How did geography influence the history of ancient India

Geography and climate both played significant roles in thesettlement and development of ancient Indian civilization. Thefirst notable geographical feature is the Himalayan Mountainslocated in the northern portion of the Indian subcontinent thatsevers India from the rest of Asia; preventing hostile invadingforces and immigration into the subcontinent. The second feature,the two rivers of Ganges and Indus are the foundations of earlyIndian civilization that make their land livable. The Ganges riverflows southeast through a fertile valley, providing the necessarywater for a successful harvest. The Indus River flows southwestacross a drier plain, in turn affecting how farming was achieved.Because of the drier land area, Ancient Indians were forced toirrigate to obtain the needed stock of food to distribute amongtheir peoples, much less a emergency surplus. The last majorgeographical feature was the Khyber Pass — the only easilytraversed path connecting Asia and India near Kabul. Climate was aningredient in early Indian civilizations for several reasons.Monsoons, winds that mark the seasons, are one of the mostimmediate. The first monsoon of the season blows from North toNortheast periodically during November through March. Little rainis present during this monsoon, however what precipitation doesfall, it falls on the Northern slope of the Himalayas. Duringmid-June through October a second monsoon indicates the ‘WetSeason’ – a.k.a. – the southwest monsoon. Following the southwestmonsoon, heavy rains fall in it’s wake (however sparse rainfallfalls on the Western Ghats, the heaviest rainfall occurs over theGanges Valley and the Eastern Himalayan Mountains). The timing ofthese winds are critical; too little or too late rainfall resultsin an unsuccessful harvest, yet too much or an extended period ofrainfall causes flooding along the country side. Temperatures alsoplay a significant role in how Indian’s settled the land in ancienttimes. The ideal area – the Deccan plateau – had mild temperaturesin the summer opposed to the blistering heat of the western Ghatsand valleys which could climb up to one-hundred twenty degreesFahrenheit. Also, another reason the geographical importance ofIndia is held so highly is because if the disappearances of thefirst Harrapan civilizations in Mohenjo Daro. Historians andresearches have many theories, yet they all relate to climate,geographical, and regional issues however there is no solidevidence to prove or reject any of their hypothesis. Some of themore common are; Harsh monsoons causing a type of violent weatherpattern, evidence of an earthquake has been speculated, intenseflooding of the Indus and Ganges Rivers, hostile invading forces,and other reasons have been thrown around. With all of thisinformation taken into consideration, geography and climate playeda major role in the development of Ancient Indian civilization.