called.
Monsoon Is also called the monsoon, and the wind blows from the southwest in the summer and from the northeast in the winter. The mountainous terrain overlaps here, and the characteristics of each climate appear.
It is easy to understand by looking at the map, but in the summer, the protruding part of India is Arabian Sea . A damp wind blows from. At the same time Western Ghats The towering sky makes rain clouds Western Ghats It developed by hitting and it rained a lot on the west side of the mountain range.
The rain clouds that have already rained a lot are Deccan Plateau By the time we reach the area, the clouds are no longer enough to bring a lot of rain, so it will rain, but not so much.
Northeastern India is Eastern Ghats And Himalayas Indian Ocean / Bengal Sea It will be heavy rain because the rain clouds that contain plenty of water vapor are flowing in.
African Continent And Arabian Peninsula The dry wind around the Thar Desert It is the surrounding area.
The dry season wind is from the northeast. Most of the areas have little rain because of the dry winds of the continent.
Desert is a region that thoroughly considers the use of water .. It is thought that such a background was the key to the birth of ancient civilization, as in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Crop
Many people are needed for a civilization to be born. Food must be secured to feed many people. Indus Valley Civilization Also has that requirement.
Indus River Wheat in many places around However, in some places with a lot of water, rice Is also cultivated. In addition, the region around India has different climates and different soils, so it is possible to harvest crops other than grains.
Cardamom Hills The name comes from the spice Cardamom (also known as the oldest spice) and the Nilgiri Mountains at the western end of the Cardamom Hills. Tea leaves are cultivated in. If you like tea, you may know Nilgiri. It is a production center of famous black tea as much as Darjeeling Assam in India.
Also, millet And beans oil seeds such as Such dry crops are also produced in western India, and there are many warm regions around India, so fruits are abundant . Can be caught in.
India and Pakistan are large in ancient agriculture and modern times due to changes in the trade structure that occurred after the 17th century, the historical background of becoming British territory in the 19th century, and the Green Revolution (breeding, introduction of chemical fertilizers, etc.). It's different, but the soil on which grains, spices and fruits can be cultivated hasn't changed much.
Even within the scope of what I have learned so far
- Civilization from Europe has a bottleneck in grain quantity
- The countries founded in Mesopotamia and the Iranian Plateau (compared to Egypt surrounded by deserts and seas and India surrounded by steep mountains) are easily attacked and there is a large influx of other ethnic groups.
There were quite a few shifts to expansion routes to strengthen the country, but in the case of India it is often completed within the Indian subcontinent.
As you can see, the map comparing the sizes of India and Europe is very large, so it seems that the reason why the civilization in India did not go outside is simply because of its size.
In the future, I will write about the civilizations and countries that have occurred around India.
→ What is the Indus Valley Civilization?