📖 Definition
Proto-Industrialisation
Industry without factories.
Large-scale production for international markets, organised by merchants and done in village homes, before factories existed.
↳ It came first.
The Age of Industrialisation · Class 10 History
English 5 topics 225 leveled MCQs 100 flashcards 4 games Free
Shared by a Veda teacher · Generated with Veda AI · Nov 2026
Veda Bites
📖 Definition
💡 Key Idea
💡 Key Idea
⚙️ Process
⭐ Important Fact
💡 Key Idea
⚖️ Comparison
⭐ Important Fact
⭐ Important Fact
🕰️ Timeline
⚠️ Common Mistake
🎯 Exam Tip
💡 Key Idea
⚙️ Process
⭐ Important Fact
💡 Key Idea
⚖️ Comparison
💡 Key Idea
📖 Definition
⭐ Important Fact
🕰️ Timeline
🚫 Warning
⭐ Important Fact
🎯 Exam Tip
💡 Key Idea
⚙️ Process
⚖️ Comparison
📖 Definition
💡 Key Idea
🚫 Warning
The whole idea, one bite at a time
Veda Bites are swipeable micro-lessons — each one teaches exactly one idea. The bites below come from this kit — swipe through them in the app.
📖 Definition
💡 Key Idea
The Guilds Said No
Why not in towns?
Town guilds held monopolies, fixed prices and kept newcomers out, so merchants went to the countryside.
↳ Guilds pushed merchants out.
💡 Key Idea
Losing the Commons
Why did peasants agree?
As open fields and commons were enclosed, cottagers needed new income and took work from merchants.
↳ Need met opportunity.
⚙️ Process
The Merchant's Chain
Follow the wool.
Wool moved through many hands before export:
↳ London finished it.
⭐ Important Fact
2.5 to 22 Million
A cotton boom.
Raw cotton imports rose from 2.5 million pounds (1760) to 22 million pounds (1787).
↳ Cotton led the new era.
💡 Key Idea
Arkwright's Mill
One roof.
Richard Arkwright brought every process under one roof and one management, so work could be supervised.
↳ The factory principle.
⚖️ Comparison
Cotton, Then Iron
Who led when?
Two phases of British growth:
↳ Railways changed the leader.
⭐ Important Fact
Under 20 Per Cent
Not so fast.
Even in 1900, fewer than 20 per cent of workers were in advanced industries.
↳ Old and new lived together.
⭐ Important Fact
Only 321 Engines
A rare machine.
Around 1801 England had no more than 321 steam engines: 80 in cotton, 9 in wool, the rest in mines, canals and iron.
↳ Steam spread slowly.
🕰️ Timeline
The Steam Engine
Watt and Boulton.
James Watt improved Newcomen's engine and patented it in 1781; Matthew Boulton made it, but buyers were few.
↳ Invention is not adoption.
⚠️ Common Mistake
Factories Did Not Come First
Careful in answers.
Do not write that industry began with factories. Proto-industry came earlier.
↳ Home production first.
🎯 Exam Tip
Why Change Was Slow
For a 3-mark answer.
Use three proofs: under 20% in advanced sectors, 321 steam engines, and costly, fragile machines.
↳ Three numbers, three marks.
💡 Key Idea
Cheap Hands
Why buy a machine?
Victorian cities were full of cheap labour, so industrialists avoided costly machines.
↳ Labour was not scarce.
⚙️ Process
Seasonal Trades
Busy, then idle.
Some trades needed hands only part of the year:
↳ Hire for the season.
⭐ Important Fact
500 Hammers, 45 Axes
Too many designs.
Mid-nineteenth-century Britain made 500 varieties of hammers and 45 kinds of axes.
↳ Variety needed skill.
💡 Key Idea
Handmade Meant Refined
A matter of class.
Aristocrats and the bourgeoisie preferred handmade goods; machine goods went to the colonies.
↳ Taste slowed machines.
⚖️ Comparison
Britain vs America
Why America differed.
Labour supply decided the choice:
↳ Scarcity breeds machines.
💡 Key Idea
Jobs Through Kin
Who you know.
Most jobs came through friends and relatives; others waited weeks, sleeping under bridges.
↳ Networks mattered.
📖 Definition
Real Wages
Wages vs prices.
Real wages are what a wage can buy. Prices rose sharply, so real wages fell.
↳ Higher pay, less bread.
⭐ Important Fact
35 to 75 Per Cent
The 1830s slump.
In the 1830s slump, unemployment reached 35 to 75 per cent in different regions.
↳ Slumps were brutal.
🕰️ Timeline
The Spinning Jenny
1764.
James Hargreaves devised it: one wheel set several spindles spinning.
↳ It cut labour demand.
🚫 Warning
Attacks on the Jenny
Fear of the machine.
Women who lived by hand spinning attacked the machines, fearing unemployment.
↳ Technology threatened jobs.
⭐ Important Fact
Transport Jobs Doubled
Building boom.
After the 1840s, construction grew, and transport jobs doubled, then doubled again.
↳ New work arrived.
🎯 Exam Tip
Why Hand Labour Survived
Three reasons.
Write cheap labour, seasonal demand and taste for handmade goods, with one example each.
↳ C-S-T.
💡 Key Idea
Fine Indian Textiles
India led the world.
Before machines, Indian silks and cottons dominated world markets, especially the finer varieties.
