The two great cities of the Indus Valley civilization were Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. The city of Harappa was located to the north and Mohenjo-Daro to the south. Both cities had fortresses protecting them. These were called citadels. The economies of the cities were not dominated by military purposes, but based on trade and agriculture. Due to the big trading economy, experts think that the power was in the hands of merchants. In the two cities the societies were divided into classes. At the top were the priests, then the rich merchants, and the less wealthy. These well planned out cities were the base for the Harappa Civilization.
Throughout the time of Harappa Culture the Indus River was utilized greatly by the people of the Indus Valley. The Indus River provided many nutrients to the valley. The river also carried a very fertile soil called silt, which was extraordinary for agriculture. Every year a flooding season would occur. This season would come around about the same time every year. The flooding brought in water and nutrients to fertilize the valley. A method called irrigation was used by the Indus Valley people to flood their valley. The early Mesopotamians also used irrigation to flood their fertile valley. Irrigation was a method in which people would dig ditches allowing the floods to flow inland, nourishing the farm lands.
The Indus River was a great resource for the Indus people but it was also very destructive. The Indus River was very unpredictable. Sometimes the river flooded leaving disaster behind, destroying crops, and crushing cities. But if it under flooded it would result in just as much disaster, causing dry farmlands (Indus). “Scholars believe that changing river patterns, including a series of floods, may have caused the end of the culture” (Lal). Although the Indus River was very destructive it was an important and greatly used resource by the Indus Valley people.
Many methods of transportation were invented by the Indus people to trade such long distances. There is a terracotta sculpture of a loaded ox-cart found in the city of Mohenjo-Daro representing one way of transportation (Due6). River boats with wind sails were also invented to travel up the river and transport livestock and other goods (Kenoyer). Networks of well-built roads were built around 300 B.C. in Northern and Western India. These roads were used for trade routes (Roads). Bullock carts pulled by oxen were another way of transportation used along the trade routes. This intelligence led the Indian people to bring in goods that they could not produce themselves and that led to a better lifestyle.
The inventions and technological advancements of the Indus Valley people were very much ahead of their ancient time. An early canal sewage system was developed by the Indus people in the city of Mohenjo-Daro. This sewage system of canals ran through the city removing water waste from all of the houses. Gutters were also use by the people throughout the city to lead the waste into the canal ditches. The people also protected themselves from the unpredictable floods by building many of their houses and buildings out of mud bricks (Kenoyer). The Indus people not only developed roads outside of their cities, but a grid pattern system within. This grid pattern layout consisted of many columns of roads intersecting with many rows of roads. This made it easy for the Indus to travel throughout the city and to find their way around because at the end of every block there were intersections of roads that could lead to any place in the city. (Nardo66). The Indus Valley people were also one of the first civilizations to develop a near correct, functional system of weighing, measuring, and counting (Lal). Throughout ancient history the Indus Valley civilization was one of the most technologically advanced of all the ancient civilizations.
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