The river that gave India its name and cradled one of the world's first great civilisations.
Length
3,180 km
Source
Tibetan Plateau (near Mount Kailash)
Mouth
Arabian Sea (Pakistan)
Continent
Asia
Countries
China, India & Pakistan
Did you know?
The Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation built sophisticated planned cities with drainage 4,500 years ago along its banks.
Little-known fact
The Indus is one of the few rivers to host a dedicated freshwater dolphin — the blind Indus river dolphin, which navigates by sound.
Highlights
- Gave India its name
- Cradle of the Indus Valley Civilisation
- Home to a blind river dolphin
Life in the Indus
The fish and animals, waterbirds and water plants — including some of the rarest — that this water supports.
Animals & fish
Eurasian otter
A sleek, playful hunter whose return to a river is a sign the water has run clean again.
Waterbirds
Common kingfisher
A dazzling blue-and-orange dart that plunges from a perch to spear fish in an instant.
Grey heron
A patient, statue-still angler that stalks the shallows of rivers and lakes across the Old World.
Water plants & reeds
Sacred lotus
A revered Asian water plant whose leaves are so water-repellent that dirt rolls straight off them.
Interactive · 3D journey
Journey of a river · source → sea
Every river runs the same great journey — from an icy mountain spring, down through gorges and looping meanders, to a wide delta where it meets the sea. Tap a stage to follow the water downstream.
Tip: hover to tilt the valley · tap a stage to float downstream
The Source
Every river begins high up — in a mountain spring, a melting glacier or a boggy upland. The water is cold, clear and fast, tumbling down the steepest ground of its whole journey.
Landforms here