Indian history has been influenced a lot by geographical position, a country’s geography largely determines its past events. If we have a talk on India, which has been divided into 3 major regions namely.

HIMALAYAN MOUNTAIN

INDO-GANGETIC PLAINS

SOUTHERN PENINSULA

HIMALAYAN MOUNTAIN ON INDIAN HISTORY

  • The northern part of India, starting from the Pamir in the extreme northwest of India, and ends till northeast with a length of 256 kilometers and an average breadth of 240-320 kilometers.
  • The highest peak of this region is Mount Everest, which actually acts as a natural wall and protects cold arctic winds from Siberia.
  • Even it acts as a natural barrier, but it has some passes which helped invaders, these passes are like Khyber, Bolan, Kurram, and Gomal, these are placed in Hindukush, Sulaiman, and Kirthar ranges.
  • Indo Aryans, the Indo-Greeks, Parthians, Sakas, Kushanas, Hunas, and Turks entered India through these passes.
  • Alexander of Macedon came to India through swat valley
  • The second highest peak Mount Godwin Austin is situated in the Karakoram range of Kashmir.
  • In the east, Himalayas extends up to Assam, the important mountain ranges are Pat koi, Nagai, and Lushai ranges.

THE INDO-GANGETIC PLAIN ON INDIAN HISTORY

  • This region is irrigated by three important rivers like Ganga, Indus, and Brahmaputra.
  • The Indus has tributaries like Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas. Harappan cultures flourished in the Indus valley.
  • In between the Indus and Gangetic plain arrises the Thar desert and the Aravalli hills, Mount Abu is the highest point.
  • Ganga river rises in the Himalaya flows south and then towards the east. The river Yamuna flows almost parallel to the Ganges and they join it, the area between these two rivers is called doab.
  • Important tributaries of Ganges are Gomati, Sarayu, Ghagra and Gandak.
  • The Vedic culture prospered in the western Gangetic plain Banaras, Allahabad, Agra, Delhi, and Pataliputra are some of the important cities of Gangetic plain.
  • Pataliputra has remained the capital for the Mauryas, Sungas Guptas, and other kingdoms.

SOUTHERN PENINSULA ON INDIAN HISTORY

  • Vindhya’s and Satpura Mountains along with Narmada and Tapi form the great dividing line between northern and southern India. The plateau to the south of the Vindhya mountains is known as the Deccan plateau.
  • The Deccan plateau has a boundary with Eastern ghats and Western ghats.
  • Coromandel coast stands between eastern ghats and bay of Bengal.
  • The southernmost port is known as the Malabar coast. Western ghats have some passes like junar, kanheri and Karle linked the trade routes to the western ports.
  • Palghat pass was an important trade route for the indo-roman trade in ancient times.
  • Annaimudi is the highest peak in the southern peninsula
  • Doddabetta is another highest peak in the eastern ghats.
  • The port cities of Arikkamedu, Mamallapuram, and Kaveripattanum were situated on the coromandel coast.
  • Mahanadi eastern end of the promontory
  • The Godavari, Krishna Tungabhadra, and Kaveri flow from west to east.
  • Narmada and Tapi rivers are east to west flowing
  • Kaveri delta had become the seat of Chola power.

LANGUAGES AND RELIGION OF HISTORICAL INDIA

  • Pre-Aryan or Dravidian terms occur in the Vedic texts
  • Pali and Sanskritic terms appear in Sangam literature.
  • India witnessed the birth of Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism.
  • The name Bharatavarsha or the land of Baharat was given to the whole country, after the name of an ancient tribe called the Bharatas.
  • India attained political unity at least twice during the Maurya and Gupta empires.
  • Foreigners also recognized the unity of India. They first encountered the people living on the Sindhu or the Indus, and so they named the whole country after the river. The word Hind is derived from the Sanskrit term Sindhu and in course of time, the country came to be known as India in greek and Hind in Persian and Arabic languages.
  • In the 3rd century B.C the Prakrit languages served as the lingua Franca of the country. Throughout the major portion of India, Ashoka inscriptions were written in Prakrit languages.
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