The first signs of intelligence

   Evidence of human activity in the subcontinent shows the presence of Hominids from about 500,000 years ago and Homo sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago. Human settlement started over 9000 years ago in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The Pinnacle of growth and development took place between 3300 BC to 1300 BC. It was the first sign of a well-structured civilization whose ideas and fame spread far and wide across the ancient world. It was the great Indus Valley Civilization of Indo-Gangetic Plains. The most mature part of the civilization's history lasted from 2900 BC to 1900 BC which is termed as the Harappan Period. With the end of Bronze age around 2000 BC, the Iron age took the civilization far higher that before. It was also the age which according to modern philosophers was also the Vedic Age. This period witnessed the growth of powerful kingdoms which would alter the course the civilization headed towards.
    The Indus Valley civilization was one of the earliest urban civilizations apart from Mesopotamia and Egypt. It was primarily centered around the Indus river valley which cut across the borders of the civilization. It spread from the eastern most sides of Balochistan to the Gangetic Plains. So, ancient India (if we may call so) contained most of the Asian Continent. The ethnicity of the people is ambiguous. It is ambiguous to support the 3 theories about the ethnicity of the people, viz. "Dravidian", "Out of India" and "Indigenous Aryans" theory.
    The Indus Valley Civilization was a sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture. Archeological discoveries in the region suggest a structured urban planning encompassing wide throughfares, well-designed water and sewerage works. The rich heritage of science and tradition lies undoubtedly in the greatest works of the Indus Valley civilization.
    The importance of the Indus Valley civilization to the growth of modern world is acknowledged by some of the greatest thinkers of the modern world. Voltaire expressed his belief in that the "dynasty of the Brahmins" taught the rest of the world, he wrote, "I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges." The idea intrigued Immanuel Kant who "suggested that mankind together with all science must have originated on the roof of the world [the Himalayas]"
    If it is the greatest civilization to exist, blessed we are to born in the lineage of the great men who build it...

The Evolution of the Indian Subcontinent

Around 4.54 billion years ago, the earth was formed out of the solar nebula (the remains of the formation of sun). It started as a fiery ball of hot gases and dirt. Over millions of years, the earth's crust cooled, giving way to the formation of solid crust on the earth's surface. But, underneath the solid crust still brew a hot broth of the primordial constituents of the earth. This enormous energy, packed up within the solid crust, broke the crust into different tectonic plates to ease up the pressure within. This caused the huge tectonic continental plates to drift on the molten mantle below. The so-called "Indian Plate" was originally a part of the supercontinent 'Pangea'. It was basically attached to the eastern edge of the African Plate. Over millions of years, the Indian Plate slowly drifted more towards the east, and finally crashed into the southern edge of the Eurasian Plate. The impact was such that it gave rise to the highest known mountains in the world, the Himalayas.

The land that drifted from a faraway part of the world, finally settled in its rightful place, awaiting the arrival of mankind to embrace its length and breadth. The land developed a very fertile soil, a distinct tropical climate and a natural heritage that would last henceforth its creation.

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