↳ India was the leader.
⚙️ Process
How Cloth Travelled
Two routes.
Indian cloth reached the world by land and sea:
↳ Ports and camels.
⚖️ Comparison
Old and New Ports
Ports changed hands.
Colonial power moved trade:
↳ A sign of colonial power.
📖 Definition
Gomastha
The Company's agent.
A paid servant of the Company who supervised weavers, collected supplies and checked quality.
↳ Direct control.
💡 Key Idea
The System of Advances
Loans with strings.
Weavers who took advances had to give their cloth to the gomastha and no one else.
↳ Bargaining power lost.
🚫 Warning
Why Weavers Clashed
Outsiders in the village.
Gomasthas came with sepoys and peons, acted arrogantly and flogged weavers for delays.
↳ Coercion bred conflict.
Smart notes
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What you'll study, topic by topic
Before the Industrial Revolution: Proto-Industry and the Coming of the Factory
26 minHow large-scale production for world markets began in village homes, organised by merchants, before factories existed; how the cotton mill brought every process under one roof; and why the pace of change in Britain was m…
- Before factories, Europe already had large-scale production for an international market, carried out in village homes; historians call this…
- Town merchants could not expand in towns because guilds held monopoly rights, trained craftspeople, controlled prices and kept newcomers out…
- In the countryside, peasants and cottagers who were losing the open fields and commons were glad to spin and weave at home for merchants.
Full explanation, worked examples & memory tricks in the app
Hand Labour and Steam Power, and the Life of the Workers
26 minWhy Victorian Britain went on relying on hand labour long after steam power arrived, which industries and buyers preferred it, and what the abundance of labour meant for workers: finding jobs, seasonal unemployment, fall…
- Victorian Britain had no shortage of labour: poor peasants and vagrants poured into the cities, so industrialists saw little reason to buy m…
- In seasonal industries such as gas works, breweries, book-binding and printing, and ship repair, owners hired hands for the busy season rath…
- Many goods needed human skill: mid-nineteenth-century Britain produced 500 varieties of hammers and 45 kinds of axes, which standard machine…
Full explanation, worked examples & memory tricks in the app
Industrialisation in the Colonies: Indian Textiles, the Weavers and Manchester
28 minHow Indian silks and cottons once led the world's textile trade through Surat, Masulipatam and Hoogly; how the East India Company used gomasthas and advances to control the weavers; and how Manchester's machine cloth and…
- Before machine industries, Indian silks and cottons dominated world textile markets; Armenian and Persian merchants carried them overland by…
- Sea trade ran through Surat on the Gujarat coast to the Gulf and Red Sea ports, and through Masulipatam on the Coromandel coast and Hoogly i…
- By the 1750s European companies were gaining power; Surat and Hoogly decayed, while Bombay and Calcutta grew, a sign of rising colonial powe…
Full explanation, worked examples & memory tricks in the app
Factories Come Up in India: Early Entrepreneurs and Where the Workers Came From
26 minWhen and where the first cotton and jute mills came up in India; how men like Dwarkanath Tagore, Dinshaw Petit, Jamsetjee Tata and Seth Hukumchand raised capital through the China trade; how European managing agencies co…
- Bombay's first cotton mill came up in 1854 and began production two years later; by 1862 four mills worked with 94,000 spindles and 2,150 lo…
- Bengal's first jute mill came up in 1855 and a second in 1862; Kanpur's Elgin Mill started in the 1860s, Ahmedabad's first cotton mill a yea…
- Many early industrialists raised capital through trade: Dwarkanath Tagore made a fortune in the China trade and set up six joint-stock compa…
Full explanation, worked examples & memory tricks in the app
How Indian Industry Grew: Peculiar Growth, Small Workshops and the Market for Goods
28 minWhy early Indian mills made yarn for China, how swadeshi, the shift to cloth and the First World War changed things, why small workshops and handlooms stayed important (and even grew), and how labels, calendars and adver…
- European managing agencies invested mainly in goods for export, such as tea and coffee plantations, mining, indigo and jute, not goods for s…
- Early Indian cotton mills in Bombay made coarse yarn, much of it exported to China, so they did not have to compete with Manchester cloth in…
- In the early twentieth century, the Swadeshi movement urged a boycott of foreign cloth, and industrial groups pressed the government for tar…
Full explanation, worked examples & memory tricks in the app
Leveled MCQ practice
Try the smart MCQs from this kit
120 of this kit's 225 questions, laddered from warm-up to topper-level, each with its answer and the reasoning. The rest are in the app.
Warm-up · 32 questions
Q1. What do historians mean by 'proto-industrialisation'?
Beginner
A
Large-scale production for an international market, carried out outside factories
B
The first factories built in England in the 1730s
C
The use of steam engines in mines and canals
D
Production in India before British rule began
Show the answer
A · Large-scale production for an international market, carried out outside factories
It was industrial production, but done in homes and not in factories.
Q2. Under the proto-industrial system, who controlled the network of production?
Beginner
A
Merchants
B
Factory managers
C
The landed aristocracy
D
Guilds
Show the answer
A · Merchants
Merchant clothiers bought the raw material, paid the workers and sold the finished goods.
Q3. A 'stapler' in the English wool trade was a person who:
Beginner
A
Dyed the finished cloth
B
Sorted wool according to its fibre
C
Gathered cloth by pleating it
D
Ran a spinning mill
Show the answer
B · Sorted wool according to its fibre
To staple is to sort wool by fibre.
