1161–1861 AM · ≈ 2600 BCE — 1900 BCE · world history
Indus Valley civilisation
Cities rise in the Indus valley, with straight streets, brick drains and shared granaries.
Around 2600 BCE an urban culture of hundreds of settlements takes shape in the Indus valley and along its neighbouring rivers; the largest are Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. The cities are built to plan: straight streets, houses of fired brick in one standard size, drains, wells, great baths and granaries. Merchants trade with Mesopotamia, marking their goods with carved seals showing bulls and inscriptions that remain undeciphered to this day. No palaces or royal tombs have been found; around 1900 BCE the cities empty out — probably as rivers shifted course and trade declined.