Indian Trade
- Common Trade Items
- black pepper
- cinnamon
- cloves
- spices
- they were valued as highly as gold and silver are today
- Trade
- India is one of the world's largest diamond cutting and polishing country
- trading was between the Chinese, Central Asia, India and Eastern Europe
- India was famous for its fabrics, spices and semi-precious stones, dyes, and ivory
- Silk Roads
- an interlinking trade route across Afro-Eurasian that connected East South and Western Asia with the Mediterranean
- Extending 4,000 miles
- the silk roads gets its name form the Chinese silk trade
- Caravans
- a group of people carrying goods to trade with people far away
- included about 4,000 camels
- traveled through the spice markets in Babylon, Carthage, Alexandria, and Rome
- also used ships that sailed along the Indian Coast
- Trade Facts
- foreign trade was in the hands of both local and foreign merchants
- India divided into small regional political units
- for 2 periods during the Classical Era, India was unified by imperial powers
- during the classical period India became a crossroads in a vast trade network that stretched from the Pacific to the Mediterranean Sea
- during a time period called lineage to state they shifted their livelihood from nomad pastoralism to agriculture and trade
Military
- Military Dynasties
- Nanda dynasty
- Maurya dynasty
- Shishunaga dynasty
- Satavahana dynasty
- Empires
- Gupta Empire
- relied heavily on war elephants, infantry, archers, and they rarely used horses
- Kushan Empire
- fought a lot on horseback and used a lot of war elephants and infantry
- many elephants were received from the Greeks
- Gupta Empire
- Weapons
- the bamboo longbow
- made of a long piece of bamboo, didn't warp as much composite bows of other cultures, used by Shiva, fired metal tipped bamboo arrows. They were protected by light infantrymen
- the War Elephant
- were used t charge, break enemy lines, and cause terror in the opponent
- catapult
- capable of hurling large stones at the enemy
- the bamboo longbow
- Tactics
- the Indians had various tracts that they would used in battle, each for a specific purpose
- Krauncha Vyuha
- the crane shaped formation of an army; forces are distribute to form spanning wing sides with a formidable, penetrating centre depicting the crane's head and beak
- Vyuha
- a winding, ever rotating circular formation; considered impenetrable during the Mahabharata age
- Krauncha Vyuha
- the Indians had various tracts that they would used in battle, each for a specific purpose
Buddhism
- what is it?
- a religion in the Indian subcontinent
- has a variety of beliefs, tradition, and practices based on Buddha
- 2 major branches - Theravada and Mahayana
- Theravada
- oldest surviving Buddhist branch. Means "The Ancient Teaching"
- most popular religion in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia
- it promotes Vibhaajjavaba, which means "Teaching of Analysis"
- Theravadina believe every individual is responsible for their own self-awakening and liberation
- numbers are over 150 million people worldwide and the religion is spreading west
- Stupas
- a dome shaped structured erected as a Buddhist shrine
- there are 5 types of stupas:
- relic - remains of Buddha and disciples
- object - objects that belonged to Buddha and disciples
- commemorative - events in the lives of Buddha and disciples
- symbolic - symbolizes aspects of Buddhist theology
- votive - for visits and spiritual events
Advancements in math, astronomy, medicine, literature, and arts
- Math
- India invented addition subtraction etc
- invented the decimal system
- used in Pythagorean Theorem
- influence the Development of mathematics
- Astronomy
- Aryabhata - an Indian astronomer (476 BC)
- he was considered the father of spherical astronomy
- he wrote theories about the heliocentric gravitation theory, and how the earth's shadow affected the phases of the moon
- he also had two books that were based on the theory of diurnal motion
- Medicine
- Ayurveda is a system of traditional medicine and treatments that was developed during the 500 -500 time period
- essentially consisted of 8 medical components:
- internal medicine
- pediatrics
- surgery
- ophthalmology
- psychiatry
- toxicology
- prevention of disease
- aphrodisiacs
- by 500 BC, Indian cultures were performing the new concept of surgery on their patients
- this system emphasize using plant-based medicines and treatments
- Literature
- they use an alphabetic writing call sanskrit
- one of the first things they wrote down was a poem called the Rig Veda
- there were 3 other types of writing but they were less famous
- they also wrote down the Upanishads, which are commentaries and explanations of the Vedas
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