The Indus Valley Civilization, also known as the Harappan Civilization, was a significant early urban civilization that thrived in the northwestern Indian subcontinent (now Pakistan and India) between approximately 2600 BCE and 1900 BCE. Recent genetic analysis of ancient remains suggests a connection between the Indus Valley people and modern South Asians, without genetic ancestry from Steppe pastoralists or Iranian farmers. The civilization's decline was a gradual and regionally varied process starting around 1900 BCE, potentially influenced by factors such as climate change and shifts in river dynamics.