Q4. A 'fuller' was a person who:
Beginner
A
Lent money to weavers
B
Sorted wool by its fibre
C
Gathered cloth by pleating it
D
Carried cloth to London
Show the answer
C · Gathered cloth by pleating it
Fulling gathers the cloth into pleats.
Q5. Which city became known as the finishing centre for English cloth before export?
Beginner
A
Liverpool
B
Birmingham
C
Manchester
D
London
Show the answer
D · London
Cloth was finished in London and then exported.
Q6. Carding is the process of:
Beginner
A
Preparing fibres such as cotton or wool before spinning
B
Printing designs on finished cloth
C
Weaving cloth on a hand loom
D
Packing cloth into bales for export
Show the answer
A · Preparing fibres such as cotton or wool before spinning
Carding prepares the fibre for spinning.
Q7. Roughly when did the earliest factories appear in England?
Beginner
A
In the 1530s
B
In the 1900s
C
In the 1730s
D
In the 1830s
Show the answer
C · In the 1730s
Factories began in the 1730s and spread from the late eighteenth century.
Q8. Which material was the first symbol of the new industrial era?
Beginner
A
Coal
B
Iron
C
Silk
D
Cotton
Show the answer
D · Cotton
Cotton production boomed in the late eighteenth century.
Q9. Who created the cotton mill?
Beginner
A
James Watt
B
Richard Arkwright
C
James Hargreaves
D
Matthew Boulton
Show the answer
B · Richard Arkwright
Arkwright brought the processes under one roof.
Q10. Who improved Newcomen's steam engine and patented the new engine in 1781?
Beginner
A
Richard Arkwright
B
James Watt
C
James Hargreaves
D
Matthew Boulton
Show the answer
B · James Watt
Watt improved it; Boulton manufactured it.
Q11. What role did Matthew Boulton play in the story of the steam engine?
Beginner
A
He invented the spinning jenny
B
He built the first railway in India
C
He manufactured Watt's new model
D
He opposed all machines
Show the answer
C · He manufactured Watt's new model
Boulton was Watt's industrialist friend.
Q12. Which pair of industries grew most dynamically in industrialising Britain?
Beginner
A
Glass and pottery
B
Wool and leather
C
Silk and paper
D
Cotton and metals
Show the answer
D · Cotton and metals
Cotton first, then iron and steel.
Q13. The factory system increasingly became part of the English landscape by:
Beginner
A
The late eighteenth century
B
The mid-twentieth century
C
The 1650s
D
The early fifteenth century
Show the answer
A · The late eighteenth century
Factories multiplied after the 1730s.
Q14. Explain the term proto-industrialisation.
BeginnerShow the answer
Q15. What was new about Richard Arkwright's cotton mill?
BeginnerShow the answer
Q16. Why did British industrialists in the Victorian era not rush to install machines?
Beginner
A
Labour was plentiful and cheap, so there was little need for costly machines
B
Workers owned all the machines
C
Machines had not yet been invented
D
Parliament banned machines in factories
Show the answer
A · Labour was plentiful and cheap, so there was little need for costly machines
With no labour shortage, a large capital investment was not attractive.
Q17. Book-binders and printers needed extra hands before December because of:
Beginner
A
Christmas demand
B
The harvest
C
Elections
D
The start of the school year
Show the answer
A · Christmas demand
They catered to Christmas demand.
Q18. Who in Victorian Britain preferred things produced by hand?
Beginner
A
The aristocrats and the bourgeoisie
B
Farm labourers
C
Colonial officials in India
D
Factory workers
Show the answer
A · The aristocrats and the bourgeoisie
Handmade goods symbolised refinement and class.
Q19. What did handmade products come to symbolise in Victorian Britain?
Beginner
A
Poverty and backwardness
B
Refinement and class
C
Cheapness
D
Mass production
Show the answer
B · Refinement and class
They were better finished and individually produced.
Q20. How did most workers in Victorian Britain get a job?
Beginner
A
Through an existing network of friends and relatives
B
Through guild examinations
C
Through government employment offices
D
By applying online
Show the answer
A · Through an existing network of friends and relatives
Kin and friends opened factory doors.
Q21. What did seasonality of work mean for workers?
Beginner
A
Jobs for life
B
Higher pay all year round
C
Holidays with pay
D
Long periods without work after the busy season
Show the answer
D · Long periods without work after the busy season
After the season, many were back on the streets.
Q22. Who devised the Spinning Jenny?
Beginner
A
James Watt
B
James Hargreaves
C
Matthew Boulton
D
Richard Arkwright
Show the answer
B · James Hargreaves
Hargreaves devised it in 1764.
Q23. Why did women in the woollen industry attack the Spinning Jenny?
Beginner
A
They survived on hand spinning and feared losing their work
B
Guilds paid them to do so
C
It was too slow
D
It was too heavy to carry
Show the answer
A · They survived on hand spinning and feared losing their work
Fear of unemployment made workers hostile to new technology.
Q24. The phrase 'economic slump' means:
Beginner
A
A new invention
B
A rise in exports
C
A period when business falls and unemployment rises
D
A good harvest
Show the answer
C · A period when business falls and unemployment rises
The 1830s were such a period.
