Colonialism and the City Extra Questions Class 8 History
Colonialism and the City Class 8 History Extra Questions is good way through which one can prepare for the examinations and score more marks. Extra Questions for Class 8 will help you in developing knowledge about the topics present in the chapter.
Chapter 6 Colonialism and the City Very Short Answer Questions (VSAQs):
1. Name the cities that were de-urbanised in the 19th century.
Answer
Surat, Machlipatnam and Seringapatam.
2. Why was a durbar held in Delhi in 1911?
Answer
In 1911, when King George V was crowned in England, a durbar was held in Delhi to celebrate the occasion.
3. Where did British live in the 1870s?
Answer
British lived in the sprawling Civil Lines area that came up in the north.
4. What is Kingsway known now?
Answer
It is now known as Rajpath.
5. Why were the main streets of Chandni Chowk and Faiz Bazar made broad?
Answer
They were made broad for royal processions to pass.
6. What was meant by de-urbanisation during the nineteenth century?
Answer
De-urbanisation was the process by which earlier centres of regional power collapsed with the defeat of the local leaders by the British and new centres of administration emerged.
7. What jobs did the new migrants coming to Delhi take up?
Answer
They took up jobs as hawkers, vendors, carpenters and ironsmiths.
8. What did the Census of 1931 reveal?
Answer
The Census of 1931 revealed that the Walled City area was thickly populated with as many as 90 persons per acre, while New Delhi had only about 3 persons per acre.
9. Why was the Viceroy’s Palace higher than Shah Jahan’s Jama Masjid?
Answer
The Viceroy’s Palace was higher than Shah Jahan’s Jama Masjid in order to establish British importance.
10. What were havelis?
Answer
Havelis were grand mansions in which the Mughal aristocracy in the 17th and 18th century lived.
11. Why were the Shahjahani drains closed at the end of the nineteenth century?
Answer
At the end of the 19th century, the Shahjahani drains were closed as because they could not serve the needs of the rapidly increasing population.
12. Why did Machlipatnam lose its importance as a port-town by the late 18th century?
Answer
It was because the British shifted their trade to the new ports of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta.
13. When did the city of Bombay begin to grow?
Answer
The city of Bombay began to grow when the East India Company started using Bombay as its main port in western India.
14. How did the British gain control of Delhi?
Answer
The British gained control of Delhi after defeating the Marathas in 1803.
Chapter 6 Colonialism and the City Short Answer Questions (SAQs):
1. Mention three difference in the city design of New Delhi and Shahjahanabad?
Answer
Three differences in the city design of New Delhi and Shahjahanabad were:
• Shahjahanabad was honibly-crowded with a number of mohallas and bazaars. There were several narrow streets, but New Delhi was not crowded at. There were broad, straight streets lined with sprawling mansions set in the middle of large compounds.
• Shahjahanabad was built in an unplanned manner the over crowded spaces were unhygienic and unhealthy. There was no proper arrangement for sewage disposal. Drainage facilities were also not good. But the city of New Delhi was well- planned. It was clean and healthy. It had better water supply, sewage disposal and drainage facilities than the city of Shahjahanabad.
• The environment of Shahjahanabad was to chaotic. But New Delhi represented a sense of law and order.
2. Describe the main features of Shahjahanabad, built by Shah Jahan.
Answer
• Shahjahanabad, that was began in 1639, consisted of a fort-palace complex and the city adjoining it. Lai QUa or the Red Fort contained the palace complex. To its west lay the Walled City with 14 gates.
• The main streets of Chandni Chowk and Faiz Bazaar were broad enough for royal processions to pass. A canal ran down the centre of Chandni Chowk.
• The Jama Masjid was among the largest and grandest mosques in India. There was no place higher than this mosque within the city.
3. What happened to Delhi after 1857?
Answer
During the Revolt of 1857, the rebels gathered in the Delhi and captured it under the leadership of the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. Delhi remained under the control of the rebels for four months.
When the British recaptured Delhi, they embarked on a campaign of revenge and plunder. The British forces began wrecking vengeance on the streets of Delhi, massacring the rebels. To prevent another rebellion, the British exiled Bahadur Shah to Burma, dismantled his court, razed several of the places, closed down gardens and built barracks for troops in their place.
