Chapter Review:

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• Historians were fascinated with dates. History is about changes that occur over time, finding out how things were in the past and how things have changed. History was an account of battles and big events. It was about rulers and their policies. Historians wrote about the year a king was crowned, the year he married, the year he had a child, the year he fought a particular war, the year he died, and the year the next ruler succeeded to the throne. For events such as these, specific dates can be determined.
• The dates we select and compose our story of the past are not important. They become vital because we focus on a particular set of events as significant. The chronology of different personalities’ lives marked the different chapters of the history of British India. It is to give each chapter some coherence. It is to tell a story in a way that makes some sense and can be followed.
• In 1817, James Mill, published a massive three-volume work, A History of British India. In his book, he divided Indian history into three periods – Hindu, Muslim and British. Mill thought that all Asian societies were at a lower level of civilisation than Europe. According to his telling of history, before the British came to India, Hindu and Muslim despots ruled the country. Religious intolerance, caste taboos and superstitious practices dominated social life. According to him, British rule could civilise India. In this idea of history, British rule represented all the forces of progress and civilisation. Historians had divided Indian history into ‘ancient’, ‘medieval’ and ‘modern’.
• By reading this chapter you will understand how the British came to conquer the country and establish their rule, subjugating local nawabs and rajas. How they established control over the economy and society, collected revenue to meet all their expenses, bought the goods they wanted at low prices, produced crops they needed for export, and you will understand the changes that came about as a consequence. You will get to learn about the changes British rule brought about in values and tastes, customs and practices. When the subjugation of one country by another leads to these kinds of political, economic, social and cultural changes,it is referred to as colonisation.
• British believed in the act of writing which produced an administrative culture of memos, notings and reports. They also carefully preserved important documents and letters. Important records are preserved in all administrative institutions. In the early years of the nineteenth century, these documents were carefully copied out and beautifully written by calligraphists – by those who specialised in the art of beautiful writing. By the middle of the nineteenth century, with the spread of printing, multiple copies of these records were printed as proceedings of each government department.

1. How When and Where

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Q1. State whether true or false:

(a) James Mill divided Indian history into three periods – Hindu, Muslim, Christian.

(b) Official documents help us understand what the people of the country think.

(c) The British thought surveys were important for effective administration.

Answer: 

(a) False

(b) False

(c) True 

Q2. What is the problem with the periodisation of Indian history that James Mill offers?

Answer: James Mill divided Indian History into three periods are as follow;

(i) Hindu (ii) Islam (iii) British 

But There were following problems in this periodisation:

(i) No era can be divided into time zones only according to the religion of the rulers of that time.

(ii) They wanted to show that before British rule, India was divided in the name of caste religion/system.

(iii) While the rulers of ancient age had no religion.

Q3. Why did the British preserve official documents?

Answer: The British preserved the official documents by making them museums and archives.

Q4. How will the information historians get from old newspapers be different from that found in police reports?

Answer: The information used in the old newspapers was true and correct, while the police report was false. Under British rule, the police used to file false reports at the behest of the British, which could not be believed. Whereas newspaper information was based on true reports. Newspapers used to write events independently.

1. How When and Where

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Question 1: To whom did Robert Clive entrust the task of preparing a map of India?

Answer: Rennell 

Question 2: For which events in history are dates important?

Answer: Dates are important for the following events in history, such as when the king was crowned, in which year he was married, in which year a child was born in his house, in which year he fought, when he died and after that Who sat on the throne?

Question 3: Who was the first Governor-General of India?

Answer: Warren Hastings in 1773 AD.

Question 4: Who was the last Viceroy of India?

Answer: Lord Mountbatten.

Question 5: Who was James Mill?

Answer: James Mill was an economist and political philosopher of Scotland. He wrote a book called "A History of British India".

Question 6: In how many time sections has James Mill divided Indian history?

Answer: Indian history is divided into three periods in James Mill.

         (i) Hindu (ii) Muslim (iii) British

Question 7: How many parts did historians divide Indian history?

Answer: Historians divided Indian history into the following parts.

         (i) Ancient India

         (ii) Medieval India

         (iii) Modern India

Question 8: Why did the British think that surveys are important for proper governance?

Answer: There are following reasons.

(i) The British believed that to govern a country well, it is necessary to know it correctly.

(ii) Surveys provide information about the earth's surface, soil quality, tree plants, fauna and local history.

(iii) In this step, the British started the census and conducted many types of surveys.

Question 9: How did the British keep government documents safe?

Answer: The British preserved government documents by making them museums and archives.

Question 10: Which is the department of map making in India?

Answer: Survey of India.

Question 11: When and under which rule was the Survey of India established?

Answer: Survey of India was established in 1803 under British rule.

Question 12: Where is the headquarters of Survey of India?

Answer: The headquarters of Survey of India is in Dehradun.

Question 13: Who was the last emperor of the Mughal Empire?

Answer: Bahadur Shah Zafar 

Question 14: What is a census?

Answer: From the British rule, a survey is conducted every 10 years in India for information related to the public and all citizens are counted, which is called census.