Class 9 History Extra Question Answers - Peasants and Farmers (Deducted from CBSE 2021-22 examination)

1) Who was Captain Swing?

Answer:  It was a mythic name used in the letters of warnings to the farmers using threshing machines.  

2) What were open fields?

Answer:Open fields were fields where strips of land were allocated to a number of farmers.  

3) What were Common lands or Commons?

Answer:(i) All villagers had access to the commons.                                    
(ii) Here they pastured their cows and grazed their sheep too.  

4) What were enclosed lands?

Answer:When the common lands started having fences around the land holdings and separated their property from others, these were called enclosed lands.  

5) Which dramatic fact makes the period after 1780's different from any earlier period in English history?

Answer:Earlier times with the population growth, food shortage was very common but after Enclosure movement grain production grew as quickly as population  

6) Which two new crops were introduced by farmers in England to retain the fertility of the soil?

Answer:Turnip and clover.  

7) How did turnip and clover help in increasing fertility of the soils?

Answer:These crops had the capacity to increase the nitrogen content of the soil and nitrogen was important for crop growth and soil fertility. 

8) What was the advantage of Enclosure Movement to landowners?

Answer:Enclosures allowed the richer landowners to expand the land under their control and produce more for the market.    

9) What was the impact of Enclosures on Midlands and the countries around?

Answer: (i) The poor were displaced from the land; (ii) They found their customary rights gradually disappearing and they moved to the southern countries of England.  

10) What happened to the labourers after Enclosure Movement?

Answer: Labourers were being paid wages and employed only during harvest time. So, they became in secured, as employment was uncertain and income unstable.  

11) Which machines helped landowners to reduce their dependence on labour?

Answer:Threshing Machines.     

12) Why did threshing machine replace labour?

Answer:Landlords' complaint of the drinking habits of labourers and therefore difficult to work in their farm was a good excuse to replace them with threshing machines.  

13) What is an 'Agricultural Depression'?

Answer:When production of food grain is high and demand is less, then prices decline, leading to Agricultural Depression.  

14) When did Captain Swing, an imaginary character appear in England?

Answer:This happened when landowners tried to cut the crops and number of workers they employed, the unemployed poor tramped from village to village and those with uncertain jobs lived in fear of a loss of their livelihood.  

15) How did Native American groups live?

Answer:Many of them lived only by hunting, gathering and fishing; others cultivated corn, beans, tobacco and pumpkin.  

16) How did white Americans transform the landscape?

Answer:They moved westward and established control up to West coast, displacing local tribes and carving out the entire landscape into different agricultural belts.  

17) How did America become 'a land of promises'?

Answer: Its wilderness turned into cultivated fields. Forest timber could be cut for export, animals hunted for skin, mountains mined for gold and minerals after clearing lands.  

18) How did settlers come in successive waves in America?

Answer:They settled on the Appalachian Plateau by the first decade of the 18th century and then moved into the Mississippi valley between 1820 and 1850.  

19) Which two new crops were introduced by White settlers in the cultivated lands?

Answer:Sweet corn and wheat.  

20) Why was demand for wheat increasing in USA?

Answer:(i) Urban population in USA was growing and export market was becoming bigger. (ii) As the demand increased wheat prices rose, encouraging farmers to grow more wheat. 

21) Who said Plant more wheat, wheat will win the war'?

Answer:US President Wilson.  

22)   Who were Wheat Barons?

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

23) How was thick grass of Prairies removed and ploughing done?

Answer:A variety of new ploughs were devised. Some of them were even 12 ft. long. Their front rested on small wheel and they were latched on to yokes of six oxen or horses.  

24)  What was the invention of Cyrus McCormick for harvesting?

Answer: He invented a Mechanical Reaper, which could cut in one day as much as five men could cut with cradlers and 16 men with sickles.  

25) What were 'Combine harvesters'?

Answer:Combine harvesters were used to harvest grain on farms. With this machine, 500 acres of wheat could be harvested in two weeks.  

26) What conditions created Great Agrarian Depression in USA?

Answer: Surplus production during war and post war, unsold stocks piling up, storehouses overflowing with grain caused fall in and wheat prices export markets collapse leading to Agrarian Depression,   

27) What was Dust Bowl?

Answer:Terrifying Dust storms began to blow over the southern plains, black blizzards rolled in, very often 7,000 to 8,000 ft. high rising like monstrous waves of muddy water, skies darkened and the dust swept in, people were blinded and choked. These regions were called Dust Bowl.  

28) Why was land under cultivation increased when the British came in India?

Answer:Ordinary dust storms became black blizzards only because the entire landscape had been ploughed over, stripped of all grass that held the soil together.  

29)  Which crops were produced in India during colonial period for the world market?

Answer:The British saw land revenue as a major source of government income. To build this income, efforts were made to impose a regular system of land revenue, increase revenue rates and expand areas under cultivation.  