4. Why was the Delhi Improvement Trust set up?
Answer
The Delhi Improvement Trust built areas like Daryaganj south for wealthy Indians. Houses were grouped around parks within the houses, space was divided according to new rules of privacy. Instead of spaces being shared by many families or groups, now different members of the same family had their own private spaces within the home.
5. Describe the main features of the colonial bungalow.
Answer
The main features of the colonial bungalow:
• It was meant for one nuclear family.
• It was a large single-storyed structure with a pitched roof and usually set in one or two acres of open ground.
• It had separate living and dinning rooms and bedrooms and a wide verandah running in the fronts and sometimes on three sides.
• Kitchens, stables and servants’ quarters were in a separate space from the main house. The house was run by dozens of servants.
6. 'The British wanted Delhi to forget its Mughal past'. What did they do to fulfill their wish?
Answer
The British exiled Bahadur Shah Zafar to Burma, dismantled his court, raised several of the palaces, closed down gardens and built barracks for troops in their places. They got the area around the fort completely cleared of gardens, pavilions and mosques. Mosques in particular were either destroyed, or part to other uses. No worship was allowed in the Jama Masjid for five years. One-third of the city was demolished and its canals were filled up. In the 1870s, the western walls of Shahjahanabad were broken to establish the railway and to allow the city to expand beyond the walls.
7. How did partition change the lives and occupations of the refugees?
Answer
The partition caused massive transfer of populations on both sides of the new border. Muslims left Delhi for Pakistan while their place was taken by equally large numbers of Sikh and Hindu refugees from Pakistan. Many of the Muslims who went to Pakistan were artisans, petty traders and labourers. The new migrants coming to Delhi were rural landlords, lawyers, teachers, traders and small shopkeepers. Partition changed their lives and their occupation. They had to take up new jobs as hawkers, vendors, carpenters and ironsmiths.
8. Before 1857, developments in Delhi were somewhat different from those in other colonial cities. How?
Answer
In Presidency cities, Bombay, Madras and Calcutta, the living spaces of Indians and the British were sharply separated. Indians lived in the “black’ areas, while the British lived in well laid out “white’ areas. But in Delhi, in the first half of the 19th century, the British lived alongwith the wealthier Indians in the Walled City. The British learned to enjoy Urdu/Persian culture and poetry and took part in local festivals.
Chapter 6 Colonialism and the City Long Answer Questions (LAQs):
1. Describe how New Delhi was planned?
Answer
New Delhi was constructed as a 10-square-mile city on Raisina Hill, south of the existing city.
• Two architects, Edward Lutyens and Herber Baker, were called on to design the city and its buildings. The government complex in New Delhi consisted of a two-mile avenue, Kingsway, (now Rajpath), that led to the Viceroy’s Palace which is now called Rashtrapati Bhawan, with the secretarist buildings on either sides of the avenue.
• The features of these government buildings were borrowed from different periods of India’s imperial history, but the overall look was Classical Greece in fifth century BCE. For instance, the central dome of the Viceroy’s Palace was copied from the Buddhist stupa at Sanchi, and the red sandstone and carved screens of jalis were borrowed from Mughal architecture.
• New Delhi took nearly 20 years to build. The idea was to build a city that was a stark contrast to Shahjahanabad. Hence, in the city, these were to be broad, straight streets lived with sprawling mansions set in the middle of large compounds.
• The architects wanted New Delhi to represent a sense of law and order. They new city had to be a clean and healthy space.
2. What did the Census of 1931 reveal? What attempts were made to decongest the old city?
Answer
The Census of 1931 revealed that the Walled City area was densely populated with as many as 90 persons per acre, while New Delhi had only about 10 persons per acre.
Several attempts were made to decongest the the old city, for example, in 1888 an extension scheme called the Lahore Gate Improvement Scheme was planned by Robert Clarke for the Walled City residents. The idea was to draw residents away from the old city to a new type of market square, around which shops would be built. Streets in this redevelopment strictly followed the grid pattern and were of identical width, size and character. Land was devided into regular areas for the construction of neighbourhoods. But this development remained incomplete and did not help to decongest the old city.
In 1936, the Delhi Improvement Trust was set up. It built areas like Daiyaganj south for wealthy Indians. Houses were grouped around parks. Within the houses, space was divided according to new rules of privacy. Instead of spaces being shared by many families or groups, now different members of the same family had their own private spaces within the home.