Ques 1: Name the two industrial cities in Britain.
Ans: Leeds and Manchester.
Ques 2: Name the cities that were de-urbanised in the 19th century.
Ans: Surat, Machlipatnam and Seringapatam.
Ques 3: Why were the main streets of Chandni Chowk and Faiz Bazar made broad?
Ans: They were made broad for royal processions to pass.
Ques 4: Where did British live in the 1870s?
Ans: They lived in the sprawling Civil Lines area that came up in the north.
Ques 5: Where, did the Indians live in the 1870s?
Ans: They lived in the Walled City.
Ques 6: Why was a durbar held in Delhi in 1911?
Ans: In 1911, when King George V was crowned in England, a durbar was held in Delhi to celebrate the occasion.
Ques 7: Who visited the durbar?
Ans: Numerous Indian princes and British officers and soldiers visited the durbar.
Ques 8: What is Kingsway known now?
Ans: It is now known as Rajpath.
Ques 9: Why was the Viceroy’s Palace higher than Shah Jahan’s Jama Masjid?
Ans: The Viceroy’s Palace was higher than Shah Jahan’s Jama Masjid in order to establish British importance.
Ques 10: What jobs did the new migrants coming to Delhi take up?
Ans: They took up jobs as hawkers, vendors, carpenters and ironsmiths.
Ques 11: What were havelis?
Ans: Havelis were grand mansions in which the Mughal aristocracy in the 17th and 18th century lived.
Ques 12: What did the Census of 1931 reveal?
Ans: The Census of 1931 revealed that the Walled City area was thickly populated with as many as 90 persons per acre, while New Delhi had only about 3 persons per acre.
Ques 13: Why did Machlipatnam lose its importance as a port-town by the late 18th century?
Ans: It was because the British shifted their trade to the new ports of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta.
SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
Ques 1: Describe the main features of Shahjahanabad, built by Shah Jahan.
Ans: Main features are given below:
(a) Shahjahanabad, that was began in 1639, consisted of a fort-palace complex and the city adjoining it. Lai QUa or the Red Fort contained the palace complex.
(b) To its west lay the Walled City with 14 gates.
(c) The main streets of Chandni Chowk and Faiz Bazaar were broad enough for royal processions to pass. A canal ran down the centre of Chandni Chowk.
(d) The Jama Masjid was among the largest and grandest mosques in India. There was no place higher than this mosque within the city.
Ques 2: Before 1857, developments in Delhi were somewhat different from those in other colonial cities. How?
Ans: In Presidency cities, Bombay, Madras and Calcutta, the living spaces of Indians and the British were sharply separated. Indians lived in the “black’ areas, while the British lived in well laid out “white’ areas. But in Delhi, in the first half of the 19th century, the British lived alongwith the wealthier Indians in the Walled City. The British learned to enjoy Urdu/Persian culture and poetry and took part in local festivals.
Ques 3: What happened to Delhi after 1857?
Ans: During the Revolt of 1857, the rebels gathered in the Delhi and captured it under the leadership of the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. Delhi remained under the control of the rebels for four months.
When the British recaptured Delhi, they embarked on a campaign of revenge and plunder. The British forces began wrecking vengeance on the streets of Delhi, massacring the rebels. To prevent another rebellion, the British exiled Bahadur Shah to Burma, dismantled his court, razed several of the places, closed down gardens and built barracks for troops in their place.
Ques 4: How did partition change the lives and occupations of the refugees?
Ans: The partition caused massive transfer of populations on both sides of the new border. Muslims left Delhi for Pakistan while their place was taken by equally large numbers of Sikh and Hindu refugees from Pakistan. Many of the Muslims who went to Pakistan were artisans, petty traders and labourers. The new migrants coming to Delhi were rural landlords, lawyers, teachers, traders and small shopkeepers. Partition changed their lives and their occupation. They had to take up new jobs as hawkers, vendors, carpenters and ironsmiths.
Ques 5: Write a short note on ‘havelis’.
Ans: Havelis were grand mansions in which the Mughal aristocracy in the 17th and 18th centuries lived.
A haveli housed many families. On entering the haveli through a beautiful gateway, there was an open courtyard which was surrounded by public rooms. These public rooms meant for visitors and business, used exclusively by males. The inner courtyard with its pavilions and rooms was meant for the women of the household. Rooms in the havelis had multiple uses, and very little by way of furniture.
These havelis began to decline as the Mughal amirs found it difficult to maintain them under conditions of British rule.
Some havelis were subdivided and sold. Some were taken over by the upcoming mercantile class while many feel into decay.
Ques 6: Describe the main features of the colonial bungalow.
Ans: The main features of the colonial bungalow:
(a) It was meant for one nuclear family.
(b) It was a large single-storyed structure with a pitched roof and usually set in one or two acres of open ground.
(c) It had separate living and dinning rooms and bedrooms and a wide verandah running in the fronts and sometimes on three sides.
(d) Kitchens, stables and servants’ quarters were in a separate space from the main house. The house was run by dozens of servants.
LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
Ques 1: Discuss the construction plan of New Delhi.
Ans: New Delhi was constructed as a 10-square-mile city on Raisina Hill, south of the existing city. Two architects namely Edward Lutyens and Herbert Baker, were called on to design New Delhi and its buildings. The government complex in New Delhi consisted of two-mile avenue, Kingsway, now known as Rajpath, led to the Viceroy’s Palace, now known as Rashtrapati Bhavan, with the Secretariat buildings on either sides of the avenue.
The features of these government buildings were borrowed from different periods of India’s imperial history, but the overall look was classical Greece of Fifth century BCE. For instance, the central dome of the Viceroy’s Palace was copied from the Buddhist stupa at Sanchi, and the red sandstone and carved screens or Jalis were borrowed from Mughal architecture.
These new buildings, had to assert British importance. Therefore, the Viceroy’s Palace was kept higher than Shah Jahan’s Jama Masjid.
Ques 2: What did the Census of 1931 reveal? What attempts were made to decongest the old city?
Ans: The Census of 1931 revealed that the Walled City area was densely populated with as many as 90 persons per acre, while New Delhi had only about 10 persons per acre.
Several attempts were made to decongest the the old city, for example, in 1888 an extension scheme called the Lahore Gate Improvement Scheme was planned by Robert Clarke for the Walled City residents. The idea was to draw residents away from the old city to a new type of market square, around which shops would be built. Streets in this redevelopment strictly followed the grid pattern and were of identical width, size and character. Land was devided into regular areas for the construction of neighbourhoods. But this development remained incomplete and did not help to decongest the old city.
In 1936, the Delhi Improvement Trust was set up. It built areas like Daiyaganj south for wealthy Indians. Houses were grouped around parks. Within the houses, space was divided according to new rules of privacy. Instead of spaces being shared by many families or groups, now different members of the same family had their own private spaces within the home.
