Chapter 4 The Age of Industrialisation Important Questions Class 10 History
Chapter 4 The Age of Industrialisation Important Questions Class 10 History are designed to help students instantly assess their understanding of the subject. It is an effective way to reinforce what students have learned and prepare for a quiz by building their confidence.
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Chapter 4 The Age of Industrialisation Important Questions and Answers Class 10 History
Chapter 4 The Age of Industrialisation Very Short Answer Questions (1 Mark)
1. What does Proto industrialisation mean?
Solution
It is the phase of industrialisation that was not based on factories but rather created suitable conditions for the establishment of full industrialised cities.
2. What were ‘trade guilds’?
Solution
These were associations of producers that trained crafts people, maintained control over production, regulated competition and prices and restricted the entry of new people into the trade.
3. Why the aristocrats in Victorian England demanded handmade products?
Solution
Handmade products portrayed class, royalty, high tastes and refinement. They were unique in their own designs and carefully designed and finished, so they attracted the upper elites of the society more.
4. Why did merchants turn to countryside?
Solution
Rulers granted different guilds the monopoly rights to produce and trade in specific products. It was therefore difficult for new merchants to set up business in towns. So, they turned to the countryside.
5. What was the problem faced by Indian weavers in the 1860s?
Solution
The Indian weavers could not get sufficient amount of good quality of cotton.
6. Define the term ‘Carding’.
Solution
Carding is a mechanical process that disentangles, cleans and intermixes fibers such as cotton or wool to produce a continuous web suitable for subsequent processing like spinning.
7. Why the aristocrats in Victorian England demanded handmade products?
Solution
Handmade products portrayed class, royalty, high tastes and refinement. They were unique in their own designs and carefully designed and finished, so they attracted the upper elites of the society more.
8. Who created the cotton mill?
Solution
Richard Arkwright created the cotton mill. Costly new machines were purchased, set up and maintained in the mill.
9. Why were the women in England against Spinning Jenny ?
Solution
Women feared that they might lose their livelihood and these machines would overtake their positions so they started detesting the use of spinning Jenny in the factories.
10. Which non-mechanised sectors of industries were grown with small innovations?
Solution
These non-mechanised sectors were-food processing, building, pottery, glass work, tanning, furniture making and production of implements.
11. What happened as a result of cotton being exported from India
Solution
As cotton was being exported to England, the availability of cotton in Indian markets was affected. Weavers had to pay high rates to purchase raw cotton which most of the weavers could not afford.
12. What was the drawback of new technology for merchants and industrialists?
Solution
New technology was expensive and merchants and industrialists were cautious about using it. The machines often broke down and repair was costly. So, they were not as effective as their manufacturer claimed.
13. How did urbanisation help create opportunities?
Solution
Urban activities like building up of roads, laying down railway lines, construction of new railways stations as railways were expanded too, drainage and sewers laid and river embankments created opportunities where people got employment.
14. Who were Gomasthas ?
Solution
Gomasthas described as an Indian agent of the English East India Company who was paid to supervise weavers and craftsmen, collect supplies and deliver finished goods to the company at fixed rates. He always examined the quality of the cloth.
15. Why did technological changes occur slowly?
Solution
New technology was expensive and their repairing costs were very high. Thus, merchants and industrialists thought before investing in them. Moreover, not all manufacturers could guarantee efficient machines.
16. How were workers hostile to new technology?
Solution
Fear of unemployment made workers hostile to the introduction of new technology. When the Spinning Jenny was introduced in the woollen industry, women who survived on hand spinning began attacking the new machines. This conflict continued for a long time.
17. By 1750’s why the commercial networks of Indian traders did began to decline in India?
Solution
The European trading companies secured huge concessions and trading privileges from various rulers and local courts that boosted their trade. After this, they secured monopoly rights to trade even. This impacted the trading activities of the Indian traders and merchants.
18. How did Indian merchants and bankers help in the export of trade?
Solution
Many Indian merchants and bankers were involved in the network of export trade by financing production, carrying goods and supplying exporters.
19. Why did upper classes in Victorian Britain prefer things made by hand?
Solution
The aristocrats and the bourgeoisie preferred things produced by hand or handmade products, which came to symbolise refinement and class. They were better finished, individually produced and carefully designed.
20. From which pre-colonial ports was vibrant sea trade operated?
Solution
Surat on Gujarat coast, connected India to the Gulf and Red Sea Ports, Masulipatam on the Coromandal Coast and Hoogly in Bengal had trade links with Southeast Asian ports.
21. When was the first jute mill set up in India?
Solution
Jute mills came up in Bengal, the first being set up in 1855 and another seven years later in 1862.