Q25. Why did Victorian industrialists prefer hand labour over machines?
BeginnerShow the answer
Q26. Why did workers fear new technology? Give an example.
BeginnerShow the answer
Q27. Before the age of machine industries, which goods dominated the international textile market?
Beginner
A
Silk and cotton goods from India
B
Linen from Ireland
C
Woollen goods from England
D
Machine cloth from Manchester
Show the answer
A · Silk and cotton goods from India
Finer varieties of cotton came mostly from India.
Q28. Which pre-colonial port connected India to the Gulf and Red Sea ports?
Beginner
A
Masulipatam
B
Hoogly
C
Surat
D
Calcutta
Show the answer
C · Surat
Surat was on the Gujarat coast.
Q29. Which group financed production and supplied exporters in the old network?
Beginner
A
Gomasthas
B
The East India Company
C
Indian merchants and bankers
D
British industrialists
Show the answer
C · Indian merchants and bankers
The network was controlled by Indian merchants.
Q30. Which new ports grew under colonial power?
Beginner
A
Masulipatam and Surat
B
Bombay and Calcutta
C
Hoogly and Masulipatam
D
Surat and Hoogly
Show the answer
B · Bombay and Calcutta
The shift of ports marked the growth of colonial power.
Q31. Who was a gomastha?
Beginner
A
A weaver who owned many looms
B
A paid servant of the Company who supervised weavers, collected supplies and checked quality
C
An Armenian merchant
D
A British factory manager
Show the answer
B · A paid servant of the Company who supervised weavers, collected supplies and checked quality
The Company appointed gomasthas.
Q32. What did industrialists persuade the East India Company to do?
Beginner
A
Raise weavers' prices
B
Build mills in Surat
C
Sell British manufactures in Indian markets
D
Stop buying raw cotton
Show the answer
C · Sell British manufactures in Indian markets
Indian markets were opened to Manchester.
Building up · 66 questions
Q33. Why could merchants not expand production easily inside the towns?
Intermediate
A
Towns had no workers at all
B
Urban guilds controlled production and restricted new entrants
C
Kings had banned all trade inside towns
D
Towns lacked roads to the ports
Show the answer
B · Urban guilds controlled production and restricted new entrants
Guilds held monopoly rights granted by rulers and kept newcomers out.
Q34. A trade guild in seventeenth-century Europe did all of the following EXCEPT:
Intermediate
A
Train craftspeople
B
Restrict who could enter the trade
C
Lend money to peasants in the countryside
D
Regulate competition and prices
Show the answer
C · Lend money to peasants in the countryside
Lending to peasants was not a guild function.
Q35. Why were poor peasants and cottagers willing to work for town merchants?
Intermediate
A
They were forced by royal law to work for merchants
B
Farming had become more profitable than ever
C
Merchants offered them land in the towns
D
Open fields and commons were disappearing, so they needed new sources of income
Show the answer
D · Open fields and commons were disappearing, so they needed new sources of income
With the commons enclosed, they lost grazing and firewood and needed extra income.
Q36. How did proto-industrial work change life for a peasant family?
Intermediate
A
It forced the family to move to the city
B
It let the family stay on its small plot while earning from home work
C
It made the family a member of an urban guild
D
It ended all farming in the village
Show the answer
B · It let the family stay on its small plot while earning from home work
Income from spinning and weaving supplemented a shrinking income from land.
Q37. Britain's import of raw cotton rose from 2.5 million pounds in 1760 to about how much in 1787?
Intermediate
A
22 million pounds
B
12 million pounds
C
5 million pounds
D
100 million pounds
Show the answer
A · 22 million pounds
The near ninefold rise shows how fast the cotton industry grew.
Q38. What was the main advantage of bringing all processes together in a mill?
Intermediate
A
Guilds gained more control over production
B
Cloth could be made without any raw cotton
C
Production could be supervised and quality and labour controlled more closely
D
Workers no longer needed to be paid
Show the answer
C · Production could be supervised and quality and labour controlled more closely
Under one roof and one management, the process could be watched and regulated.
Q39. A series of eighteenth-century inventions in cotton increased the efficiency of:
Intermediate
A
Building ships and canals
B
Mining coal and smelting iron
C
Printing books and newspapers
D
Carding, twisting and spinning, and rolling
Show the answer
D · Carding, twisting and spinning, and rolling
Each step of the cotton process became faster.
Q40. Up to the 1840s, which sector led the first phase of British industrialisation?
Intermediate
A
Cotton
B
Shipbuilding
C
Railways
D
Iron and steel
Show the answer
A · Cotton
Cotton led first; iron and steel led after the 1840s.
Q41. Why did the demand for iron and steel rise rapidly after the 1840s?
Intermediate
A
Cotton mills closed down
B
Railways expanded in England and, from the 1860s, in the colonies
C
Steam engines were banned in mines
D
Wars in Europe ended
Show the answer
B · Railways expanded in England and, from the 1860s, in the colonies
Railways needed rails, engines and bridges.
Q42. Even at the end of the nineteenth century, what share of Britain's workforce worked in technologically advanced industries?
Intermediate
A
Almost all of it
B
Over 75 per cent
C
About 50 per cent
D
Less than 20 per cent
Show the answer
D · Less than 20 per cent
Most workers were still in traditional sectors.
Q43. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, how many steam engines were there in all of England?
