Q.1. Explain the following :
(a) Woman workers in Britain attacked the Spinning Jenny. [CBSE Sept. 2011]
(b) In the seventeenth century, merchants from towns In Europe began employing peasants and artisans within the villages.
(c) The port of Surat declined by the end of the eighteenth century.
(d) The East India Company appointed Gomasthas to supervise the weavers in India. [CBSE Sept. 2011]
Ans.
(a) In Britain in the 19th century, the condition of workers was bad as mentioned below:
- Abundance of labour affected the lives of the workers because the period of employment was less.
- Sometimes the proportion of unemployment went upto between 35 and 75 per cent. The fear of unemployment made workers hostile to the introduction of new technology. When the Spinning Jenny was introduced in the woolen industry, women who survived on hand spinning began attacking the new machines because the machine speeded up the spinning process and reduced labour demand as by turning one single wheel a worker could set in motion a number of spindles and spin several threads at a time.
This conflict over the introduction of Spinning Jenny continued for a long time.
(b) In the seventeenth century, merchants from towns in Europe began employing peasants and artisans within the villages due to following factors :
- As a result of expansion of world trade and acquisition of colonies, demand for goods had increased significantly. The merchants, however, could not increase production in towns as the urban crafts and trade guilds were powerful. These were associations of producers that trained its people, maintained control over production, regulated competition and prices and restricted the entry of new people into the trade. Rulers granted different guilds the monopoly right to produce and trade in specific products. It was, therefore, difficult for new merchants to set up business in towns. So they turned to countryside.
- In the countryside the conditions were favourable for them because in the countryside, with the disappearance of open fields and enclosure of common lands, the peasants were in search of alternative sources of income.
- Many peasants had tiny plots of land which could not provide work for all members of the household.
- The peasants agreed to do work for the merchants because it was beneficial for them too because they could remain in the countryside and could also cultivate their small plots of land. It enabled them to use full strength of their families as well.
(c) The port of Surat declined by the end of the eighteenth century due to the factors as mentioned below :
- Before the age of machine industries, silk and cotton goods from India dominated the international market in textiles.
- A vibrant sea trade operated through the main pre-colonial ports. Surat on the Gujarat coast connected India to the Gulf and Red Sea ports.
- By the 1750s the network controlled by Indian merchants was breaking down as the European companies gradually gained power including concessions from the local courts as well as the monopoly rights to trade.
- While Hoogly and Surat decayed, Bombay and Calcutta grew because now trade was carried through the new ports and was carried in European ships. As a result of it, many of the old trading houses collapsed. Thus, export from Surat fell dramatically. In the last years of the seventeenth century, the gross value of trade that passed through Surat had been ? 16 million by the 1740s, it declined to ? 3 million.
(d) The East India Company anointed gomastha to supervise weavers in India due to the 1 following factors :
After establishing its political power in India, the company wanted to establish a monopoly ‘right to trade. It proceeded to develop a system of management and control that would eliminate competition, control costs and ensure regular supplies of cotton and silk goods. This it did through a series of steps.
The most important step was to eliminate the existing traders and brokers connected with the cloth trade and establish a more direct control over the weaver. It appointed a paid servant called the gomastha to supervise weavers, collect supplies and examine the quality of cloth.The weavers who had taken advances from the company had to handover the cloth they produced to the gomastha.
Q.2. Write True or False against each statement:
(a) At the end of the 19th century, 80 per cent of the total workforce in Europe was employed in the technologically advanced industrial sector.
(b) The international market for textiles was dominated by India till the eighteenth century.
(c) The American Civil War resulted in the reduction of cotton exports from India.
(d) The introduction of the fly shuttle enabled the handloom workers to improve their productivity.
Ans.
(a) False
(b) True
(c) False
(d) True
Q.3. Explain what is meant by proto industrialisation.
Ans. Even before setting up the factories, there was large-scale industrial production for an international market. This was not based on factories. It is known as proto-industrialization. It was a part of a network of commercial exchanges. Merchants were based in towns but the t work was done mostly in the countryside.
Q.4. Why did some industrialists in the nineteenth century Europe prefer hand labour over machines? [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2011]
Ans. (i) Expensive new technology: New technologies and machines were expensive, so the pioducers and the industrialists were cautious about using them.
(ii) Costlier repair: The machines often
broke down and the repair was costly.
(iii) Less effective: They were not as effective as their inventors and manufacturers claimed.
(iv) Availability of cheap workers: Poor peasants and migrants moved to cities in large numbers in search of jobs. So the supply of workers was more than the demand. Therefore, workers were available at low wages.
(v) Uniform machine-made goods: A range of products could be produced only with hand labour. Machines were oriented to producing uniforms, standardized goods for a mass market. But the demand in the market was often for goods with intricate designs and specific shapes.
In the mid-nineteenth century. Britain, for instance. 500 varieties of hammers were produced, and 15 kinds of axes. This required human skill, not mechanical technology.
Q.5. How did the East India Company procure regular supplies of cotton and silk textiles from the Indian weavers ?
Ans. (i) Monopoly right : Once the East India Company established political power, it asserted a monopoly right to trade
(ii) New system : After establishing monopoly over trade :t proceeded to develop a system of management and control that would eliminate competition, control costs, and ensure regular supplies of cotton and silk goods. This it did through a series of steps.
(iii) Appointing Gomasthas : The Company tried to eliminate the existing traders and brokers connected with the doth trade, and establish a more direct control over the weavers. It appointed a paid secant called the Gomostha to supervise weavers, collect supplies, and examine the quality of cloth.
(iv) System of advances : To have a direct control over the weavers, the company- started the system of advances. Once an order was placed, the weavers were given loans to purchase the raw material for their production. Those, who took loans had to hand over the doth they produced to the Gomastha. They could not take it to any other trader.
(v) Use of power : The places where the weaver refused to cooperate the Company used its police. At many places weaver were often beaten and flogged for delays in supply.
Q.6. Imagine that you have been asked to write an article for an encylopedia on Britain and the history of cotton. Write your piece using information from the entire chapter.
Ans. Self- explanatory.
Q.7. Why did the industrial production in India increase during the First World War ? [CBSE Sept. 2011]
Ans. Ans. (i) Decline of Manchester : With British mills busy with war production to meet the needs of the army. Manchester imports into India declined.
(ii) Increase in demand : With the decline of imports suddenly. Indian mills had a vast home market to supply.
(iii) Demand from army : As the War prolonged. Indian factories were called upon to supply war need;i.e.. jute bags, doth for the army uniforms, tents and leather boots, horse and mule saddles, and a host of other items.
(iv) New factories : New factories were set up. and old ones ran multiple shifts. Many new workers were employed, and everyone was made to work for longer hours. Over the war years, industrial production boomed.
(v) Downfall of British industry and boon for home industry : After the war Manchester could never recapture its old position in the Indian market. Unable to modernise and compete with the US. Germany and Japan, the economy of Britain crumbled after the war. Cotton production collapsed and exports of cotton cloth from Britain fell dramatically. Within the colonies, local industrialists gradually consolidated their position, substituting foreign manufactures and capturing the home market.