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Brahmaputra River L A A Y ver Ri Ga r s ng e u es iv d R R n I iv ra e ut r map Brah

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W E INDIAN OCEAN S

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0 250 500 kilometers Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area Projection

AW_LG_U03_01 Indian subcontinent Second Proof TCI1©8 Teachers’111 Curriculum Institute Geography and the Early Settlement of India 1 G u i d e t o G e o g raphy Chall e n ge

Geography Skills effective barrier between ancient India and the rest of Asia, allowing the cultures of ancient Score 1 point for each correct answer. Use the India to develop without influence from map on the previous page to check shading outsiders. and labeling. 11. Living near the sea would have enabled set- 1. Students’ labels should show the southern part tlers to have the added advantages of using the of ancient India as surrounded by the Arabian resources of the sea, as well as the land and Sea to the west, the Indian Ocean to the south, river. Such resources would have included fish and the Bay of Bengal to the east. and shellfish, salt, and seaweed. Access to sea 2. India is part of the continent of Asia. travel would have also provided a possible link 3. Use the annotated map to check students’ to other cultures in faraway lands. Possible labels for the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra disadvantages might have included the vulner- rivers. ability of a coastal settlement to attack from outsiders, as well as to potentially hazardous 4. The Deccan Plateau is located between the weather conditions. Eastern Ghats and and the Western Ghats. 5. Students should circle the label for the Using Scores to Inform Instruction Himalayas. The Himalayas are unique because they are the highest mountains in the world. Geography Skills A score of 6 out of 8 or better indicates that students have acquired sufficient 6. The Mauryan Empire was bordered in the geographic information to proceed. north by the Himalayan and the Hindu Kush mountain ranges. Its northwestern border was Critical Thinking A score of 6 out of 9 or bet- located to the northwest of the Indus River. ter indicates that students are beginning to Its southern portion, comprising all of ancient understand the relationships between physical India, with the exception of the southern tip of geography and the different ways in which the subcontinent, was bordered by the Arabian people live. Sea to the west and the Bay of Bengal to the east. Modifying Instruction 7. The Mauryan Empire was larger than the ELL or Learners with Special Education Gupta Empire. Needs Consider focusing on map-reading questions or limiting the number of “Critical 8. The Indus empties into the Arabian Sea. The Thinking” questions. Ganges empties into the Bay of Bengal. Students with Weak Map or Critical Thinking Critical Thinking Skills Assign appropriate pages from the Social Studies Skills Toolkit in the back of the Questions may have more than one correct Lesson Masters. answer. Score 1 to 3 points for each reasonable answer, depending on the strength of students’ geographic reasoning. 9. Land in the Indus River valley was fertile, and fresh water was readily available. These factors made it possible to produce food. The river also provided a route for travel and trade. 10. The location of the Himalayas, as well as their forbidding height, made them an extremely

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