Indus

Indus refers to the Indus River, a major transboundary river in South Asia, as well as to the Indus Valley Civilization, one of the world’s earliest urban cultures that grew along its banks. The river rises on the Tibetan Plateau near Lake Mansarovar and travels through the highlands of Ladakh and Gilgit-Baltistan before entering Pakistan and draining into the Arabian Sea near Karachi. It runs about 3,180 kilometers, making it one of the longest rivers in Asia. Its main tributaries include the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej and Bias, which join the Indus in the Punjab region.

The Indus Valley Civilization flourished roughly between 3300 and 1300 BCE, in the northwestern Indian subcontinent along the Indus and its tributaries. It encompassed urban centers such as Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, with advanced urban planning, standardized weights and measures, and sophisticated drainage systems. The script used by the Indus people remains undeciphered, and researchers debate its linguistic affiliation. The civilization traded with regions to the Persian Gulf and Central Asia, and declined in the second millennium BCE, for reasons that are still debated, including climate change, tectonic activity, and shifting river courses.

In modern times, the Indus remains vital for irrigation, agriculture and hydropower. The Indus Basin Irrigation System supports large-scale farming across Pakistan, while the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty allocated the river’s western tributaries to Pakistan and the eastern ones to India. Environmental and political pressures—such as dam construction, water scarcity and climate change—continue to influence the river’s flow and the livelihoods it sustains.