India and South Asia 3500 BCE

What is happening in India and South Asia in 3500BCE

North India region

The Indian sub-continent is home to a great variety of peoples. In the north and central regions, agriculture has been established for more than two thousand years, and populations of farmers grow barley, oats, rye, wheat, beans, peas and lentils, and keep goats and cattle (Zebu). In the north-west of the Indian subcontinent, especially in the fertile Indus river valley, some communities have grown into sizable villages. Craft specialization has appeared – the inhabitants produce high quality painted pottery and crafts including copper jewelry. It will be in this region, in the Indus Valley, that urban life will come first to ancient India, with the emergence of one of the earliest civilizations in world history.

South India region

In central and southern India, farming is much more recent, and much of the land has still not been cleared for agriculture. Small farming villages are scattered across the land, surrounded by large tracts of untamed forest and savannah remain, sheltering populations of hunter-gatherers.

Next map, India and South Asia in 2500 BCE

Dig Deeper

The history and civilization of ancient India

Hunter-gatherers

Early Pastoralists

The coming of farming

The Indus Valley civilization