Class 12 History Chapter 14 Colonial Cities The answer to each chapter is provided in the list so that you can easily browse through different chapters Assam Board HS 2nd Year History Chapter 14 Colonial Cities Question Answer.
Class 12 History Chapter 14 Colonial Cities
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Colonial Cities
Chapter – 14
PART – III
Very Short Answer Type Questions
Q.1. When did English settle in Madras and Calcutta?
Ans: Agents of the East India Company settled in Madras in 1639, and in Calcutta in 1690.
Q.2. Give two distinguishing features of urban and rural centres in the years preceding British rule.
Ans : a) Towns represented specific forms of economic activities and cultures. They were peopled by artisans, traders, administrators and rulers. While rural areas people subsisted by cultivating land, foraging in the forest or rearing animals.
b) Towns dominated over the rural population, thriving on surplus and taxes derived from agriculture.
c) Towns and cities were often fortified by walls, symbolising separation from the countryside.
Q.3. When was the 1st All India Census attempted? From when did census become a regular feature?
Ans : The first All India Census was attempted in 1872. Censuses became a regular feature from 1881.
Q.4. Give two common feature of the three major cities (Madras, Calcutta, Bombay) which under went rapid urbanisation under British rule.
Ans : i) The were originally fishing and weaving villages.
ii) They had coasted areas.
iii) They grew into important trading centres, because of economic activities of the East India Company.
Q.5. Give two factors which helped growth on an Indian capitalist class:
Ans : a) Participation of Indian merchants and middlemen, as junior partners in opium trade.
b) Upsurge in demand fro Indian cotton following American Civil War in 1861.
Q.6. Name the two proper industrial cities which came up during this time.
Ans : a) The two industrial cities were Kanpur and Jamshedpur.
b) Kanpur specialized in leather, woolen and cotton textiles while Jamshedpur specialised in steel.
Q.7. How did the British keep track of life in the growing cities and towns?
Ans : They carried out regular surveys, gathered statistical data and published various official reports.
Maps were also prepared not only to plan the development of the towns but also to development of the towns but also to develop commerce and consolidate power.
Q.8. What were the objectives of early hill-stations?
Ans : i) The initial hill-stations served the needs of the British army.
ii) They served places to stay troops, guard frontiers and launch campaigns against enemy rulers.
Q.9. The British had taken the task of urban planning in their hands in Bengal from the very beginning. Give any two points.
Ans : There were many reasons for the British taking up the responsibility of town planning from the early years of their rule in Bengal.
i) They did so far their defence. In 1856, Sirajudaula, the Nawab of Bengal, attacked Calcutta. He sacked the trade which the British traders had built to store their goods. So the traders of East India Company had always questioned the sovereignty of the Nawab.
ii) When Sirajudaula was defeated in the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the East India Company decided to build a new invincible and impregnable fort so that no enemy force may win or break it.
Q.10. Explain the meaning of Qasbah and Ganj.
Ans : Qasbah is a small town in the countryside after the seat of local notable. Ganj refers to a small fixed market. Both Qasbah and Ganj dealt in cloth, fruit, vegetables and milk products. They provided for noble families and the army.
B. Textual Questions & Answers:
Q.1. To what extent are census data useful in reconstructing patterns of urbanisation in the colonial context?
Ans : Census data are very useful in reconstructing pattern of urbanisation in the colonial context.
We knew that every colonial government belive in colour and racial discrimination. There census data provide us the total number of the people in this way these data are useful of know exact number of population as well as the total population of while and blacks. After knowing the number and exact population of white and blacks. It becomes easier to prepare town, planning design its formation, provision for future expansion, keeping in view living standards, needs and style of the whites as well as of the blacks. These data also tell us upto what extant total number of people or total population had been effected adversely by the fearful deadly diseases.
Census data provide us complete information about total number of different communities, their language, their works and means of livelihood as well as about their caste and religion also. The growth of cities was mentioned through regular head counts. By the midnight nth century several local censuses had been carried out in different reg ons. The first all-India census was attempted in 1872. Thereafter, fr 1881, decimal (conducted every ten years) census become a regular feature.
This collection of data is an invaluable source for studying urbanisation in India. When we look at these reports it appears that we have hard data to measure historical change. The endless pages of tables on disease and death, or the enumeration of people according their age, sex, caste and occuption, provide a vast mass of figures that creates an illusion of concreteness. Historians have however, found that the figures can be misleading. Before we use these figures we need to understand who collected the data, and why and how they were gathered, we also need to know what was measured and what was not.
Q.2. What do the terms “White” and “Black” Town signify?
