ct, changed course between 18 and 26 times in recorded history -- and has reached the sea, at various times, on either side of the Shandong Peninsula. In fact, its mouth changed most recently in the 20th century!
Because of this, centralized states developed early on the North China Plain as an extension of the hydraulic engineering needed to keep the river where it was "supposed" to go and not wreck people's fields after every big rain. These coalesced into the Shang and early Zhou dynasties, fragmented in the Warring States period, and were more-or-less permanently unified by the Qin Dynasty ... However, the nature of the heartland necessitated greater Chinese centralization, just due to the titanic effort needed to (not always successfully) keep the Yellow River in check.
If this is the case, then it makes sense why a bunch of Timurid exiles carrying Persian ideas of administration were the ones who formed the longest-lasting unification of India prior to British meddling.
[–]khoonirobo 50 points 20 hours ago
This! India was really influenced by a multitude of incoming and internally generated influences but never had a truly long period of stability and thus homogenisation. Without the homogenisation part the multitude of cultures continue to exist in pockets and influence each other in broader swathes. An example, take language, the only really common language is English, which is no - ones mother tongue. No language has the status of a 'national language' though there are multitude of nationally recognised languages.
[–]ludonarrator 2 points 14 hours ago
This is (almost) correct; most of present day India is astonishingly isolated from all sides. This is also why the location of Kashmir - which currently happens to be under Indian control (sort of illegally so, too) - is considered extremely valuable, being the centre point of three competing nations in the Himalayas: India, China, and Pakistan, and has been in a state of constant war for several decades now.
[–]Mequittingthenet [score hidden] an hour ago
India is FAR more geographically bound than China, with an ocean to the south, heavily forested mountains to the east, world's tallest mountains to the north, an arid mountain range to the west, through which South Asia is linked to the rest of the world.
india has access into the silk road. it's oceans to the south exposed it to greek and arab traders since before recorded history. china is landlocked except to the east. india has a whole peninsula exposed to the ocean. also, within india, the land is more broken by rivers and mountains. isolating people within india from each other, whereas within china, people can travel with relative ease.
Also sea invasions became popular in the late 1800's, when all the European countries were competing for large navies.
[–]bananagee123 151 points 20 hours ago
The northern and southern parts of India are actually separated by shorter mountain ranges that gave ancient armies a difficult time. That’s part of the reason why south India almost always had its own kingdoms
[–]Netturaan 84 points 20 hours ago
This is an interesting point .I remember a professor once telling us that these historical effects can be seen in the way festivals are celebrated in South and north .Southern festivals are usually "in-house" events and do not have too much of community celebrating together , out in the open etc. , Whereas the North Indian festivals are more community based and obvious (such as navratri dance , or Holi etc.) . Apparently this is due to the fact that since norther parts were historically invaded from time to time and were always under threat , festivities were a show of strength of the communities .
[–]LD_in_MT 28 points 19 hours ago
I'll add that China has two large navigable rivers and multiple smaller ones that help unify parts of the interior with the coastal regions.
India certainly has navigable rivers, but nothing that connects the north and the south, say the way the Mississippi river system does in the US.
[–]MFillon 13 points 18 hours ago
Sorry, when I say Chinese ide