30) How could the western merchants like British buy tea from China?

Answer: Indigo, opium, sugarcane, cotton, jute, wheat and several other crops were produced to feed the population of urban Europe and Lancashire and Manchester in England.  

31) Who introduced opium into China in the early 16th century?

Answer: They could buy tea only by paying in silver coins or bullion, it was an over flow of treasure from England, a matter of great concern.  

32) What was opium primarily known for?

Answer:Portuguese had introduced opium into China. 

33) Who all became opium addicts in China?

Answer:Opium was primarily known for medical properties and used in minuscule quantities for certain types of medicine.  

34) How was cultivation of opium a difficult process?

Answer: Shopkeepers and peddlers, officials and army men, aristocrats and poor, almost all classes became opium addicts.  

35) What was the role of an opium agent in opium production?

Answer: The plant of opium was delicate and cultivators had to spend long hours nurturing it. This meant that they did not have enough time to care for other crops.  

36) What was the government's opium revenue?

Answer:They were government opium agents who were advancing the money to the headmen, who in turn gave it to the cultivators. By taking the loan the cultivator was forced to grow opium on specified area of land and hand over the produce to the agents once the crop had been harvested.  

37) In which parts of India was opium produced? 

Answer:Government wanted to produce opium at a cheap rate and sell it at price to opium agents in Calcutta and then ship to China. This difference between the buying and selling price was the government's opium revenue.  

38) Who was Captain Swing? What did the name symbolise or represent?

Answer: Captain Swing was an imaginary name used for Swing rioters. It symbolized the protest made against the use of threshing machines by rich farmers.  

39)   Describe the seasonal movement of Gaddi shepherds of Himachal Pradesh.

Answer: (i) Threshing machines deprived labour of their livelihood. (ii) Poor farmers felt that the threshing machines would replace people and render them jobless. (iii) Threshing machines were therefore broken, leading to riots that spread over southern England.  

40) What were the reasons for starting the 'enclosure movement' in England?

Answer: (i) When the price of wool went up in the world market in the 16th century, rich farmers wanted to expand wool production and earn more profit. (ii) They wanted to improve wool production by improving the sheep breeds. (iii) They were keen on controlling large areas of land to allow improved breeding. So, they began enclosing common lands.  

41) How were common lands changed into enclosed lands by the rich farmers?

Answer:  (i) Rich farmers started dividing and enclosing common land and building hedges around their holdings to separate their property from others.
(ii) They drove out villagers who had small cottages on the commons.
(iii) They also prevented the poor farmers from entering the enclosed fields.  

42) How did the 'enclosure movement' proceed in England?

Answer: (i) The early enclosures were usually created by individual landlords.
(ii) They were not supported by the State or the Church.
(iii) After the mid-eighteenth century, the enclosure movement swept through the countryside and changed the English landscape forever. Ultimately, the British Parliament could no longer watch this process from a distance and passed 4,000 Acts legalising these enclosures.  

43) Why did the landlords pressurise the British Parliament to pass the Enclosure Act?

Answer: (i) France was at war with England, which disrupted trade and import of food grains from Europe.
(ii) Prices of food grains in England shot up, thereby encouraging landlords to enclose lands.
iii) They had enlarged the area under grain cultivation. Profits flowed in and landowners pressurised the Parliament to pass the Enclosure Act.  

44) What was the impact of the westward expansion of settlers in the USA? Explain in three points.

Answer:(i) Its wilderness could be turned into cultivated fields. (ii) Forest timber could be cut for export, animals hunted for skin, mountains mined for gold and minerals. (iii) The American Indians had to be cleared from the land.  

45) How was increase in food production made possible?

Answer: (i) By bringing more lands under cultivation.
(ii) Landlords sliced up pasturelands, carved up open fields, cut up forests, took over marshes and turned larger and larger areas into agricultural fields.
(iii) Farmers continued to use simple innovations in agriculture for better production.  

46)   Why were turnips and clover grown by farmers in their farms?

Answer:(i) Farmers discovered that planting these crops improved the fertility of the soil. (ii) Turnip was good fodder crop relished by cattle. (iii) Farmers began cultivating these crops regularly and made them a part of the cropping system. (iv) Later, findings showed that these crops had the capacity to increase the nitrogen content of the soil. Nitrogen is important for crop growth and the land's fertility is renewed. 

47) What were the advantages of enclosures?

Answer:(i) Enclosures had become necessary to make long-term investments on land and plan crop rotation to improve the soil.
(ii) Enclosures also allowed the richer farmers to expand the land under their control.
(iii) They could produce more for the market to earn more profit.  

48) What do you know about native American groups?

Answer: (i) Native American groups were nomadic as well as settled.
(ii) Many of them lived only by hunting, gathering and fishing; others cultivated corn, beans, tobacco and pumpkin.
(iii) Some of them were expert trappers through whom the European traders secured their supplies of beaver fur since the 16th century.  