Intermediate
A
Only 32
B
Over 32,000
C
About 3,210
D
No more than 321
Show the answer
D · No more than 321
Steam spread slowly despite its importance.
Q44. Why were industrialists slow to adopt new machines?
Intermediate
A
There was no coal in Britain
B
Machines were costly, often broke down and repairs were expensive
C
The government banned new machines
D
Workers refused to operate any machine
Show the answer
B · Machines were costly, often broke down and repairs were expensive
They were unsure of the returns on a large investment.
Q45. Historians now say the typical worker in the mid-nineteenth century was:
Intermediate
A
A factory owner
B
A railway clerk
C
A traditional craftsperson or labourer, not a machine operator
D
A steam-engine engineer
Show the answer
C · A traditional craftsperson or labourer, not a machine operator
Machine operators were a minority.
Q46. A merchant clothier in England would typically buy wool from a:
Intermediate
A
Stapler
B
Guild master
C
Dyer
D
Fuller
Show the answer
A · Stapler
The stapler sorted and sold wool.
Q47. Why did rulers grant monopoly rights to guilds?
Intermediate
A
To help peasants buy land
B
To end all trade in towns
C
To let a guild alone produce and trade in specific products
D
To force guilds into the countryside
Show the answer
C · To let a guild alone produce and trade in specific products
Guild monopolies blocked new merchants in towns.
Q48. Proto-industrial production was part of a network that was:
Intermediate
A
Controlled by the Church
B
Commercial, linking producers to merchants and distant markets
C
Limited to a single village
D
Run by factory unions
Show the answer
B · Commercial, linking producers to merchants and distant markets
It fed an international market.
Q49. What did the 1900 music book cover 'Dawn of the Century' celebrate?
Intermediate
A
Kings as the drivers of industry
B
The countryside as the centre of progress
C
The decline of all machines
D
Machines, railways and factories as symbols of progress
Show the answer
D · Machines, railways and factories as symbols of progress
Such images celebrated machines and progress.
Q50. Why did merchants find it difficult to expand production in towns?
IntermediateShow the answer
Q51. How did the proto-industrial system benefit peasant families?
IntermediateShow the answer
Q52. Why did the iron and steel industry overtake cotton after the 1840s?
IntermediateShow the answer
Q53. Why was the spread of the steam engine slow?
IntermediateShow the answer
Q54. Describe the working of the proto-industrial system in England.
IntermediateShow the answer
Any five points, 1 mark each. 1 mark — guilds in towns. 1 mark — rural need for income. 1 mark — work at home on advances. 1 mark — the chain of producers. 1 mark — London as finishing centre. 1 mark — merchant control.
Q55. Explain how the cotton industry changed in Britain between 1760 and the 1840s.
IntermediateShow the answer
Any five points, 1 mark each.
Q56. Where did the large supply of labour in Victorian cities come from?
Intermediate
A
Soldiers returning from war in large numbers
B
Poor peasants and vagrants moving to the cities for work
C
Guild members leaving the towns
D
Workers brought in from India
Show the answer
B · Poor peasants and vagrants moving to the cities for work
Rural migrants swelled the city labour market.
Q57. Why did seasonal industries prefer hand labour to machines?
Intermediate
A
Machines worked only in winter
B
The law required hand work in winter
C
Workers could be hired only for the busy season, while machines would sit idle
D
Seasonal goods could not be made by hand
Show the answer
C · Workers could be hired only for the busy season, while machines would sit idle
Hand labour could be hired and laid off with the season.
Q58. Which industries in Britain were busiest through the cold months?
Intermediate
A
Shipyards building new ships
B
Cotton mills and iron works
C
Ice factories and fan makers
D
Gas works and breweries
Show the answer
D · Gas works and breweries
Demand for gas light and ale rose in winter.
Q59. At the waterfront, winter was the season when:
Intermediate
A
Ports were closed for good
B
Ships were repaired and spruced up
C
Ships were sold to the colonies
D
New ships were launched
Show the answer
B · Ships were repaired and spruced up
Repair work needed seasonal hands.
Q60. In mid-nineteenth-century Britain, about how many varieties of hammers were produced?
Intermediate
A
5,000
B
5
C
500
D
50
Show the answer
C · 500
Along with 45 kinds of axes.
Q61. Where were machine-made goods from Britain largely sent?
Intermediate
A
To America only
B
To British aristocrats
C
To the colonies
D
Back to the guilds
Show the answer
C · To the colonies
Machine-made goods were for export to the colonies.
Q62. In which kind of country were industrialists keen on mechanical power?
Intermediate
A
A country with too many workers
B
A country without coal
C
A country with no factories
D
A country with a shortage of labour, like nineteenth-century America
Show the answer
D · A country with a shortage of labour, like nineteenth-century America
Where labour is scarce, machines make sense.
Q63. A worker without friends or kin in a factory often had to:
Intermediate
A
Buy a share in the factory
B
Wait weeks for work, sleeping under bridges or in night shelters
C
Return to the guild
D
Join the army at once
Show the answer
B · Wait weeks for work, sleeping under bridges or in night shelters
Getting a job was hard.
Q64. When the busy season ended, what did the poor often do?
Intermediate
A
Look for odd jobs, which were hard to find, or return home to the countryside
B
Open their own factories
C
Buy land in the country
D
Move to India
Show the answer
A · Look for odd jobs, which were hard to find, or return home to the countryside
They returned to the streets for odd jobs.
