River · China, India, Pakistan
Indus
The Indus River gave its name to India and to one of the world's oldest civilisations, which grew along its banks nearly 5,000 years ago. Today it is Pakistan's most important river.
Picture credit: Bernard Gagnon (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Bernard Gagnon (CC BY-SA 4.0) · KennyOMG (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Indus?
The river begins at Upper Gê'gyai, Tibet, near Mount Kailash, China.
It ends in the Arabian Sea (Indus Delta).
Along the way it passes: Upper Gê'gyai (source) → Leh, Ladakh → Skardu, Pakistan → Chilas (Nanga Parbat gorge) → Besham → Tarbela Dam → Attock (Kabul River confluence) → Dera Ismail Khan → Mithankot (Panjnad confluence) → Sukkur.
Countries on the river: China, India, Pakistan.
The story behind it
The Indus rises near sacred Mount Kailash on the Tibetan Plateau, then flows northwest through the mountains of Ladakh before curving dramatically around the Himalayas and heading south through Pakistan to the Arabian Sea. Nearly five thousand years ago, one of the world's first great urban civilisations grew up along its banks, with planned cities like Mohenjo-daro that had drains, wells and brick houses long before many other parts of the world built anything similar. Today the river still shapes life in the region, its water diverted through massive irrigation canals that turn dry land into fields of wheat and cotton. In its calmer stretches lives the Indus river dolphin, a rare, nearly blind mammal that finds its way using sound instead of sight, now one of the most endangered dolphins on Earth.
Questions children ask
How long is the Indus River?
The Indus River is about 3,180 kilometres long, flowing from the Tibetan Plateau through India and Pakistan before reaching the Arabian Sea.
Why is the Indus River historically important?
Nearly 5,000 years ago, the Indus Valley Civilisation grew along the river's banks, building some of the world's earliest planned cities. It is considered one of the cradles of human civilisation, alongside ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.
What animals live in the Indus River?
The Indus is home to the Indus river dolphin, a rare, nearly blind freshwater dolphin that navigates using sound. It is one of the most endangered dolphin species in the world, with only a few thousand left.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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