 Indus Valley civilisation

 a permanent and predominantly urban

settlement that flourished between 2800 BC
and 1800 BC
 practised agriculture
 domesticated animals
 used uniform weights and measures
 made tools and weapons
 traded with other cities
 well-planned streets
 drainage system
 water supply
 world’s first urban sanitation systems
 existence of a form of municipal government
 one of the earliest issuers of coins in the
world (6th Century BC)
 "rupee" - rup or rupa, which means "silver" in
many Indo-Aryan languages
 silver coins were minted during the reign of
the Gupta king Kumara Gupta-I (AD 414-55).
 economies were largely isolated and self-sustaining
 agriculture- the predominant occupation
 satisfied the food requirements of the village and
provided raw materials for hand-based industries,
such as textiles, food processing and crafts
 kingdoms and rulers issued coins, barter system was
prevalent.
 villages paid a portion of their agricultural produce as
revenue to the rulers, while its craftsmen received a
part of the crops at harvest time for their services
 Farmers
 Barbers
 Carpenters
 Doctors
 Goldsmiths
 Weavers
 ensured division of labor and functioned
much like guilds
 provided training to apprentices
 restricted people from changing ones
occupation and aspiring for an upper caste's
lifestyle
 joint family system- members of a family
pooled their resources to invest in business
ventures
 played an influential role in shaping
economic activities
 caste system functioned much like medieval
European guilds
 ensuring the division of labour
 providing for the training of apprentices
 allowing manufacturers to achieve narrow
specialization. For instance, in certain regions,
producing each variety of cloth was the speciality
of a particular sub-caste.
 Muslin
 Calicos
 Shawls
 Pepper
 Cinnamon
 opium
 Indigo- exported to Europe, the Middle East
and South East Asia in return for gold and
silver
 tribes living around the Yellow River area, were
practising agriculture
 the earliest silk remains date to the early third
millennium BC
 stratified bronze-age societies had emerged
 merchant class dominated during the Warring States
Period, resulting in increased trade
 emperors established an intricate bureaucracy, using
it to wage imperial wars, build large temples and
perform public works projects
 agricultural revolution- caused by the adoption of new
iron tools, led to a large population increase.
 northern China-people mostly farm wheat
 southern China -it is mostly rice
 a lot of trade in China, and between China
and the West
 traders went south to India, and some went
along the northern Silk Road through
Turkestan and Uzbekistan to the Persian
Empire
 Mainly shipped silk to the West, and
imported gold
 first used cowrie shells for money in China as
early as 1800 BC, under the Shang Dynasty
 used metal imitations of cowrie shells, and
then metal strings of beads called cash
 bronze coins in China by the 400s BC in the
Chou Dynasty
 Chinese paper money-by about 1100 AD,
under the Sung Dynasty, people had begun to
use paper money in China
 The Early Imperial era was marked by strong
governments and emperors with almost
limitless power
 The states were centralised, although local
officials still maintained limited autonomy
 Self-sufficient peasant farmers and artisans
ruled the economy
 Commerce was relatively frequent, increasing
after the Han Dynasty with the development
of the Silk Road