Introduction:
The Indus valley civilization was one of the world’s first great urban civilizations. It flourished in the vast river plains and adjacent regions of what r now Pakistan and northwestern India. The earliest cities became integrated into an extensive urban culture around 4,600 years ago and continued to dominate the region for at least 700 years from 2600 to 1900 B.C.
The earliest traces of civilization in the
Indian subcontinent are to be found in places along, or close, to the Indus
River. Excavations first conducted in 1921-22, in the ancient cities of Harappa
and Moen-jo-Daro, both now in Pakistan, pointed to a highly complex
civilization that first developed some 4,500-5,000 years ago, and subsequent
archaeological and historical research has now furnished us with a more detailed
picture of the Indus Valley Civilization and its inhabitants. The Indus
civilization sometimes called the “HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION”. It is named,
after the Pakistani town of Harappa, where archeologists first discovered the
evidence of this culture. This civilization developed at approximately the same
time as the early city-states of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Although, there were
economic and cultural contacts between these early urban societies, significant
differences are seen in their respective artistic styles, symbols, technologies
and social organization.
URBAN CHARACTER OF THE INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION:
The Indus Valley
Civilization, or the Harappan Culture, formed the earliest urban civilization on
the Indian sub-continent, and one of the earliest in the world. Its unique urban
characteristics ensure it a place in the annals of world architecture.
Around 2600B.C. the various regional cultures were united in what is called the Indus Valley Civilization. They appear to have controlled on a vast geographical area, some 650,000sq.km. This area is twice as large as that controlled by Mesopotamia or Egyptian cultures at the same time in history culture. The earliest excavations focused on large cities located along the Indus River and its tributaries:
Moen-jo-Daro on the Indus (Sindh, southern Pakistan).
Harappa
on The Ravi River (Punjab, northern Pakistan).
Other
equally large cities have been found along the dried up Hakra-Nara River to the
east, including two unexcavated cities that are almost as large as Moen-Jo-Daro.
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Copyright 2003. All right reserved
Prepared By Ahsan Kamal