INDIA+2

INDIA - CORE #2

__Welcome to Ancient India!__

By: Jennifer Dowling, Erin Reed, Nick Jabin, Thaddeus Fairweather , Connor Haller, Juanisha Thomas, Frankie Dalton

Dear Sir,. Welcome to Ancient India! Ancient India was a civilization ahead of it’s time period.They contributed many ideas and innovations that we still use in America today! So while you learn on why our ancient civilization was the best, you will hopefully also learn about some of the phenomenons of Ancient India, what it was then, and is now. India is located in Eastern Asia.Many rivers flow making the land very fertile. India is located in between China and Pakistan. Two of the main rivers in India were the __Indus river__  and the Ganges river. The Indus river was the main water source the civilization of the Indus Valley. They used it for all their main purposes and needs. They depended on this river because it was the closest to them, and really their only one. The __Ganges river__  was considered the most holy of rivers. It was located by Bangladesh and New Delhi. It too was a source of H2O for different people of different places. India also had common monsoons that swept through there country giving them flood and very strong winds. This made weather conditions very extreme. The <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">__Himalayas__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> were part of our ancient empire. There is one particular mountain that’s in the chain of mountains and that is The most famous, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">__Mt. Everest__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is in our country. This is what makes India the best of any civilizations geography. They have learned to cope with floods and extreme weather conditions and they have done rock climbing and and perfected it. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #00ff00; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(Geography is the science that studies the land, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of earth. Geography is divided into two main branches). <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #9900ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ancient India’s government was a Federal Government ruled by a king. The king was ruler over all but he had many ‘assistants’ who would advise him. For example, he had a council who would help him make important decisions. Something that we learned from this was that having people help a ruler make decisions can help to better the choice. He also had spies who would go out and find special information for him weather it was about battle or just things around town. The kind had rule over the executive, judicial, and legislative branches. A lot of Ancient India’s rights had to do why land. You couldn’t wander onto land that wasn’t yours was an example of a law. We use this idea today in America only we call it, ‘no trespassing’. One of the rights they had was the right to own land which bring me right into the next topic-the caste system. The caste system was a system of how important you were commonly depended on your job. Highest up were the kings and priests. Next came the warriors and then the farmers and merchants. Fourth were the craft makers and the laborers and the animals. Lastly at the came the Untouchables. They weren’t even part of the caste system because of how they were tortured and how poorly they were thought of. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> This contributed to our society today because it taught us that everyone has value and that no one should ever be treated/torturedthe way the <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">__Untouchables__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> were. The laws and rights were associated with the caste system. If you at the top of the pyramid which was the royals, then you had very little laws to follow and many rights. But if you were at the bottom or not apart of the <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">__caste system__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> which were the untouchables then you had zero rights and an extreme amount of rules to follow. This told us today not to better then animals then we do our own kind. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The money in India was very interesting to learn about and the money was called <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">__Rupee.__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Rupee comes in 1,2,5, and 10. People used money trees to store their coins. A money tree was a flat piece of metal, shaped like a tree, with metal branches. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">At the end of each branch was a round disk with a hole in the center. Each of these disks was an ancient Indian coin. When you needed money, you simply broke off a coin from your money tree. The ancient Indians often used pictures of dragons and other make-believe animals on their coins <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.Ancient India was creative and used many different inventions, like the money tree. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Some of ancient India’s exports were animal skins, spices and herbs. Some of ancient India’s imports were precious stones, perfume oils, different wines and dry fruits. Poverty was common in India but some families were lucky and had great wealth. Some of the exports.Some of the major exports from India was spices, perfumes, medicinal herbs, pigments,pearls, precious stones like diamond, sapphire, turquoise and lapis lazuli. Homes were one or two stories high made of mud-brick with flat roofs. If ancient India didn’t have those things we wouldn’t have them today. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ffe599; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Until 1896, the only source for diamonds were in India (source <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ffff00; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> . <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ffe599; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Gemological institute. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Another way ancient India got things they needed was by trading. Ancient India was a big trading country. They traded herbs, spices, art, and silk. Some imports are wine, dried fruits, and fabrics. Most people in ancient India were farmers. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff9900; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In India there were a lot of great, interesting activities! One of the many was dancing. Also, there was pottery making. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Woman were often seen wearing a <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0000ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">__Salwar Khameez.__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">They have 14 major languages. Homes were one or two stories high made of mud-brick with flat roofs. Men and Women wore long colorful robes. Women also wore jewelry and lipstick. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0000ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The most common language of ancient and modern India was English and <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0000ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">__Hindi.__ <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In Ancient India, society was divided into four parts, Brahmin's, Kshatriya's, Visayans, and Sudra's. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> The <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">__Vedas__ <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> were the four holy books of the the Hindi. The religion of the Hindi is the oldest used religion today. A lot of other beliefs of modern times as also based off of India’s ancient religious studies. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9900ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">These are just a few of the many ways our ancient civilization has helped better our world today! Your favorite spicy meals? You can give thanks to Ancient India for that! As you can see, India has taught America much and that is why we think that you should chose our civilization to be the best! Thank you!

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9900ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kindest Regards, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9900ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ms Heimbrock and Mrs. Johnston. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #9900ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Jennifer, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff9900; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Erin, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ffd966; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Nick, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Connor, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Frankie, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #00ff00; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Juanisha, and <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thaddeus.