Test: Peasants And Farmers - 2 - UPSC MCQ

The mechanical reaper was invented by Cyrus McCormick in 1831. This machine was used by farmers to harvest crops mechanically.

 (i) The movement of the nomads allows the pasture to regrow and recover. 
(ii) It helps to protect the ecology of the environment. 
(iii) It prevents the overuse of pastures. 
(iv) The cattle by the dung help in providing manure.  

 Before the 18th century in large parts of England, the countryside was open. Peasants cultivated on strips of land around the village they lived in.

At the beginning of each year, strips of varying quality were allocated to each villager.

Beyond these strips of cultivation, lay the common land. All villagers had an access to the commons.

For the poor, the common land was essential for survival. It supplemented meagre income, sustained their cattle, and helped them tide over bad times, when crops failed.

Explanation:
The correct answer is option D: All the above.
The disappearance of the practice of living with landowners and working for them throughout the year drastically changed the lives of the labourers. The following factors contributed to this change:
1. Living and working conditions: Before 1800, labourers lived with landowners, ate with their masters, and helped them throughout the year. They were provided with basic necessities like food and shelter. However, with the disappearance of this practice, labourers had to find their own accommodation and manage their own meals.
2. Wage employment: Instead of living with landowners, labourers started to work for wages. This meant that they were no longer dependent on landowners for their livelihood. They could now seek employment based on their skills and availability of work.
3. Seasonal employment: Labourers were now employed only during harvest times or when there was a need for their specific skills. This meant that their employment became more temporary and uncertain.
4. Reduction in worker benefits: To increase their profits, landlords started cutting the amount they had to spend on their workers. This led to a decrease in wages and a reduction in worker benefits such as food, shelter, and other provisions.
Overall, the disappearance of the practice of living with landowners and the shift towards wage employment and seasonal work had a significant impact on the lives of the labourers, making them more independent but also exposing them to greater uncertainty and reduced benefits.

Methods used to oust the Indian Americans:
The methods used to oust the Indian Americans were primarily through a combination of wars, forced treaties, and displacement. Here is a detailed explanation of each method:
1. Numerous wars:
- Indians Americans were subjected to numerous wars and conflicts with European colonizers and later the United States government.
- These wars often resulted in massacres, where Indian populations were killed, and villages were destroyed.
- The purpose of these wars was to weaken and subjugate the Indian Americans, making it easier for the colonizers to take control of their lands.
2. Forced treaties:
- After facing defeat in many conflicts, Indian Americans were often forced to sign treaties that required them to give up their lands and move westwards.
- These treaties were often unfair and heavily favored the interests of the colonizers.
- The Indian Americans were left with no choice but to comply with the terms of these treaties, leading to the loss of their ancestral lands and displacement from their traditional territories.
3. Combination of both (a) and (b):
- The methods used to oust the Indian Americans were often a combination of wars and forced treaties.
- Wars were used to weaken their resistance and establish dominance, while forced treaties were employed to legalize the transfer of land ownership.
- This combination of tactics ensured the removal of Indian Americans from their lands and the colonization of their territories by European settlers.
4. Peaceful negotiations:
- While there were instances of peaceful negotiations between Indian Americans and the colonizers, these were relatively rare.
- Peaceful negotiations usually occurred when Indian tribes were seeking to protect their rights or negotiate fair terms with the colonizers.
- However, the dominant approach used by the colonizers was to exert military force and impose their will on the Indian Americans.
In conclusion, the methods used to oust the Indian Americans were primarily through numerous wars, forced treaties, and displacement. These methods aimed to weaken, subjugate, and displace the Indian American population, allowing the European colonizers and later the United States government to gain control over their lands.

Seen from the eastcost, America seemed to be a land of promose. Its wilderness could be turned into cultivated fields.

Forest timber could be cut for export, animals hunted for skin, mountains mined for gold and minerals.

But this meant that the American Indians had to be cleared from the land.

The poor were opposed to the threshing machines because for them they were a sign of bad times.The machines reduced the dependence of landowners on labourers and led to their displacement.Many a pogr lost their jobs during the threshing season and had to tramp long distances to seek alternate employment in other villages or cities.Machines gave landowners bargaining powers and reduced the status of the poor to wage earners.The jobs of the poor became insecure, income unstable and livelihood precarious.

Captain Swing was the mythical leader of the laboring rural poor who rose up to destroy threshing machines in England in 1830.

The 1780s, white American settlements were confined to a small narrow strip along the eastern coast. Most of the USA was inhabited by the Native Americans. Most of them were nomadic, while some of them were settled. Hunting, gathering and fishing was the source of livelihood for most of them. Some of them cultivated corn, beans, tobacco and pumpkin.

Reasons for the radical transformation of the landscape by the early 20th century:

• White Americans had moved westward: The westward expansion of white Americans led to significant changes in the landscape. They cleared forests, built settlements, and established agricultural practices, altering the natural environment.



