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Textbook Exercise | Class 9 NCERT Answers | CBSE NCERT Solution
Class 9 History - Chapter 6, Peasants and Farmers
Question 1: Explain briefly what the open field system meant to rural
people in Eighteenth-century England.
Look at the system from the point of view of:
(1) A rich farmer
(2) A labourer
(3) A peasant woman
Answer:
(1) Rich Farmer and Open-field
System:
Before the 16th century
a large part of England in countryside was quite open. All villagers had access
to the village open land. Here they collected their food, grazed their castle
and collected fuel wood for fire.
But the rich farmers
began to enclose a large part of these lands for their own use firstly for
breeding the sheep and then for raising their grain production to increase
their income. They enclosed big pieces of land from all sides and built hedges
around it to separate it from the lands of others. The rising prices of wool
and gain were sufficient for them to grab more and more of common lands and
bring them under enclosures. They even pressurised the Parliament to pass the
Enclosure Acts. Till the middle of 18th century the enclosure movement
proceeded slowly. It was not supported by the State or Church. After the middle
of 18th century, the enclosure movement swept through the countryside, changing
the English landscape forever.
(2) A Labourer and
Open-field System:
An open-field system
held great attraction for the labourer. He could meet almost all his needs from
such open fields. He could not only fetch fuel wood for fire, berries and fruit
for his food but could also pasture his cows and graze his cattle. But when
most of his open area came under the control of rich farmers who enclosed it
for their personal use, he was deprived of all the benefits which he was
drawing before. Thus, after 18th century because of enclosures and diminishing
open-field system he was forced to leave his ancestral place and migrate to
nearby urban area.
(3) A Peasant Woman
and Open-field System:
Grazing of animals, cow
keeping, gathering of fruits etc. from the open-fields were done by a peasant
woman. With the disappearance of the open-field system a peasant woman suffered
the most. She could no longer collect fuel wood for fire and berries and fruits
for her children to eat. It became difficult for her to graze her sheep, goats
and cows and supplement her income and food requirements. The life became worse
than a hell for her and her family.
Question 2: Explain briefly the factors which led to the enclosures in
England.
Answer: There were several factors which led to the
enclosures in England after the 16th century and especially after the 18th
century. Some of these factors are as follows:
(a) In 16th century, the
price of wool increased leading rich farmers to expand wool production to earn
profits. For this purpose enclosures were necessary.
(b) To ensure good
pasture for the sheep the rich farmers began to enclose common land and grow
hedges around their holdings to separate their possession and property from
others.
(c) The early enclosures
were not supported by the state or church. After the middle of 18th century the
enclosure movements swept throughout the countryside since, the British
Parliament had passed acts legalising these enclosures.
(d) During the 18th and
19th centuries the English population expanded rapidly which increased demand
for food gains. This forced the rich landlords to enclose and bring new lands
under cultivation.
(e) By the end of the
18th century, England was engaged in war with France. This disrupted trade and
made it quite difficult to import food grains from Europe. As a result the
price of food gains increased rapidly and the land-owners of England are
encouraged to produce more and more food grains by enclosing common lands.
(f) The greed of the
landowners was as much responsible for the extension of enclosure as was the
need of the hour. Bringing more and more of lands within their enclosure meant
rise in their respect as well as in their income.
CBSE NCERT Solutions for History Textbook Exercise | Class 9 History, Peasants
and Farmers | CBSE Guide NCERT Solution for IXth NCERT History Chapter 6
Exercise Questions
Question 3: Why were threshing machines opposed by the poor in England?
Answer: After 16th century and
especially during 18th century because of the enclosures of common lands by the
rich landowners, the poor were not only starved but they were also rendered
jobless. Finding survival difficult, they were forced to work as labourers
under the landowners who grabbed big chunks of the common land. They had
reconciled themselves to their fate but when new machines like threshing
machines were introduced, these poor labourers were stunned because it meant
the loss of their jobs because a single threshing machine could do the work of
more than twenty labourers.
Thus, the loss of their
livelihood forced the poor to oppose the introduction of threshing machines
tooth and nail. Also the problem became more acute when the soldiers returned
to their villages from wars and needed jobs to survive.
Question 4: Who was Captain Swing? What did the name symbolise or
represent?
Answer: Captain Swing was no person but a mythic name
used by poor labourers who were deprived of their common land, of their
livelihood and even of their jobs. They could not openly face the influential
landlords so they adopted this new method of threatening them. At night, they
would attack the farmhouses of the landowners, burn their haystacks, farmhouses
or destroy threshing machines which had completely ruined their lives and
deprived them of their livelihood.
Because the landlords
had taken their common land which was essential for their survival so the poor
labourers threatened them off dire consequences under the symbolic name of
Captain Swing. This was their device to save themselves from the operation of
the law. This name became so common in about 1830 that the riots started by the
poor labourers began to be called Swing riots. The name symbolised an
anti-machine movement or, a swing back to earlier practices of engaging labour
rather than machines.
Question 5: What was the impact of the westward expansion of settlers in
the USA?
Answer: Till 1780s, the
settlement of the White Americans was confined to a small strip of coastal land
in the east. But slowly and slowly, they continued their march to the westward
side, till by the early 20th century, they reached upto the west coast. Now a
question generally arises as to what was the impact of the westward expansion
of the settlers in the USA.