Q65. Real wages refer to:
Intermediate
A
Wages before tax
B
Wages paid only in winter
C
What a wage can actually buy, after taking prices into account
D
Wages paid in gold
Show the answer
C · What a wage can actually buy, after taking prices into account
If prices double, the same wage buys less.
Q66. In which year was the Spinning Jenny devised?
Intermediate
A
1781
B
1854
C
1764
D
1730
Show the answer
C · 1764
James Hargreaves, 1764.
Q67. What did the Spinning Jenny do?
Intermediate
A
Pumped water out of mines
B
Printed designs on cotton
C
Wove cloth with a flying shuttle
D
Let one worker turn one wheel and set several spindles spinning at once
Show the answer
D · Let one worker turn one wheel and set several spindles spinning at once
It sped up spinning and cut the need for labour.
Q68. The conflict over the Spinning Jenny shows that:
Intermediate
A
Only men worked in spinning
B
Fear of unemployment made workers hostile to new technology
C
Workers always welcomed machines
D
Machines created more jobs at once
Show the answer
B · Fear of unemployment made workers hostile to new technology
New machines threatened livelihoods.
Q69. What opened new job opportunities for workers after the 1840s?
Intermediate
A
A ban on cotton mills
B
The closure of the railways
C
Building activity in the cities: roads, railway stations, tunnels, drains and sewers
D
The return of the guilds
Show the answer
C · Building activity in the cities: roads, railway stations, tunnels, drains and sewers
Construction employed many.
Q70. Which goods required hand labour because machines made standard products?
Intermediate
A
Iron rails
B
Goods with intricate designs and specific shapes
C
Plain coarse yarn
D
Coal
Show the answer
B · Goods with intricate designs and specific shapes
Variety and detail needed skill.
Q71. Why might an industrialist prefer to hire hands rather than buy a machine for a short busy season?
Intermediate
A
Machines could not be turned off
B
Banks banned loans for machines
C
Hands could be let go after the season; a machine's cost stays
D
Workers were more expensive than machines
Show the answer
C · Hands could be let go after the season; a machine's cost stays
Hand labour was flexible.
Q72. What was a Night Refuge?
Intermediate
A
A factory that ran at night
B
A night school for workers
C
A guild office
D
A shelter set up by private individuals where poor jobseekers could stay
Show the answer
D · A shelter set up by private individuals where poor jobseekers could stay
Some jobseekers stayed in such refuges.
Q73. Why is it wrong to say that Victorian factories were all mechanised?
Intermediate
A
Many industries still relied on hand labour
B
Factories did not exist
C
Machines were used only in homes
D
Every worker owned a machine
Show the answer
A · Many industries still relied on hand labour
Hand and machine coexisted.
Q74. In America in the nineteenth century, mechanisation advanced faster because:
Intermediate
A
Labour was very cheap
B
There was a shortage of labour
C
Handmade goods were banned
D
There were no factories
Show the answer
B · There was a shortage of labour
Scarce labour made machines worthwhile.
Q75. How did seasonal demand keep hand labour in use?
IntermediateShow the answer
Q76. Why could some goods only be produced by hand?
IntermediateShow the answer
Q77. Explain why rising wages did not mean better lives for workers.
IntermediateShow the answer
Q78. How did the period after the 1840s create new jobs?
IntermediateShow the answer
Q79. Describe the life of workers in Victorian Britain.
IntermediateShow the answer
Any five points, 1 mark each.
Q80. 'Handmade goods symbolised refinement and class in Victorian Britain.' Explain with reference to demand and production.
IntermediateShow the answer
Any five points, 1 mark each.
Q81. Who carried Indian textiles from Punjab to Afghanistan, eastern Persia and Central Asia?
Intermediate
A
Portuguese sailors
B
Armenian and Persian merchants
C
British officials
D
Chinese traders
Show the answer
B · Armenian and Persian merchants
Bales went by camel through mountain passes and across deserts.
Q82. Masulipatam was a port on the:
Intermediate
A
Malabar coast
B
Konkan coast
C
Gujarat coast
D
Coromandel coast
Show the answer
D · Coromandel coast
It traded with Southeast Asia.
Q83. Hoogly in Bengal had trade links mainly with:
Intermediate
A
Southeast Asian ports
B
Red Sea ports
C
North America
D
Central Asia over land
Show the answer
A · Southeast Asian ports
Like Masulipatam, it traded east.
Q84. In the pre-colonial textile trade, what role did supply merchants play?
Intermediate
A
They ran the guilds of Europe
B
They linked the port towns to the inland regions
C
They collected taxes for the Company
D
They owned the factories
Show the answer
B · They linked the port towns to the inland regions
They gave advances to weavers and brought cloth to the ports.
Q85. By the 1750s, why was the network controlled by Indian merchants breaking down?
Intermediate
A
Weavers had stopped weaving
B
Indian rulers banned trade
C
The Red Sea was closed
D
European companies were gaining power and securing monopoly rights
Show the answer
D · European companies were gaining power and securing monopoly rights
Local courts granted concessions to the companies.
Q86. Which ports declined as European companies took over trade?