49) How were American Indians replaced by White Americans?

Answer: (i) As Indians were driven out, the white Americans came in successive waves. (ii) They settled on the Appalachian plateau and then moved into the Mississippi valley. (iii) They slashed and burnt forests, cleared the land for cultivation and built log cabins in the forest clearings. Then they ploughed the cleared and fenced fields and sowed corn and wheat. 

50) How did the Great Plains across the Mississippi river become a major wheat-producing area of America?

Answer: (i) In the early years, the fertile soil produced good crops. (ii) When the soil used to get exhausted, the migrants would move further west to explore new lands to raise a new crop. (iii) When the migrants reached the Great Plains across the Mississippi river, they settled down as this region, in few decades, became a major wheat- producing area of America. 

51)  In what way was new technology responsible for the dramatic expansion of land in America?

Answer:(i) With the new technology, the settlers modified their implements to meet their requirements. (ii) In the mid-western prairie, simple ploughs were ineffective as it was covered with a thick mat of grass with tough roots. (iii) To break the sod and turn the soil over, a variety of new ploughs were devised. By the early 20th century, the farmers in the Great Plains were using tractors and disk ploughs, clearing vast stretches for wheat cultivation. 

52) What were the advantages of these mechanical devices to the big farmers of the Great Plains?

Answer:(i) The prices of wheat were high and demand was limitless, the new machines helped farmers to rapidly clear large tracts, break up the soil, remove the grass and prepare the ground for cultivation. (ii) Now the work could be done quickly and with a minimum number of hands. (iii) With power-driven machines, farmers could plough, seed and harvest 2,000 to 4,000 acres of wheat in a season.  

53) What were the 'Dust Bowls'?

Answer: In the 1930s, terrifying duststorms began to blow over the southern plains. These were the black blizzards, about 7,000 to 8,000 feet high, rising like monstrous waves. The skies darkened and people were blinded and choked by the dust. 

54) What were the effects of 'Dust Bowls'?

Answer:(i) Cattle were suffocated to death as their lungs choked with dust and mud. (ii) Sand buried fences, covered fields and coated the surfaces of rivers till the fish died. (iii) Dead bodies of birds and animals were seen strewn all over the landscape. (iv) Machines like tractors and harvesters were clogged with dust and damaged beyond repair.  

55) Which crops were grown in India for the world market?

Answer:(i) In the early 19th century, indigo and opium were two of the major commercial crops. (ii) By the end of the century, peasants were producing sugarcane, cotton, jute, wheat and several other crops for export. (iii) These crops were produced to feed the population of urban Europe and to supply to the mills of Lancashire and Manchester in England.  

56) Why were the Manchus rulers not willing to allow the entry of foreign goods into China?

Answer:  (i) In the late 18th century, the English East India Company was buying tea and silk from China for sale in England. (ii) But England at that time produced nothing that could be easily sold in China. (iii) The Confucian rulers of China, the Manchus were suspicious of all foreign merchants. (iv) They feared that the merchants would interfere in the local politics and disrupt their authority. So, the Manchus rulers were not willing to allow the entry of foreign goods into China.  

57) How could the Western merchants balance their trade with China?

Answer: (i) The Western merchants could buy tea only by paying in silver coins or bullion. (ii) It meant outflows of treasure from England, as it would deplete the wealth of the nation. (iii) The merchants therefore looked for ways to stop this loss of silver. (iv) They searched for a commodity they could sell in China, something they could persuade the Chinese to buy. So, opium was one such commodity.  

58) Why did Indian peasants begin to agitate against the low prices of opium?

Answer: (i) The British would procure opium at cheap rates. They would sell it at a high price to the opium agents in Calcutta, who then shipped it to China. (ii) This difference between the buying and selling price was the governments' opium revenue. (iii) The prices given to the peasants were so low that by the early 18th century, angry peasants began agitating for higher prices and refused to take advances. (iv) Some cultivators around Benaras stopped cultivating opium and started producing sugarcane and potato instead. Some cultivators sold off their opium crop to travelling traders called Pykars, who offered them higher prices.  

59) Why were threshing machines opposed by some labourers, the poor in England?

Answer: (i) Riot spread all over southern England and near about 387 threshing machines were broken. (ii) Through this period, farmers received threatening letters urging them to stop using machines that deprived workmen of their livelihood. (iii) Most of these letters were signed in the name of Captain Swing, who was supposed to support the farmers to destroy threshing machines.  

60) How did the condition of secured labourers become insecure? 

Answer:(i) Earlier, it was common for labourers to live with landowners. They were at the master's table and helped their master through the year, doing a variety of jobs. (ii) By 1800, this practice began to disappear. Labourers were being paid wages and employed only during harvest times. (iii) As landowners tried to increase their profits, they cut the amount they had to spend on other workmen. Workers became insecure, employment uncertain and income unstable. For a very large part of the year, the poor had no work.