Class 8 History Chapter 2 Question Answers - From Trade to Territory

Very Short Answer Type Questions

Ques 1: Who was the ruler of England in 1600?
Ans: Queen Elizabeth I was the ruler of England in 1600.

Queen ElizabethQues 2: What caused a huge loss of revenue in Bengal?
Ans: Aurangzeb’s Farman had granted the Company only the right to trade duty-free. But the officials of the Company, who were carrying on private trade on the side, also stopped paying duty. This caused a huge loss of revenue for Bengal.

Ques 3: Why did the Company want a puppet ruler?
Ans: A puppet ruler would happily grant trade deals and other benefits.

Ques 4: What was the main reason for the defeat of Sirajuddaulah at Plassey?
Ans: Mir Jafar, one of Sirajuddaulah’s commanders, did not fight the battle.

Ques 5. Why did the Battle of Plassey become famous?
Ans: It was the first major victory the Company won in India.

Ques 6: Whom did the Company install in place of Mir Jafar?
Ans: The company replaced Mir Jafar with Mir Qasim.

Ques 7: How did the Company purchase Indian goods?
Ans: It purchased Indian goods with gold and silver imported from Britain.

Ques 8: Who were called ‘nabobs’?
Ans: Several Company officials returned to Britain with wealth, led flashy lives, and showed their riches with great pride. They were called “nabobs’.

Ques 9: Who were the Residents?
Ans: The Residents were the political or commercial agents, and their job was to serve and further the interests of the Company.

Ques 10: What purpose did the Residents serve?
Ans: Through the residents, the Company officials began interfering in the internal affairs of Indian states.

Ques 11: Name the two rulers under whose leadership Mysore became powerful.
Ans: Haider Ali and his son, Tipu Sultan.

Ques 12: Why did Tipu Sultan develop a close relationship with the French in India?
Ans: He did so to modernize his army with their help.

Ques 13: What happened in the Battle of Seringapatam?
Ans: Tipu Sultan was killed defending his capital Seringapatam.

Battel of Seringpatam

Ques 14: What was the result of the second Anglo-Maratha war?
Ans: The British gained Orissa and the territories north of the Yamuna River, including Agra and Delhi.

Ques 15: What was the objective behind the Company’s new policy of ‘paramountcy ’?
Ans: The Company claimed that its authority was paramount or supreme and, therefore, its power was greater than that of Indian states.

Ques 16: What resulted from Rani Channamma’s anti-British resistance movement?
Ans: She was put in prison, where she died.

Ques 17: What was Lord Dalhousie’s Doctrine of Lapse?
Ans: If an Indian ruler died without a male heir, his kingdom would become part of the Company territory.

Ques 18: Name the Kingdoms annexed based on the ‘Doctrine of Lapse’.
Ans: Satara, Sambalpur, Udaipur, Nagpur, and Jhansi.

Ques 19: What constituted the Mughal army?
Ans: Cavalry and infantry, that is, paid soldiers.

Ques 20: Why was Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of India, tried after he returned to England?
Ans: He was put on trial for the mismanagement of Bengal.

Short Answer Type Questions

• The Portuguese. By the time the first English ships sailed down the West coast of Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope, and crossed the Indian Ocean, the Portuguese had already established their presence on the western coast of India and had their base in Goa.
•  The Dutch. By the early 17th century, the Dutch, too, were exploring the possibilities of trade in the Indian Ocean.
• The French. The French traders soon arrived on the scene for the same purpose.

Ques 2: What were the grievances of the Company regarding the Nawabs of Bengal?
Ans: The Company declared that the unjust demands of the local officials were ruining the trade of the Company.  Trade could flourish only if the duties were removed. It was also convinced that to expand trade, it had to enlarge its settlements, buy up villages, and rebuild its forts.

Ques 3: Write a note on Tipu Sultan—The ‘Tiger of Mysore’.
Ans: Tipu Sultan was the famous ruler of Mysore. He ruled Mysore from 1782 to 1799. Under his leadership, Mysore became very powerful. It controlled the profitable trade of the Malabar coast, where the Company purchased pepper and cardamom. 

Tipu Sultan 

In 1785 Tipu Sultan stopped the export of these items through the ports of his kingdom and disallowed local merchants from trading with the Company.  He also developed a relationship with the French in India to modernize his army with their help. The British got furious. They waged four battles against Tipu Sultan. The last battle proved unfortunate for him. He was killed defending his capital Seringapatam. The way he resisted the British is undoubtedly praise worthy.