Intermediate
A
Surat and Hoogly
B
Madras and Bombay
C
Bombay and Calcutta
D
Calcutta and Madras
Show the answer
A · Surat and Hoogly
Exports from these ports fell dramatically.
Q87. The movement of trade from old ports to new ones was a sign of:
Intermediate
A
The rise of the guilds
B
The return of Mughal power
C
The growth of colonial power
D
The end of the textile trade
Show the answer
C · The growth of colonial power
Trade shifted to ports the Europeans controlled.
Q88. What did the East India Company try to do once it had political power?
Intermediate
A
Eliminate existing traders and brokers and control the weaver directly
B
Close every loom in Bengal
C
Hand trade back to Surat merchants
D
Help Indian merchants expand
Show the answer
A · Eliminate existing traders and brokers and control the weaver directly
It wanted a regular supply at low cost.
Q89. How did the Company stop its weavers from dealing with other buyers?
Intermediate
A
By buying all the cotton fields
B
By paying weavers in gold only
C
Through a system of advances, so weavers who took loans had to hand cloth to the gomastha
D
By making weavers members of a guild
Show the answer
C · Through a system of advances, so weavers who took loans had to hand cloth to the gomastha
Loans bound weavers to the Company.
Q90. What happened to weavers who took advances?
Intermediate
A
They became rich merchants
B
They were freed from all supervision
C
They moved to Manchester
D
They had to give the cloth to the gomastha and could not sell to anyone else
Show the answer
D · They had to give the cloth to the gomastha and could not sell to anyone else
They lost the freedom to choose buyers.
Q91. Why did weavers clash with gomasthas?
Intermediate
A
Gomasthas were weavers' relatives
B
Gomasthas were outsiders who acted arrogantly and punished weavers for delays
C
Gomasthas refused to collect cloth
D
Gomasthas paid too much
Show the answer
B · Gomasthas were outsiders who acted arrogantly and punished weavers for delays
They often beat and flogged weavers.
Q92. Which regions saw weavers deserting villages and migrating?
Intermediate
A
Gujarat and Rajasthan
B
Kashmir and Assam
C
Punjab and Sind
D
Carnatic and Bengal
Show the answer
D · Carnatic and Bengal
Weavers set up looms in other villages.
Q93. Why did many weavers lose the space to bargain over prices?
Intermediate
A
Prices were fixed by guilds
B
They were tied to the Company by advances and could not sell elsewhere
C
Cloth was no longer in demand
D
They sold only to Armenian merchants
Show the answer
B · They were tied to the Company by advances and could not sell elsewhere
The price paid by the Company was miserably low.
Q94. In 1772, Henry Patullo, a Company official, said that:
Intermediate
A
The Company should leave Bengal
B
Indian weaving would end within ten years
C
The demand for Indian textiles could never reduce
D
Manchester would never sell in India
Show the answer
C · The demand for Indian textiles could never reduce
He was proved wrong.
Q95. In 1811-12, piece-goods made up what share of India's exports?
Intermediate
A
50 per cent
B
3 per cent
C
75 per cent
D
33 per cent
Show the answer
D · 33 per cent
It fell to no more than 3 per cent by 1850-51.
Q96. By 1850-51, piece-goods were no more than what share of India's exports?
Intermediate
A
3 per cent
B
13 per cent
C
33 per cent
D
30 per cent
Show the answer
A · 3 per cent
A collapse in forty years.
Q97. What did British cotton industrialists press their government to do?
Intermediate
A
Buy all Indian cloth
B
Impose import duties on cotton textiles so Manchester goods faced no competition in Britain
C
Ban the East India Company
D
Close British mills
Show the answer
B · Impose import duties on cotton textiles so Manchester goods faced no competition in Britain
Protection at home, open markets abroad.
Q98. Indian cotton weavers faced which two problems at the same time?
Intermediate
A
High prices and rising exports
B
Their export market collapsed and their local market shrank
C
Too many orders and too few looms
D
Guild rules and royal taxes
Show the answer
B · Their export market collapsed and their local market shrank
Manchester goods glutted the home market.
Topper level · 22 questions
Q99. By 1873, Britain's iron and steel exports were worth about:
Advanced
A
£77 million, half the value of its cotton exports
B
£7 million, a tenth of its cotton exports
C
£77 million, double the value of its cotton exports
D
£700 million, ten times its cotton exports
Show the answer
C · £77 million, double the value of its cotton exports
Iron and steel had overtaken cotton as Britain's leading export.
Q100. What does the low share of workers in advanced industries tell historians?
Advanced
A
Traditional industries were not displaced quickly by new ones
B
Factories employed only children
C
Machines replaced every craft by 1900
D
Britain never industrialised
Show the answer
A · Traditional industries were not displaced quickly by new ones
The new sat alongside the old for a long time.
Q101. Of those steam engines, how many were in the cotton industry?
Advanced
A
80
B
200
C
9
D
321
Show the answer
A · 80
80 were in cotton, 9 in wool, the rest in mining, canals and iron works.
Q102. Which of these sequences is correct for the proto-industrial wool trade?
Advanced
A
Dyer, weaver, stapler, spinner, fuller
B
Stapler, spinner, weaver, fuller, dyer, finishing in London
C
Weaver, stapler, London, dyer, spinner
D
Fuller, dyer, stapler, weaver, spinner
Show the answer
B · Stapler, spinner, weaver, fuller, dyer, finishing in London
Wool was sorted, spun, woven, fulled, dyed and finished.