22. When did the first cotton mill come up in India?
Solution
The first cotton mill in Bombay came up in 1854 and it went into production two years later.
23. Who was a jobber?
Solution
Very often the jobber was employed by industrialists to get new recruits. He used to be an old trusted worker. He got people from his village, ensured them jobs, helped them settle in the city and provided them money in time of crisis.
24. How did European agencies control Indian industries?
Solution
These agencies mobilised capital, set up joint-stock companies and managed them. In most instances, Indian financiers provided the capital while European Agencies made all the investment and business decisions.
25. In which industries were European managing agencies interested?
Solution
They established tea and coffee plantations, acquiring land at cheap rates from the colonial government and they invested in mining, indigo and jute.
26. Where did the workers come from, to work in cotton mills?
Solution
In Bombay, cotton industries workers came from the neighbouring district of Ratnagiri, while the mills of Kanpur got most of their textile hands from the villages within the district of Kanpur.
27. Name the two industrialists of Bombay who built huge industrial empires during nineteenth century.
Solution
Dinshaw Petit and Jamshetjee Nusserwanjee Tata.
28. How did advertisements become a vehicle of the nationalist message of Swadeshi?
Solution
When Indian manufacturers advertised the nationalist message, it was clear and loud. If you care
for the nation then buy products that Indians produce.
Chapter 4 The Age of Industrialisation Short Answer Questions (3 Marks)
1. What were the roles of trade guilds?
Solution
(i) Trained craftsmen, maintain control over production, regulate prices.
(ii) Enjoyed monopoly rights to produce and trade certain products.
(iii) Had the right to restrict entry of outsiders.
2. What were the advantages of cotton mill?
Solution
(i) Production process was carefully supervised.
(ii) Quality of cloth could be controlled.
(iii) More amount of production in less time.
(iv) Labour could be easily managed.
3. Why was the ‘Jobber’ employed by Indian industrialists?
Solution
(i) Industrialists employed the Jobber, an old trusted worker.
(ii) He got people from his village, got them jobs and helped them settle in the cities.
(iii) Therefore, Jobbers became persons with authority and power. He began demanding money
and gifts for the favour he did and started controlling the lives of the workers.
4. How was cloth manufactured in England during the proto-industrial period?
Solution
A merchant clothier in England purchased wool from a wool stapler. From there, it was carried to the spinners, then spun yarn was taken to the fullers and then to the dyers. The finishing was done in London before the export merchant sold the cloth in the international market.
5. Why merchants from towns in Europe began to move countryside in Seventeenth and eighteenth centuries?
Solution
In the seventeenth and eighteenth century the merchants from the towns in Europe began moving to the countryside because the availability of raw materials was cheap and the labourers were also available for more production.
6. Why did the upper class in Victorian Britain prefer things produced by hand?
Solution
The upper classes in Victorian Britain were the aristocrats and the bourgeoisie and they preferred things produced by hand because
(i) Handmade products came to symbolise refinement and class.
(ii) They were better finished, individually produced, and carefully designed.
(iii) Machine-made goods were good for export to the colonies.
7. Why was the industrial growth slow till the First World War?
Solution
(i) British mill were busy producing was material for the British army. So the Manchester imports into India declined.
(ii) Indian factories supply was needs such as jute bags cloths for army uniforms, etc.
(iii) New factories were set-up and old factories run multiple shift to meet the increasing demand.
8. How did the small-scale industries predominate in India?
Solution
While factory industries grew steadily after the war, large industries formed a small segment of
the economy. Most of them were located in Bengal and Bombay.
(i) Over the rest of the country, small-scale production continued to predominate.
(ii) In some instances, handicrafts production actually expanded in the 20th century.
(iii) While cheap machine-made thread wiped out the spinning industry in the 19th century, handloom cloth production survived, despite problems.
9. Describe any three major problems faced by Indian cotton weavers in the nineteenth century.
Solution
(i) A huge decline of textile exports from India. The local markets shrank due to deluge of Manchester imports.
(ii) Produced by machines at lower costs, the imported cotton goods were so cheap that the hand-spun cotton materials made by Indian weavers could not easily compete with them.
(iii) The Indian weavers failed to achieve sufficient supply of raw cotton of good quality.
10. Why was it difficult for the East India Company to procure regular supplies of goods for exports in the beginning?
Solution
In the beginning, the East India Company found it difficult to ensure a regular supply of goods for export because
(i) The French, The Dutch and the Portuguese as well as the local traders competed in the market to buy woven cloth.
(ii) So, the weaver and supply merchants could bargain and try selling the produce to the best buyer.
(iii) Company officials also continuously complained of difficulties of supply and the high prices.
