Tag: colonialism and tribal societies

Questions Related to colonialism and tribal societies

Why were peasants in the $19th$ century unwilling to cultivate opium in India?

  1. The price paid by government was very low

  2. The plant was delicate

  3. The cultivators were poor

  4. All the above


Correct Option: D

Which of the following options refers to Captain Swing?

  1. Name of the Captain of a Ship

  2. Name of the army Captain under The British

  3. A mythical name which was used to threaten landlords by sending threatening letters.

  4. Name of the leader who organised peasants riots against threshing machines.


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

"Captain Swing" was the name appended to several threatening letters during the rural English Swing Riots of 1830, when labourers rioted over the introduction of new threshing machines and the loss of their livelihoods. Captain Swing was described as a hard-working tenant farmer driven to destitution and despair by social and political change in the early nineteenth century.

In early 19th century which were two major commercial crops grown in India?

  1. Sugarcane and Jute

  2. Jute and Indigo

  3. Indigo and Opium

  4. Cotton and Sugarcane


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

During the colonial period, Indian farmers produced crops like Indigo, opium to cater to the world market. These were the two major commercial crops on the 19th century.

Indian farmers were not willing to cultivate opium because ____________.

  1. it required fertile land and needed more care

  2. opium cultivation spoiled their health

  3. opium was addictive and its cultivation was immoral

  4. the rent to be paid to the government was high


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

The Indian farmers were not willing to divert their best fields for opium cultivation because it would have resulted in poor production cereals and pulses. Many cultivators did not own land. For opium cultivation, they had to lease land from landlords and pay rent. The cultivation of opium was a difficult process and time consuming. This would have left little time for the farmers to care for other crops. The government paid very low price for the opium which made it an unprofitable proposition.

Hows the life of poor peasants were affected by the Enclosure Movement?

  1. The land of the cultivator was taken over by the landlord

  2. The poor peasants were deprived of the common land where they could graze their cattle and collect firewood.

  3. Fences around lands prohibited easy movement between lands.

  4. The landlords did not hire the peasants any more.


Correct Option: B
Explanation:
  • When enclosures came up, the enclosed land became the exclusive property of one landowner.
  • The poor could no longer collect their firewood from the forests, or graze their cattle on the commons.
  • They could no longer collect apples and berries, or hunt small animals for meat.
  • Everything had a price which the poor could not afford to pay. The poor were displaced from the land leading to  migration in search of work.

Growing of which of the following crops makes the land fertile?

  1. Brinjal

  2. Tomato

  3. Turnip

  4. Potato


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

Growing turnip crops makes the land fertile. Turnip was a good fodder crop for cattle. These crop have the capacity to increase the nitrogen content of the soil.

The colonial government in Bengal exported opium to _____.

  1. Australia

  2. China

  3. Japan

  4. Russia


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

The British East India Company assumes control of Bengal and Bihar, opium-growing districts of India. British companies extracted huge profits by smuggling opium trade out of Calcutta to China. Offically opium is still banned in China.

The British government had established a monopoly to trade in opium in Bengal by ______.

  1. 1770

  2. 1771

  3. 1772

  4. 1773


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

Early in the 18th century the Portuguese found that they could import opium from India and sell it in China at a considerable profit. By 1773 the British had discovered the trade, and that year they became the leading suppliers of the Chinese market. The British East India Company established a monopoly on opium cultivation in the Indian province of Bengal, where they developed a method of growing opium poppies cheaply and abundantly. Other Western countries also joined in the trade, including the United States, which dealt in Turkish as well as Indian opium.