Geography & Climate
These seasonal winds create wet and dry seasons.
What are monsoons?
This major Harappan city is famous for its well-planned streets and advanced drainage systems.
What is Mohenjo-Daro? (a major Harappan city known from ruins of well-planned cities; evidence includes advanced housing/plumbing)
The Aryans’ most important ancient language.
What is Sanskrit?
The four main social groups in Aryan society were called _________.
What are varnas?
The science of working with metals.
What is metallurgy?
India is often called a __________ because it’s a large landmass smaller than a continent.
What is a subcontinent?
Evidence of Harappan trade included these stamped objects found far away.
What are seals?
The Aryans preserved poems/history mainly through this method.
What is oral tradition (word of mouth)?
The varna of rulers and warriors.
Who are the Kshatriyas? (rulers and warriors)
A mixture of two or more metals.
What is an alloy?
The world’s highest mountain range that borders northern India.
What are the Himalayas?
Why do historians know less about Harappans than some other ancient civilizations?
What is “scholars cannot read their writing system”?
The Vedas contained these two types of writing.
What are sacred hymns and poems? (what the Vedas contained)
Over time, varnas divided into smaller groups called _________.
What are jatis?
The numbering system invented in India and later spread widely.
What are Hindu-Arabic numerals? (numbers used today; developed in India and brought to Europe by Arabs)
The river that supported the first-known civilization in the region and flows mainly through present-day Pakistan.
What is the Indus River?
What does a planned street grid and drainage system suggest about Harappan government or society?
What is strong city planning/organization (and sanitation)? Evidence: well-planned cities, fortress oversight, public wells, indoor plumbing.
The religion based on the Vedas practiced by Aryan priests.
What is Brahmanism?
The group outside the caste system often forced into “unclean” jobs.
Who are the Dalits (untouchables)? (outside the caste system; could only hold certain jobs)
The medical method of injecting a small dose of a virus to build defenses.
What is inoculation?
Explain one way monsoons could help farming and one way they could threaten cities.
They can help farming by bringing heavy seasonal rain (water supply), but they can threaten cities by causing terrible floods.
Make a claim: Were Harappans more advanced in engineering or record-keeping? Defend with evidence.
What is engineering? We have clear evidence of advanced infrastructure (planned cities, wells, indoor plumbing), but record-keeping is harder to prove because their writing system can’t be read.
Explain how oral tradition can preserve culture and allow information to change over time.
It preserves culture by repeated retelling across generations, but it can also change over time because it relies on memory and retelling rather than fixed text.
Explain how the caste system could create social order while also limiting freedom and mobility.
The caste system created rules for jobs and marriage, which can stabilize society by making roles predictable but it limits freedom and mobility because people are restricted by caste rules.
Explain how empires (Mauryan/Gupta) can increase cultural achievements like art, math, and literature.
When empires unified India, they created a stable environment where artists, writers, scholars, and scientists could thrive leading to advances in literature, art, and science.