Indus Valley Civilization Flourishes
The Indus Valley Civilization — one of the world's earliest urban societies — flourished across the northwestern subcontinent with advanced city planning, drainage systems, and trade networks.
Around 2600 BCE, the Indus Valley Civilization (also called the Harappan Civilization) reached its mature phase, spanning over 1.5 million square kilometers across present-day Pakistan, northwest India, and eastern Afghanistan — larger than ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia combined. Its great cities, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, featured remarkably planned grid layouts, sophisticated drainage and sewage systems, standardized brick sizes, public baths, and granaries. The civilization supported an estimated 5 million people, traded with Mesopotamia, and used a script that remains undeciphered. Unlike contemporary civilizations, no monumental temples, palaces, or evidence of kings have been found — suggesting a possibly egalitarian or merchant-governed society. The Indus people cultivated wheat, barley, and cotton (the earliest known cotton cultivation), and their craftsmanship in bronze, terracotta, and semi-precious stones was extraordinary.
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