Weavers, iron smelters and factory owners

Q1. Why did Britain is known as ‘workshop of the world’?

Ans: India during British rule by focusing on two industries, namely, textiles and iron and steel. Both these industries were crucial for the industrial revolution in the modern world. Mechanised production of cotton textiles made Britain the foremost industrial nation in the nineteenth century. And when its iron and steel industry started growing from the 1850s, Britain came to be known as the “workshop of the world”.
Q2. What happened after industrialization in Britain?
In the late eighteenth century the Company was buying goods in India and exporting them to England and Europe, making profit through this sale. With the growth of industrial production, British industrialists began to see India as a vast market for their industrial products, and over time manufactured goods from Britain began flooding India. Then many household or cottage industries demolished.
Q3. What is muslin?
Ans: Muslin is very thin cotton cloth. Muslin also mousseline, is a cotton fabric of plain weave. It is made in a wide range of weights from delicate sheers to coarse sheeting.
Q4. What is jamdani?
Ans: Jamdani is a vividly patterned, sheer cotton fabric, traditionally woven on a handloom by craftspeople. In other words, Jamdani  is  a  fine  muslin  on  which  decorative  motifs  are  woven  on  the  loom,  typically  in  grey and  white.  Often  a  mixture  of  cotton  and  gold  thread  is  used. 
Q5. What do you mean by bandana?
Ans: the word bandanna now refers to any
brightly coloured and printed scarf for the neck or
head. Originally, the term derived from the word “bandhna” (Hindi for tying), and referred to a variety
of brightly coloured cloth produced through a method of tying and dying.
Q6. Write a short note on Calico Act.
Ans: By the early eighteenth century, worried by the popularity of Indian textiles, wool and silk makers in England began protesting against the import of Indian cotton textiles. In 1720, the British government enacted a legislation banning the use of printed cotton textiles – chintz – in England. Interestingly, this Act was known as the Calico Act.
Q7. How did the British government secured and grow their cotton textile industries?
Ans: Unable to compete with Indian textiles, English producers wanted a secure market within the country by taking following steps:
i) preventing the entry of Indian textiles.
ii) Indian designs were imitated and printed in England on white muslin or plain unbleached Indian cloth.
iii) Competition with Indian textiles also led to a search for technological innovation in England.
iv) In 1764, the spinning jenny was invented by John Kaye which increased the productivity of the traditional spindles.
v) The invention of the steam engine by Richard Arkwright in 1786 revolutionised cotton textile weaving. Cloth could now be woven in immense quantities and cheaply too.
vi) Instead, they collected revenues from peasants and zamindars in India, and used this revenue to buy Indian textiles.
Q8. Who were the weavers?
Ans: Weavers often belonged to communities that specialised in weaving. Their skills were passed on from one generation to the next. The tanti weavers of Bengal, the julahas or momin weavers of north India, sale and kaikollar and devangs of south India are some of the communities famous for weaving.
Q9. How did the development of cotton industries in Britain effect on Indian textile industries?
Ans: The development of cotton industries in Britain affected textile producers in India in several ways:
i) Indian textiles now had to compete with British textiles in the European and American markets.
ii) Exporting textiles to England also became increasingly difficult since very high duties were imposed on Indian textiles imported into Britain.
(iii) Thousands  of  weavers in India became  unemployed.
iv) Bengal weavers  were the worst hit.
v) By  the  1830s British cotton  cloth  flooded  Indian markets.
vi) Thousands of rural women who made a living by spinning cotton thread were rendered jobless.
Q10. How  did the inventions of  Spinning Jenny  and Steam Engine help to grow cotton textile  industry in England?
Ans.  It was very difficult for the English producers to compete with Indian textiles. This competition with Indian textiles led to a search for technological innovation in England.
But, In 1764,  the Spinning Jenny was invented by John Kaye which increased the productivity of the traditional spindles.
Then steam engine was invented by Richard Arkwright in 1786.
        These two inventions revolutionised cotton textile weaving in England. In this situation British start to produce clothes immense quantities and  cheaply too.
Q11. Where the textile industries were concentrate in the early 19th century.
 Ans. In the early 19th cotton Textile industry was concentrated in the following regions :
I) Bengal was one of the most important centres. Located along the numerous rivers in the delta, the production centres in Bengal could easily transport goods to distant places.
II) Dacca in Eastern Bengal, present- day  Bangladesh, was the foremost textile centre in the 18th century. It was famous for its mulmut  and jamdani weaving.
III) Textile production was concentrated along  the  Coromandal coast stretching from Madras to nothem Andhra Pradesh.
IV) On the western coast there were important weaving centres in Gujarat.
Q12. What were the process of  weaving clothes?
Ans. The process of cloth making consists of two stages:
I) The  first stage of production was spinning mostly  by  women. The charkha and the takli were household  spinning instruments. The thread was spun on the charkha and rolled on the takli. When the spinning was over the thread was woven into cloth  by the weaver. In most communities weaving was a  task done by men. For coloured textiles, the thread was dyed  by the  dyer, called rangrez. For painted cloth the  weavers needed the help of specialist  block  printers called chhipigars.
Q13. Why  did the Agaria iron smelters leave their village? 
Ans. The Agarias are a community of specialised iron  smelters. In the late 19th century a series  of famines devastated  the dry tracts of India. In central India, many of the Agaria iron smelters stopped work, leave their villages and migrated,  looking for some other work to survive the hard times.
Q14. How did the cotton textile industry come up in our country?
Ans: The first cotton mill in India was set up as a spinning mill in Bombay in 1854. It was close to  the vast black soil tract of western India where  cotton was grown. When the cotton textile mills  came up they could  get supplies of  raw material  with  ease.

    The  first  mill  in Ahmedabad  was  started  in  1861.  A  year  later  a  mill was  established  in  Kanpur,  in  the  United  Provinces. Growth  of  cotton  mills  led  to  a  demand  for  labour. Thousands  of  poor  peasants,  artisans  and  agricultural labourers  moved  to  the  cities  to  work  in  the  mills.
Q15. What kinds of problems were faced by the Indian textile industries?
Ans:
I) In  the  first  few  decades  of  its  existence,  the  textile factory  industry  in  India  faced  many  problems.
II) It  found it  difficult  to  compete  with  the  cheap  textiles  imported from  Britain.
III) In  most  countries,  governments  supported industrialisation  by  imposing  heavy  duties  on  imports.
IV) This  eliminated  competition  and  protected  infant industries.
V) The  colonial  government  in  India  usually refused  such  protection  to  local  industries.
Q16. How the industrialisation of Britain related to the colonisation of India?
Ans: The  industrialisation  of  Britain  had  a  close  connection  with  the conquest  and  colonisation  of  India. In  the  late  eighteenth  century  the  Company  was  buying  goods  in  India and  exporting  them  to  England  and  Europe,  making  profit  through this  sale.  With  the  growth  of  industrial  production,  British industrialists  began  to  see  India  as  a  vast  market  for  their  industrial products,  and  over  time  manufactured  goods  from  Britain  began flooding  India.

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