Ancient Indian Subcontinental History

 

To comprehend individuals living on the Indian subcontinent, it means quite a bit to begin by investigating its current circumstances: the land, the environment, and the collaborations between them. We will see how this mind-boggling climate affected the way of life and people of India, and how they adjusted to it, in this talk and throughout the course. Subsequent to investigating the climate, this talk will present some phrasing that will be significant until the end of the course.

 

 

India’s Geographic History

 

About 100 million years ago, the huge mass of rock and earth that we know as the southern part of Asia was located at the earth’s South Pole. It was next to Africa and Antarctica, and part of a huge supercontinent. Plate tectonics, also known as continental drift, has since assisted it in moving to its current location.

 

The huge Indian tectonic plate is composed of a crust of solidified stone, some 20–60 miles thick, floating on the hot molten rock below. Gradually breaking away from the southern continen

 

t, this Indian plate moved northward across what is today the Indian Ocean.

 

By about 30 million years ago, this Indian plate began smashing into the larger Asian plate, forcing itself under and twisting in the process. Most of the major geological features of India today result from this impact and are still slowly changing.

 

One of the major effects of this plate tectonic movement has been the creation of various mountain ranges. Along India’s north rise the vast Himalayan mountains. These mountains are actually the southern edge of the Asian tectonic plate, which continues to lift up today as the Indian plate slides beneath it.

The vast weight of these mountains and the continued grinding of these two plates cause occasional earthquakes, often of great magnitude. India, Pakistan, and Nepal have all suffered severe earthquakes already this century.

 

This Himalayan Mountains region includes Nepal and Tibet, which have historical ties to both India and China. But these mountains are so difficult to cross that there has been relatively little direct exchange between India and China, even though civilizations exist on either side of this same mountain range.

 

 

 India and the Sea

 

India has long coastlines, although relatively few secure natural harbors. People, ideas, and trade goods have moved back and forth across the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal for thousands of years.

 

Most people who arrived by sea were sailors, merchants, holy men, and immigrants who settled in India. As a result, historically, Indian rulers rarely feared people arriving by sea. But then, in 1498, the Portuguese admiral Vasco da Gama discovered the direct sea passage around southern Africa and reached India.

 

This began the long process of invasion by Europeans from the sea. Starting in the late 18th century, the British established and expanded their colonial rule, conquering inland from the coasts.

 

The impact of the collision between the Indian and Asian tectonic plates also tilted India. The western edge of the Indian plate rose, while the eastern edge remained lower. Hence, running just inland along the western coast is a long mountain range called the Western Ghats.

 

 

There is also a coastal mountain range along the east, but these Eastern Ghats are less imposing since that edge of the Indian Plate did not rise up. In between the Western and Eastern Ghats is the central Indian upland called the Deccan Plateau.

 

India also has internal mountain ranges, most of which run west to east. Over the long centuries, most of these internal mountains have eroded into rugged hills, but they are still difficult to cross.

 

All these mountains and rivers mean that there are four distinct macroregions:

 

• A flat plain that runs across the north, surrounding the famous Ganges River.

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• India’s central upland, the dry and rugged Deccan Plateau

 

• to the Indian Ocean, and waters an otherwise dry plain. This forms the core of Pakistan today.

 

Very rarely have these macroregions ever been united under one single government. Instead, much like Western Europe, most of India’s long history has seen many different rulers in each of its geographically defined macro-regions.