Empire · 3300–1300 BCE · Middle East & South Asia

Indus Valley Civilisation

Also known as Indus valley civilization

The Indus or Harappan civilisation flourished along the Indus river and its neighbours in what is now Pakistan and north-west India. Farming villages grew into planned cities after about 2600 BCE, the Mature Harappan phase.

Mohenjo-daro and Harappa were laid out on grids, with baked-brick houses, covered drains, possible granaries and, at Mohenjo-daro, a Great Bath, and standard weights and seals were used across an area larger than Egypt and Mesopotamia combined. Indus merchants traded with Mesopotamia by sea. Strikingly, no palaces, royal tombs or images of kings have been found, and the Indus script remains undeciphered, so we do not know how the cities were governed. After about 1900 BCE the cities were gradually abandoned, probably because of climate change and shifting rivers, and people dispersed into smaller villages.

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Years

3300–1300 BCE

Capital

No known capital; major cities included Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Rakhigarhi, Ganweriwala and Dholavira

Greatest extent

2300 BCE, about 1.00 million km²

Region

Middle East & South Asia

Mature Harappan phase, across modern Pakistan and north-west India; the cultural zone is put at c. 1.2M km², while Taagepera (1978) estimated c. 0.3M km² c. 1800 BCE for any political unit