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Essay By Ruth Knox

The Indus Valley people, who occupied what is now Pakistan and India, were one of the first civilizations in the world. They traded extensively with Mesopotamia, a civilization in the Middle East, mostly with the Akkads (Hawkes, 270). The Indus was a people who thrived for less than two thousand years, then disappeared for unknown reasons, without many clues to their culture. During the rise of the Indus peoples from approximately 3600-1800 BC, they created a thriving agricultural economy, accepted multiculturalism as a value in their society, and had shared sophisticated plumbing for all their citizens. __Because of these three features, there are lessons we can learn from the rise of the Indus civilization today.__

First, the Western half of the Indus valley was on the dry Iranian plateau (McIntosh, 9). Because of the dry climate, the Indus People had to improve on ways to retain water, either for the crops or consumption. They created irrigation systems and grew crops such as sesame, wheat, and barley (Hawkes, 267). Lots of pressure was also put on arable land for grazing cattle (McIntosh, 67). In the South Indus where it rained only bi-annually (McIntosh, 235), reservoirs were set up to keep extra water in reserve for farming. Today, similar practices are being used globally, especially in countries where water is not easily accessible. The use of reservoirs for farming in dry areas is commonplace today and permits food production. From the Indus people's agricultural practices, we can learn how to maintain and cultivate crops in geographic areas without regular rainfall.

Second, the Indus people seemed to have a very multicultural society. They had three main traditions (McIntosh, 68) that appeared to coexist peacefully. The Indus people were most likely Hindu, based on the discovery of baths used in Hindu rituals (Hawkes, 273) and seals showing worship under the sacred pipal trees. Animal sacrifice sites and fire altars have been found in some cities (McIntosh, 84) which suggest that non-Hindus lived alongside the Hindus. In Dholavira, a largely populated town in the South-Eastern Indus Valley, there were houses of different sizes suggesting wealth was not evenly distributed (Aronovsky, Gopinath, 13). Large houses were in the Upper town, with the citadel above. Although Upper and Lower towns in Dholavira differed in housing size, there was access from the Lower town to the citadel high above. There was no evidence of wars throughout their history, suggesting they valued each other's opinions without prejudice or discrimination. From the Indus people's views on multiculturalism, we can learn to respect different economic classes, religions and cultures.

Finally, the Indus people developed a sophisticated plumbing system that is very similar to that of the Ancient Romans and to ours in the present. Most houses had private toilets (McIntosh, 236), and some were connected to the city's sewage system that drained out of the city. Primitive showers were also in houses, with the water then being drained by terra-cotta pipes (236). Every three houses shared a communal well (McIntosh, 235) that brought up water, which provided safe drinking water for all. Wells today are generally used less frequently, and more likely by people in poorer countries or rural regions. Providing clean, safe drinking water globally would prevent 1.8 million deaths a year presently from water-borne diseases. We have learned and will continue to learn from the Indus' example of sewage removal from cities, as well as from their reservoir and conservation practices.

To conclude, values of respecting differences, agricultural and public health practices can be learnt from the rise of the Indus civilization. Not only did the Indus people use irrigation and reservoirs to maintain their agriculture, they also had a very multicultural society, and created a sophisticated plumbing system for waste and water management. These three things that the Indus people created and valued are among the reasons why Canadian society is successful today.

Marika: It seems as if some letters appears capitalized or un-capitalized depending on the computer. I can give you a hard copy of the essay if you need to check for spelling errors.

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