11. Why was a jobber employed? How did he misuse his power?
Solution
(i) Industrialists usually employed a jobber to get new recruits. Very often, the jobber was an old and trusted worker.
(ii) He got people from his village, ensured them jobs, helped them settle in the city and provided them money in times of crisis.
(iii) Therefore, the jobber became a person with some authority and power. He began demanding money and gifts for such favour and controlling the lives of workers.
12. Why could Manchester never recapture its old position in the Indian market after the war?
Solution
(i) Unable to modernise and compete with the US, Germany and Japan, the economy of Britain crumbled after the war.
(ii) Cotton production collapsed and exports of cotton cloth from Britain fell dramatically.
(iii) Within the colonies, local industrialists gradually consolidated their position substituting foreign manufacturers and capturing the home market.
13. How did factories emerge on the landscape of England?
Solution
(i) In the early 19th century, factories increasingly became an intimate part of English landscape.
(ii) The new mills were so magical that the sight of those factories or developing new technology, dazzled the people.
(iii) They concentrated their attention on the mills, almost forgetting the by-lanes and the workshops where production still continued.
14. How did the new inventions and technology help in setting up the factory concept?
Solution
(i) A series of inventions in the eighteenth century increased the efficacy of each step of the production process. (carding, twisting, spinning and rolling)
(ii) They enhanced the output per worker, enabling each worker to produce more, and they made possible the production of stronger threads and yarn.
(iii) It brought the entire production process under one roof and management. This allowed a more careful supervision over the production process, a watch over quality, and the regulation of labour, all of which had been difficult to do when production was in the countryside.
Chapter 4 The Age of Industrialisation Long Answer Questions (5 Marks)
1. How rapid was the process of industrialisation? Does industrialisation mean only the growth of factory industries?
Solution
(i) The most dynamic industries in Britain were clearly cotton and metals. Growing at a rapid pace, cotton was the leading sector in the first phase of industrialisation up to the 1840’s and in colonies from the 1860’s, the demand for iron and steel increased rapidly.
(ii) The new industries could not easily displace traditional industries. Even at the end of the nineteenth century, less than 20% were employed in the technologically advanced industrial sector. Textiles was a dynamic sector, but the production was largely within the domestic units.
(iii) The pace of change in the traditional industries was not because of the steam powered cotton or metal industries but because of the seemingly ordinary and small innovations in any non-mechanised sectors such as food processing, building, pottery, glass work, tanning, furniture making and production of implements.
(iv) Technological changes occurred slowly as it was expensive and merchants and industrialists were cautious about using it. The machines often broke down and repair was costly. They were not as effective as their inventors and manufacturers claimed.
(v) The worker in the mid-nineteenth century was not a machine operator but the traditional craftsperson and labourer.
2. “In 18th century Europe, the peasants and artisans in the countryside readily agreed to work for the merchants’ ‘. Give reasons.
Solution
In the countryside poor peasants and artisans began working for merchants because
(i) Open fields were disappearing and commons were being enclosed. Cottagers and poor peasants who had earlier depended on common lands for survival had to now look for alternative sources of income.
(ii) Many had tiny plots of land which could not provide work for all members of the household.
(iii) So when merchants came around and offered advances to produce goods for them, peasant households eagerly agreed.
(iv) By working for the merchants, they could remain in the countryside and continue to cultivate their small plots. It also allowed them a fuller use of their family labour resources.
3. Describe the life of workers in Victorian Britain?
Solution
(i) The abundance of labour in the market affected the lives of workers. As the news of jobs travelled hundreds would come to the cities but, getting a job depended on existing network of friendship and kin relations. As not everyone had social connections they had to wait for weeks.
(ii) Seasonality of work in many industries meant prolonged periods without work. Some returned to the countryside after the busy season was over while the others continued to look for odd jobs, which till the mid nineteenth century was difficult to find.
(iii) Wages increased but it did little for the welfare of the workers. The increase in prices during the Napoleonic wars brought the real value of what the workers earned down as the same wages could now buy fewer things. The wages did not depend on the wage rate but also the period of employment.
(iv) After the 1840’s building activity intensified in the cities, opening up greater opportunities of employment. Roads were widened, new railway stations came up, railway lines were extended, tunnels dug, drainage and sewers laid, rivers embanked. The number of workers employed in the transport industry doubled in the 1840’s and doubled again in the subsequent years.
4. Why did the villagers started producing commodities for the merchants in the countryside?
Solution
(i) Merchant wanted to expand their production so as to meet growing needs of the population and there for to decided to move the countryside.
(ii) In towns, trade guilds exercised excessive control and regulated price of the commodities. They also restricted the entry of new people into trade practises.