Ans: The British had white skin. So they were often called the ‘white’. They suffered from the white man’s burden and considered themselves as superior to others. On the other hand, the blacks had brown or black skin. So they were called as the ‘black’ such as the Indians or Africans. Thus white signified the superiority over the black. According to the British, the black areas symbolished chaos and anarchy, filth and disease. On the other hand, the white area stood for cleanliness and hygiene. In Black areas, epidemics like cholera and plague often spread. So the British took stringent measures to ensure sanitation and public health.They wanted to prevent diseases of the black areas.
So they ensured underground piped water supply. They also introduced sewerage and drainage system. In other words, the British paid a lot of attention towards sanitary vigilance. Thus white towns were those parts of the colonial towns where the white people lived. The cantonment area were also developed at safe. They had wide roads, barracks, churches and parade ground. Besides they had big bungalows in big gardens. In fact, the White Town symbolished settled city life. But in the Black Towns, the Indians lived. They were unorganised. They were source of filth and disease.
Q.3. How did prominent Indian merchants establish themselves in the colonial city?
Ans : The colonial cities reflected mercantile culture of their new rulers. Indian merchants quick to grasp the reality that trade was slipping out of their hands established themselves as interpreters dubashes middlemen, agents (gomasthas) and suppliers of goods. They acted as intermediaries between Indian society and the British thereby ensuring for themselves an important place in the new colonial cities. They used their privileged position in government to acquire wealth. These rich agents and middlemen built large traditional courtyard houses in the Black Town in the vicinity of the bazaars to symbolise their new status.They bought up large tracts of land in the city as future investment. To impress their English masters they threw lavish parties during festivals. Their powerful position in society was established by their charitable works and patronage of temples in the Black Town.
Q.4. Examine how concerns of defence and health gave shape to calcutta.
Ans: In 1756, Sirajudaula the Nawab of Bengal sacked the small fort which the British traders had built to house their goods. Consequently when Sirajudaula was defeated in the Battle of plassey, the British built a new fort. Fort William would not be easily attacked. Around Fort William, a vast open space was left which came to be known as the Maidan or garermath. This was done so there would be no obstructions to a straight time of fire from the Fort against an advancing enemy army. Soon the British began to move out of the Fort and built residences along the periphery of the Maidan.
This was how the English settlement in calcutta started taking shape. The vast open space around the fort became calcutta’s first significant town planning measure. Lord Wellesley was concerned about the conditions that existed in the Indian part of the city the filth, overcrowding and the poor drainage. He wrote a minute (an administrative order) in 1803 on the need for town planning and set up various committees for this purpose. It was believed that creating open places in the city would make the city healthier.
Consequently many bazaars, ghats, burial ground and tanneries were cleared or removed. After wellesley’s departure, the Lottery committee carried on with the work of Town planning. In its drive to make the Indian areas cleaner, the committee cleared the river bank of encroachment and pushed the poor to the outskirts of calcutta. The outbreak of cholera and plague epidemics in the 19th century gave a further impetus to town planning. The government believed that there was a direct link between living conditions and the spread of disease. Densely areas were regarded as insanitary as it obstructed sunlight and circulation. of air.
Q.5. What are the different colonial architectural styles which can be seen in Bombay city?
Ans : The buildings constructed in the neo-Gothic architectural susie had high. pitched roofs, pointed arches and extensive decoration. This style was adopted in the construction of the churches in northern Europe during the medieval period. It was again revievd in England in the mid 19th century. It was the time when the Bombay government was building its infrastructure. This style was adopted for this purpose. In Bombay, many buildings like the secretariat, the High court and the university of Bomaby were built in this style. Few Indians also gave money for buildings made in this style. For example Sir Cowasjee Jehangir Readymoney donated money to build the university hall.
He was a rich parsi merchan. In the same way premchand Roychand funded the making of the University Library clock tower. This tower was named on the name of his mother as Rajabi Tower. Indian merchants also liked the neo-Gothic style because they believed that the building styles of British were also progressive, like their ideas and it would help make Bombay into a modern city. But the most spectacular and bewitching example of the neo-Gothic style is the Victoria Terminus, the station and head quarters of the Railway company. The British invested a lot of money in the design and construction of railway stations in cities because they were proud of themselves that they had built an all India railway network. central Bombay was dominated by a group of these buildings. Their uniform neo-Gothic style gave a special character to the city.
A new hybrid architectural style developed in the beginning of the 20th century which was a mixture of Indian style with European style. This style was given the name of Indo-Saracenic style. The world Indo was as a short form of ‘Hindu’ and the word ‘Sarecen’ was used by Europeans to designate Muslims. This style was inspired by the medieval buildings in India with their domes, Chhatris, Jalis, arches etc. By integrating Indian style with European style, British wanted to express that they are the legitimate and natural rulers of India. In 1911, the Gate way of India was built to welcome the king George V and Queen Mary to India, It is the most famous example of the traditional Gujarati style. The famous industrialist Jamsetji Tata built the hotel Taj Mahal in a similar style.
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