Indus River

World History India (Indus River) Source: Lake Mansarovar Length: 1,900 mi (3,060) km Coverage: Tibet, Ladakh, Zanskar Valley, and Pakistan Tributaries: Zanskar, Sutlej, Jhelum, Ravi, Beas, and Chenab It is a river of south-central Asia rising in southwest Xizang (Tibet) and flowing 3,060 km northwest through northern India and southwest through Pakistan to the Arabian Sea. In Pakistan the Indus is considered the Chief River and in India known as King River. In its days the valley was the site of an advanced civilization that lasted from 2500 to 1500 b.c. In the western edge of the river near central Pakistan lies the twin peaks of Takht-I-Sulaiman (Persian, throne of Solomon). One of them is at 11,295 ft (3,443m) and the other 11,085 ft (3,379m) high, at the northern end are the highest points around. There is a Muslim shrine on the top of one of them.

The upper Indus is fed by snow and glacial melt water from the Karakorum, Hindu Kush, and the Himalayan Mountains, flow through deep gorges and scenic valleys. It is not easy to navigate due to the bad turbulence inside. It receives the combined waters of the five rivers of the Punjab (Chenab, Hjelum, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej), its chief affluent. From here the river then flows onto the dry Punjab plains of Pakistan and becomes a broad, slow moving, silt-laden stream. In ancient times people considered it (Sanskrit, syand to flow) and the Vedans called it "sindhu". Sindhu is the oldest name in Indian history. Alexander the Great built a fleet and used the Indus River to get to an unknown route towards the Persian Gulf. Which lead him to another triumphant victory.