(iii) Trade guilds exercised monopoly right over production and to trade in specific products. Thus, it became difficult for new merchant to set up business in town.
(iv) These conditions leads merchants to look for countryside. They provide money to the peasants and artisans to produce for the international market.
5. Before the age of industrialisation silk and cotton goods from india dominated the international markets in textiles. Elaborate
Solution
(i) Coarser cottons were produced in many countries, but the finer varieties often came from India. Armenian and Persian merchants took the goods from Punjab to Afghanistan, eastern Persia and Central Asia.
(ii) Bales of fine textiles were carried on camels back via the north-west frontier, through the mountain passes and across deserts.
(iii) A vibrant sea trade operated through the main pre-colonial ports of Surat on the Gujarat coast connected India to the Gulf and Red Sea Ports: Masulipatnam on the Coromandel coast and Hooghly in Bengal had trade links with South Asian ports.
(iv) A variety of Indian merchants and bankers were involved in this network of export trade by financing production, carrying goods and supplying exporters.
6. What led to the rise of Bombay and Calcutta ports in the 19th century?
Solution
(i) The European companies gradually gained power by first securing a variety of concessions from local courts, then the monopoly rights to trade.
(ii) This resulted in the decline of the old ports of Surat and Hooghly through which local merchants operated.
(iii) Exports from these ports fell and the credit that had financed earlier trade began drying up and the local bankers went bankrupt.
(iv) While Surat and Hoogly decayed, Bombay and Calcutta grew. This shift from the old ports to the new ones was an indicator of the growth of colonial power.
(v) Trade through the new ports came to be controlled by European companies, and was carried in European ships.
(vi) Many old trading houses collapsed and those that wanted to survive had to now operate within a network shaped by European trading companies.
7. How were the Indian weavers affected because of industrialisation in India?
Solution
(i) The weavers lose their chance of bargaining.
(ii) Leasing of land became very common. Weavers remained busy with weaving and so had to lease out their lands to others for farming.
(iii) Clashes with Gomasthas became a common instance. The Gomasthas often beat up the weavers; spoke arrogantly if there was a delay in supply of goods.
(iv) The weavers no longer were farming. Thus, they had to depend on market supplies to buy food supplies to survive. And if they leased it out, they received a meagre share of return which was not enough for the whole family.
8. What role did the Indian merchants play in the growth of industries before 1750?
Solution
(i) The British in India began exporting opium to China and took tea from China to England. Many Indians became junior players in this trade, providing finance, procuring supplies, and shipping consignments. Having earned through trade, some of these businessmen had visions of developing industrial enterprises in India.
(ii) In Bengal, Dwarkanath Tagore made his fortune in the China trade before he turned to industrial investment, setting up six joint-stock companies in the 1830s and 1840s.
(iii) In Bombay, Parsis like Dinshaw Petit and Jamshetjee Nusserwanjee Tata who built huge industrial empires in India accumulated their initial wealth partly from exports to China and partly from raw cotton shipments to England. Sonic merchants from Madras traded with Burma while others had links with the Middle East and East Africa.
(iv) There were yet other commercial groups, but they were not directly involved in external trade. They operated within India, carrying goods from one place to another, banking system such as transferring funds between cities, and financing traders.
9. ‘Consumers are created, with advertisements’ Support this statement with three examples.
Solution
(i) Advertisements make products appear desirable and necessary. They try to shape the minds of people and create new needs. Advertisements played a part in expanding the markets for products, and in shaping a new consumer culture.
(ii) When the Manchester industrialists began selling cloth in India, they put labels on the cloth bundles. The label was needed to make the place of manufacture, and the name of the company familiar to the buyer. The label was also to be a mark of quality.
(iii) Images of Indian gods and goddesses regularly appeared on these labels. It was as if the association with gods gave divine approval to the goods being sold. The imprinted image of Krishna or Saraswati was also intended to make the manufacture from a foreign land appear somewhat familiar to Indian people.
(iv) Figures of emperors and nawabs adorned advertisement and calendars. The message very often seemed to say: if you respect the royal figure, then respect this product, when the product was being used by kings, or produced under royal command, its quality could not be questioned.
10. Describe the role of ‘technology’ in transformation of the world in the nineteenth century.
Solution
(i) Railways, steamships, telegraphs transformed the trade and led to easy transportation of goods and raw materials.
(ii) Technological advancements stimulated the process of industrialization, which expanded the production of goods and trade.
(iii) Refrigerated ships made transportation of perishable products, like meat, over long distances easy.
(iv) There was also development of the Printing Press that lead to print revolution.
(v) Communication was made easy with the invention of telephones, computers and other things like cabels, network towers etc.