The subcontinent Hindustan is cut off from the rest of the world from almost all sides. In the north it is limited by the Pamirs and the Himalayas, in the south by the ocean, in the northeast by impenetrable swamps, tropical forests and highlands.
India in the Middle Ages was mastered by people who came from the north-west, through mountain passes located on the territory of modern Afghanistan. The subcontinent is geographically separated quite clearly on the Deccan Plateau (South) and the Indo-Gangetic Plain (North).
Ancient India was famous for its developed agriculture. Especially suitable for this type of activity were the Ganges and Indus valleys. It should be said that the relationship between the river basins and the Dean was very difficult. However, the Punjab was a relatively constant gate through which strangers penetrated the valley. The climate of the subcontinent allows you to collect two fairly rich crops per year. However, frequent hurricanes, floods, and droughts occur on the territory. These cataclysms doom the population to hunger.
Ancient India was inhabited by tribes of the Australoid race. These peoples previously lived in the territory from Indochina to southern Iran. Caucasians also lived on the subcontinent. They, mingling with the natives, assimilated them ethnoculturally.
Around the 7-5 century BC e. ancient India in the northwest was occupied by the Dravidian tribes. The languages of these nationalities are included in the Nostratic macro-family (together with Indo-European and other languages). By the second millennium BC e. ancient India is inhabited by Indo-Europeans - Indo-Aryans. These nationalities to the 1st century BC. e. became the main population of the northern territories. Dravidian-speaking nationalities are shifting south under the onslaught of the Aryans and as a result of independent settlement, assimilating the majority of Aborigines.
From the 7th century BC e. in the valleys of the Sarasvati and Indus rivers, the development of a productive economy began. By the 3rd century, the Dravids created the first civilization in these territories. In science, it began to be called Harappa or Indian. Civilization was represented by urban settlements, which were surrounded by walls lined with burnt bricks. The largest of them were in Mohenjo-Daro and Harappe (modern names).
All cities, regardless of their size, were distinguished by a regular two-part layout: a citadel stood on an artificial elevation, separated from the rest of the settlement by a special battlement. This layout indicates a fairly high level of social development and the transition to an early form of statehood. In the settlements, there was a rectangular division into quarters, which were very crowded. So, for example, about tens of thousands of people lived in Mohenjo-Daro. The districts (for that time) were distinguished by a very high level of improvement - the most advanced sewer and water supply systems.
The Dravids also carried out monumental construction. In particular, they built huge reservoirs, which were intended for ship parking and were equipped with locks.
The population used syllabic writing. On the territory of ancient India, bronze metallurgy was well developed. Archaeologists have discovered a large number of various seals. This indicates the earlier development of private property relations. Of particular importance in the formation of Indian civilization was foreign trade, land and sea.
The religion of ancient India, the value system, mentality crystallized by the middle of the 1st century BC. e. Civilization combined corporate-collectivist and individually-hedonistic principles. In other words, the meaning of human existence was represented in his happiness and independence of the individual himself, which, in turn, could not be achieved outside of society.