Ques 4: Give a brief description of all the three Anglo-Maratha wars. Also, write the main consequences.

Ans: The Company waged a series of wars against the Marathas to crush Maratha power:

•  In the first war, there was no clear victor; hence it ended in 1782 with the Treaty of Salbai.
• The second Anglo-Maratha War began in 1803 and ended in 1805. 

Anglo- Maratha War

• This war was fought on different fronts resulting in the British gaining Orissa and the territories north of the Yamuna River, including Agra and Delhi.
• The third Anglo-Maratha War of 1817-1819 crushed Maratha's power. The Peshwa was removed. 
• The Company now had complete control over the territories south of the Vindhyas.

Ques 5: What administrative reformations were brought in the sphere of justice?

Ans: Before the reformations were brought, there were Maulvis and Hindu pandits who interpreted Indian laws for the European district collectors who presided over civil courts. The criminal courts were still under a qazi and a mufti. The Brahman pandits usually gave different understanding of local laws. But there was no uniformity in them. To bring out uniformity, in 1775, eleven pandits were asked to compile a digest of Hindu laws. N.B. Halhed translated this digest into English. By 1778 a code of Muslim laws was also compiled for the benefit of European judges, under the Regulating Act of 1773, a new Supreme Court was established, while a court of appeal—the Sadar Nizamal Adalat—was also set up at Calcutta.

Long Answer Type Questions

Ques 1: Give an account of the Battle of Plassey.

Ans: The Company was eager to place a puppet ruler instead of Sirajuddaulah so they could gain trade advantages and other benefits. They started to support one of Sirajuddaulah’s rivals to become the Nawab, which made Sirajuddaulah very angry. He firmly told the Company to stop interfering in his territory's politics.

When talks failed, Sirajuddaulah marched with his soldiers to the English factory at Kasimbazar, captured the Company officials, disarmed the Englishmen, and blocked their ships. He then went to Calcutta to take control of the Company’s fort there.

When the Company officials in Madras learned about Calcutta’s fall, they sent forces led by Robert Clive, along with naval support. They had long negotiations with the Nawab, but no real solutions came. Finally, in 1759, Robert Clive led the Company’s army against Sirajuddaulah at the Battle of Plassey.

Battle of Plassey

In this battle, Sirajuddaulah was defeated mainly because one of his commanders, Mir Jafar, did not fight. Instead, he secretly supported the Company because they promised to make him Nawab after defeating Sirajuddaulah. The Company’s victory in the Battle of Plassey gave them great confidence and was their first major win in India.

Ques 2: Who introduced the policy of ‘paramountcy’? What did it mean? What sort of resistance did the Company face?
Ans: Lord Hastings, the Governor-General of India from 1813 to 1823, introduced a new policy of ‘paramountcy’. 

• Now the Company claimed that its authority was paramount or supreme; hence its power was greater than that of Indian states. 
• To protect its interests, it was justified in annexing or threatening to annex any Indian kingdom.
• However, this process did not go unchallenged. For example, when the British tried to annex the small state of Kitoor (in Karnataka today), Rani Channamma took to arms and led an anti-British resistance movement. 
• She was arrested in 1823 and died in prison in 1829. But this resistance movement did not stop. Rajana, a poor chowkidar of Sangoli in Kitoor, carried it on. 
• With popular support, he destroyed many British camps and records. He was also caught and hanged by the British in 1830.
  
  

Ques 3: How did the East India Company begin to trade in Bengal?
Ans: The East India Company began to trade in Bengal in the following ways:

• The East India Company set up the first English factory on the banks of the river Hugh in the year 1651. 
• This became the base from which the Company’s traders, known at that time as ‘factors’, operated. 
• The factory had a warehouse where goods for export were stored, and it had offices where Company officials set. 
• As trade expanded, the Company persuaded merchants and traders to come and settle near the factory.

East India Company

• By 1696 the Company began to build a fort around the settlement. 
• Two years later, it bribed Mughal officials into giving the company Zamindari rights over three villages. 
• One of these was Kalikata which later developed into a city known as Calcutta. 
• The Company also persuaded the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb to issue a farman granting the Company the right to trade duty-free. 
• The Company tried continuously to press for more concessions and manipulate existing privileges. 
• For instance, Aurangzeb’s Farman had granted only the Company the right to trade duty-free. 
• But Company officials carrying on private trade on the side were expected to pay duty. But they refused to pay. This caused a huge loss of revenue for Bengal.