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.