• Local tribes were displaced: The displacement of Native American tribes also contributed to the transformation of the landscape. As white settlers moved into Native American territories, they often forced tribes to relocate, leading to the loss of traditional lands and the disruption of ecosystems.



• Entire landscape was carved into different agricultural belts in the USA: The development of agriculture in the United States resulted in the carving of the landscape into different agricultural belts. Land was cleared for farming, and various crops were grown in specific regions, leading to changes in land use and the overall appearance of the landscape.

Therefore, all of the above reasons - the westward movement of white Americans, the displacement of local tribes, and the carving of the landscape into agricultural belts - contributed to the radical transformation of the landscape by the early 20th century.

The British Proclamation of 1763 ordered a halt to the westward movement at the Appalachians, but the decree was widely disregarded. Settlers scurried into Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky. After the American Revolution, a flood of people crossed the mountains into the fertile lands between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River. By 1810 Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky had been transformed from wilderness into a region of farms and towns.

The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s; severe drought and a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent the aeolian processes (wind erosion) caused the phenomenon.

The overproductions of wheat lead to the Great Agrarian Depression of the 1930s.
4. Over-ploughing of Prairies also lead to Dust Bowl Tragedy. Because of this, the land of plenty became a Dust Bowl. 
5. After 1930s, the government and the settlers realized that they had to respect the ecological condition of each region.

In the early 19th century, indigo and opium were two of the major commercial crops.

By the end of the century, peasants were producing sugarcane, cotton, jute, wheat and several other crops for export.

These crops were produced to feed the population of urban Europe and to supply to the mills of Lancashire and Manchester in England.

The British used the profits from the sale of opium to purchase such Chinese luxury goods as porcelain, silk, and tea, which were in great demand in the West.

The Confucian rulers of China, the Manchus, were suspicious of all foreign merchants because they were apprehensive of foreign merchants meddling into local politics. Hence they were not willing to allow the entry of foreign goods. This meant an outflow of treasure from England because tea could be bought only by making payment in silver coins or bullion. The English traders wanted a community which could be easily sold in China so that the import of tea could be financed in a profitable way.

The white settlers came in successive waves. By the first decade of the eighteenth century, they settled on the Appalachian plateau. Between 1820 and 1850, they moved into the Mississippi valley. They cleared the land for cultivation, put fences around large areas and began sowing corn and wheat.

US President Wilson said "Plant more wheat, wheat will win the war". 

United Kingdom, France and Russia  were Members of Allied powers and America was on the side of the Allies. During the First World War the world market boomed. Russian supplies of wheat were cut off and the USA had to feed Europe. US President Wilson called upon farmers to respond to the need of the time and support the allies to wage the wars by fulfilling their domestic demand for wheat.

The area under wheat production increased dramatically. For example, around 45 million acres of land in the USA was under wheat production in 1910. It expanded to 74 million acres thus making an increase of about 65 per cent in 1919. The wheat barons, as the big farmers were generally called, became so prosperous that many of them had as much as two thousand to three thousand acres of land under their individual control. 

Wheat Barons were big farmers who controlled as much as 2,000 to 3,000 acres of land individually. 

The shilling is a unit of currency formerly used in Austria, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, United States and other British Commonwealth countries. Currently the shilling is used as a currency in four east African countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Somalia.

The mechanical reaper was invented by Cyrus McCormick in 1831. This machine was used by farmers to harvest crops mechanically. For hundreds of years, farmers and field workers had to harvest crops by hand using a sickle or other methods, which was an arduous task at best.

The United States President Woodrow Wilson said "plant more wheat, wheat will win the war."

As we see during the second World war Russia supplies of wheat were cut off and wheat price touched the sky. As the US had to feed Europe especially her allies, Wilson encouraged the farmers to grow more wheat and thus said "plant more wheat, wheat will war" which motivated the farmers to growmore and more wheat. Wheat was very profitable during the First world War and it boomed the US export market.

  

The European country that introduced opium into China is Portugal.

• Introduction: Opium was introduced into China by a European country during the 19th century. This act had significant consequences for China, leading to widespread addiction and social, economic, and political problems.


• Opium Trade: The opium trade involved the importation of opium from foreign countries, mainly India, to China. The British East India Company was heavily involved in this trade.


• Portugal's Role: Portugal played a significant role in introducing opium into China. Portuguese traders were among the first Europeans to establish trade relations with China in the 16th century.


• Macau: Macau, a region in China, was a Portuguese colony from the 16th century until 1999. During this time, Macau became a major center for the opium trade.


• Opium Wars: The introduction of opium into China eventually led to the Opium Wars. These wars were fought between China and the British Empire, with the involvement of other European powers. The wars resulted in the forced opening of Chinese ports to foreign trade and the ceding of Hong Kong to Britain.

Therefore, the correct answer is D: Portugal.

The history of opium in China began with the use of opium for medicinal purposes during the 7th century. In the 17th century the practice of mixing opium with tobacco for smoking spread from Southeast Asia, creating a far greater demand.