(1) Firstly, their
westward march had a great impact on the lives of the local tribes. The local
tribes were displaced from their original homes, where they were living on the
last so many centuries. This was not an easy task. So many wars had to be waged
against the American Indians who were massacred in thousands and their villages
burnt. The Indians, no doubt, resisted but ultimately, they were defeated and
forced to sign treaties and give up their land and move still westward.
(2) The settlers slowly
and slowly kept on their march towards the west. By the first decade of the
eighteenth century, they settled on the Appalachian Plateau and between 1820 to
1850, they moved into the Mississippi valley. After the 1860s, they swept into
the Great Plains across the River Mississippi.
(3) Wherever the
settlers went, they slashed and burnt the forests, pulled out the stumps and
cleared the land for cultivation. They erected fences around their fields,
ploughed the land vigorously and sowed corn and wheat. Slowly and slowly, the
whole area, especially, the Great Plains, became a major wheat producing area
of America.
In the late 19th
century, there was a dynamic expansion of wheat production in the USA. The rise
in population, coupled with the spread of railways, development of technology,
expansion of export market made America the bread bowl of the world.
(4) The westward march
of the White Americans whereas provided them vast areas to expand and to
prosper, also enabled them to amass vast natural and mineral resources of that
country and to become a great world power.
Question 6: What were the advantages and disadvantages of the use of
mechanical harvesting machines in the USA?
Answer: The use of mechanical harvesting machines had
certain advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages:
(1) The new machines
allowed the farmers to clear large tracts, and prepare the soil for
cultivation.
(2) The work could be
done quickly and at a minimum cost of labour. With power driven machinery four
men could plough, seed and harvest 2000-4000 acres of wheat in a session.
(3) It brought about a
period of plenty and prosperity.
Disadvantages:
(1) Mechanisation
reduced the need for labour and caused unemployment. Machines brought miseries
to the poor farmers and labours. Many who had taken loans and bought machines
found themselves in debt and could not repay as the demand of grains decreased
suddenly after the First World War.
(2) By the mid 1960s,
there was a large surplus of grain. Demand fell as export market collapsed.
Unsold stocks piled up, storehouses overflowed and vast amounts of wheat and
grains were turned into animal feed. This led to Great Agrarian Depression of
the 1930s which ruined even the rich formers everywhere.
Question 7: What lessons can we draw from the conversion of the countryside
in the USA from a bread basket to a dust bowl?
Answer: In their greed for new fields and more
production, the White American landowners played havoc with the natural
ecology. They slashed and burnt forests indiscriminately, uprooted all
vegetation and grasses which had deep roots in the earth and the tractors had
turned the soil over, broken into dust. Now if dust storm came, there was
nothing to check its speed. The Great Plains became the bread-basket of the
world no doubt but at what a high price.
By chance in 1930s,
terrifying dust storms began to blow over the plains and the black blizzards
rolled. They came day after day and year after year in the 1930s. As a result,
the sky was darkened, the people were choked and blinded and many cattle were
suffocated to death. All the machines, tractors, threshers were clogged with
dust. Because of the cutting of trees and grasses, there were no rains year
after year and dust storms became the order of the day. The grasses that hold
the ground together had gone. The tractors had broken the soil into dust. As a
result, the whole region became a dust bowl. The land of plenty became a dust
bowl.
We can easily say that
in the mad race for growing more and more crops, one should not play havoc with
ecology. No tree should be cut and not of leaf of grass should be cut. The
ecological balance must be maintained at all costs otherwise everything will
turn into a nightmare.
Question 8: Write a paragraph on why the British insisted on farmers
growing opium in India.
Answer: There were many causes
because of which the British insisted on growing opium in India. The chief
among them are, however, the following:-
(1) In the late 18th
century, the East India Company was buying tea and silk from China for sale in
England. Tea trade soon became one of the most important sources of income for
the East India Company. But the major question before the company was how to
pay back the cost of the tea brought from China. At this time England produced
nothing that could be sold to China. To solve this problem the British
merchants began smuggling opium into China as the Chinese rule was not prepared
to legally allow the trade of opium within his country because of intoxicating
effect of the opium. So, smuggling was thought to be the best way. In early
1840s over 35,000 crates of opium were being unloaded in China.
At last the Chinese
emperor was forced to close the port of canton to foreign trade. At this,
Britain declared war, and defeated the Chinese in what is called the Opium War
(1837-42). As a result of this war, the Chinese were forced to accept the
humiliating terms such as, legalise the trade and open up China to foreign
merchants etc.
As opium was urgently
required, so the British government forced the Indian farmers to grow opium.
But the Indian peasants were unwilling to produce opium due to a variety of
reasons.
Question 9: Why were Indian farmers reluctant to grow opium?
Answer: There are a variety of
reasons for which the Indian cultivators were unwilling to grow opium. Here it
is -
(1) The poppy plants
from the juice of which the opium is made, required the highly fertile lands.
In these lands the cultivators used to grow pulses and earn much money. If they
grew opium on their best lands, the pulses could not be grown there. It meant a
great financial loss to them.
(2) Many cultivators did
not have their own lands. If they took land on lease or rent they had to pay
high rents to the landlords for their best lands and that too near the village.
(3) The cultivation of
opium plant (or the poppy plant) was a difficult process and required heavy
labour to look after them. Due to this cultivators were left with no time to
care for other crops.
(4) The price paid to
the cultivators for producing opium was very low. It was quite unprofitable for
the cultivators to grow opium at such a price.
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