Ancient India Ancient History 10

Geography of

Ancient India

Geography- Plate Tectonics

•India is entirely contained on the Indian Plate.

•A major tectonic plate that was formed when it split off from the ancient continent Gondwanaland.

•About 90 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous Period.

Geography – regions

•India can be divided into six physiographic regions. ▫The Himalayan Mountains▫Northern Plains▫The Great Indian Desert▫The Peninsular Plateau▫Coastal Plains▫Islands

Geography •The river valleys of India were

particularly suited for the growth of the civilization because they are wide, level and fertile.

• Why is this important for the growth of a civilization?

Geography – Brainstorm •What are some of the important aspects

of having a river in a valley?

•Insert response here ha, ha, ha…

•There is approx. 4 important features.

Geography •The mountain ranges protected the

civilization from invaders, but they also slowed the growth of the civilization as they make travel and trade difficult. Trade introduces new products, ideas and technologies to a region.

India Water ways • India has around 14,500 km of inland navigable

waterways.• There are twelve rivers which are classified as major

rivers.• All major rivers of India originate from one of the three

main watersheds:

• The Himalaya and the Karakoram ranges• Vindhya and Satpura range in central India• Sahyadri or Western Ghats in western India

• The Himalayan river networks are snow-fed and have a perennial supply throughout the year.

• The other two river systems are dependent on the monsoons and shrink into rivulets during the dry season.

Geography

•The Indus River Valley was the home of India’s 1st great civilization, that is as old as Mesopotamia.

•On a piece of paper list some of the similarities and differences between the geography of Mesopotamia and India.

Mountains

•Himalayan range (Mt. Everest) •Karakoram•Patkai, or Purvanchal•Vindhya range•Satpura Range •Western Ghats or Sahyadri mountains•Aravali Range•Eastern Ghats

Thar Desert• Desert tribes living in the Thar Desert near

Jaisalmer, India.

• The Thar Desert is the world's seventh largest desert.

• It forms a significant portion of western India and covers an area of about 200,000 km2 The desert continues into Pakistan as the Cholistan Desert. Most of the Thar Desert is situated in Rajasthan, covering 61% of its geographic area.

Thar Desert• About 10 percent of this region comprises sand dunes, and

the remaining 90 percent consist of rock forms, compacted salt-lake bottoms, and inter-dunal and fixed dune areas.

• Temperatures : 0°C in the winter to over 50°C during the summer.

• Rainfall in this region is between July–September southwest monsoon that brings around 100–500 mm of precipitation. Water is scarce and occurs at great depths,

ranging from 30 to 120 m below the ground level.

Geography Comparison Mesopotamia/ Egypt India

Complete the Map of India Handout

What you don’t finish in class is for HOMEWORK.