Q103. Which of these was NOT a reason for the slow spread of the steam engine?
Advanced
A
Industrialists doubted their usefulness
B
The engines were expensive
C
Repairs were costly
D
There was a severe shortage of labour in Britain
Show the answer
D · There was a severe shortage of labour in Britain
Britain had plenty of labour; that is why machines were not urgent.
Q104. Why is it misleading to picture industrialisation as factories everywhere by 1850?
Advanced
A
Factories did not exist before 1900
B
Factories were all in villages
C
Most production still happened in homes and small workshops
D
Only India had factories in 1850
Show the answer
C · Most production still happened in homes and small workshops
Change was gradual and uneven.
Q105. 'The coming of the factory was a slow process.' Support the statement.
AdvancedShow the answer
Any five points, 1 mark each.
Q106. The 500 varieties of hammers and 45 kinds of axes show that:
Advanced
A
Tools were made only in factories
B
Britain had no machines at all
C
Every hammer was imported from America
D
Many goods needed human skill and could not be made by standard machines
Show the answer
D · Many goods needed human skill and could not be made by standard machines
Machines made standard goods; varied goods needed hand labour.
Q107. Who maintained the Casual Wards where some jobseekers stayed?
Advanced
A
The East India Company
B
Factory owners
C
The Poor Law authorities
D
The guilds
Show the answer
C · The Poor Law authorities
Others used Night Refuges set up by private individuals.
Q108. Why do rising wages in the early nineteenth century tell us little about workers' welfare?
Advanced
A
Workers were not paid at all
B
Prices rose sharply too, so the real value of wages fell
C
Wages were paid in a foreign currency
D
Wages were fixed by guilds
Show the answer
B · Prices rose sharply too, so the real value of wages fell
Real wages depend on prices.
Q109. Till the mid-nineteenth century, roughly what share of the urban population was extremely poor even in good times?
Advanced
A
Less than 1 per cent
B
Over 80 per cent
C
About 50 per cent
D
About 10 per cent
Show the answer
D · About 10 per cent
In slumps, unemployment rose much higher.
Q110. In economic slumps like the 1830s, unemployment in different regions rose to between:
Advanced
A
35 and 75 per cent
B
10 and 15 per cent
C
1 and 5 per cent
D
90 and 100 per cent
Show the answer
A · 35 and 75 per cent
A slump could leave most workers without work.
Q111. By how much did employment in the transport industry grow in the 1840s?
Advanced
A
It grew by 5 per cent
B
It stayed the same
C
It halved
D
It doubled, and then doubled again in the next 30 years
Show the answer
D · It doubled, and then doubled again in the next 30 years
Railways and construction drove the growth.
Q112. Which statement best explains why Britain stayed a land of hand labour for long?
Advanced
A
Labour was cheap, demand was seasonal, and buyers valued handmade goods
B
Machines were illegal
C
There was no coal
D
Workers refused all wages
Show the answer
A · Labour was cheap, demand was seasonal, and buyers valued handmade goods
Three reasons together.
Q113. What does the history of workers in Victorian Britain mainly show?
Advanced
A
Machines removed all jobs
B
Workers had no wish to work in cities
C
Every worker became rich
D
Industrialisation brought insecurity and hardship along with new work
Show the answer
D · Industrialisation brought insecurity and hardship along with new work
Abundant labour kept workers insecure.
Q114. Compare the use of machines in Victorian Britain and nineteenth-century America. Explain the reason for the difference.
AdvancedShow the answer
Any five points, 1 mark each.
Q115. Why did textile exports from India not decline at once after the Company gained power in the 1760s?
Advanced
A
Europe stopped making cloth
B
The Company banned British cloth
C
Weavers were paid very high prices
D
British cotton industries had not yet expanded, and Indian fine textiles were still in demand
Show the answer
D · British cotton industries had not yet expanded, and Indian fine textiles were still in demand
Decline began later, in the early nineteenth century.
Q116. Why did weavers at first take advances eagerly?
Advanced
A
They hoped to earn more, and loans paid for raw material
B
They wanted to stop weaving
C
The law forced them to
D
Advances had no conditions
Show the answer
A · They hoped to earn more, and loans paid for raw material
Over time the advances tied them down.
Q117. Unlike the earlier supply merchants, gomasthas:
Advanced
A
Were Armenian traders
B
Lived in the village for generations
C
Had no long-term social link with the village
D
Were elected by weavers
Show the answer
C · Had no long-term social link with the village
Earlier merchants often belonged to the same villages.
Q118. Which of these was NOT a weavers' response to Company control?
Advanced
A
Building their own steam-powered mills
B
Taking to agricultural labour
C
Deserting villages and migrating
D
Revolting with village traders
Show the answer
A · Building their own steam-powered mills
Mills came much later, and not from weavers.
Q119. By 1850, cotton piece-goods made up over what share of the value of Indian imports?
Advanced
A
90 per cent
B
50 per cent
C
3 per cent
D
31 per cent
Show the answer
D · 31 per cent
It was over 50 per cent by the 1870s.
Q120. By the 1870s, cotton piece-goods were over what share of the value of Indian imports?
Advanced
A
50 per cent
B
31 per cent
C
10 per cent
D
100 per cent
Show the answer
A · 50 per cent
Manchester cloth flooded India.
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