The Indus Valley: India's First Great Civilisation

Imagine designing a whole city from scratch. You plan every street, every drain, and every home before anyone builds a thing. Now imagine doing this over 4,000 years ago — with no machines! Somewhere in what is now Pakistan and north-west India, people did exactly that. They built some of the most organised cities the ancient world had ever seen. Here is the curious part: archaeologists (scientists who study the past by digging up objects) have never found a palace or a royal tomb there. So who was in charge?

The Indus Valley Civilisation began around 3300 BCE and was at its most powerful between about 2600 and 1900 BCE. BCE means 'Before Common Era' — it counts years backwards before the year 0. This civilisation grew up along the Indus River, which flows through what is now Pakistan and north-west India. At its height, more than one million people may have lived across hundreds of towns and villages. The two biggest cities were Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. Because of Harappa, historians sometimes call this the Harappan Civilisation. What made these cities extraordinary? First, they were carefully planned. Streets ran in straight lines, crossing each other like a grid. Houses were built from baked mud bricks, all made to the same size. Second, the cities had an advanced drainage system — underground channels carried waste water away from homes to keep the streets clean. This was very unusual for the ancient world. Third, many homes had their own wells for fresh water. The Indus Valley people were skilled traders. Merchants sent goods such as cotton cloth, beads, and pottery as far away as Mesopotamia (the region around modern Iraq). Archaeologists have found Indus Valley seals — small carved stamps used to mark goods — as far away as the Persian Gulf. The Indus Valley people also developed one of the world's earliest writing systems. Sadly, historians have not yet decoded it, so many mysteries remain. We do not know the names of their leaders, their gods, or exactly why the civilisation declined around 1900 BCE. Possible reasons include climate change, flooding, and the drying up of the Ghaggar-Hakra River. Ancient India did not stop there. After the Indus Valley period, a new culture grew in northern India. By around 1500 BCE, Sanskrit-speaking people called the Vedic people were living across the region. Their knowledge and traditions became the foundation of many ideas still important in South Asia today.