Class 8 History Chapter 1 Question Answers - Our Pasts III (Part - I)

Q1: What is common in the two prints—a Kalamkari print and a Morris cotton print?
Ans: There is one thing common in the two prints: both use a rich blue colour – commonly called indigo.

Q2: Where did the Spanish begin cultivating indigo?
Ans: The Spanish began cultivating indigo in Venezuela.

Q3: Where did the English cultivate indigo?
Ans: The English cultivated indigo in Jamaica.

Q4: What is indigo?
Ans: Indigo is a tropical plant which was formerly widely cultivated as a source of dark blue dye.

Q5: Who were the lathiyals?
Ans: Lathiyals were the lathi-wielding strongmen maintained by the planters.

Q6: Where did the slave revolt take place in 1791?
Ans: In the French colony of St Domingue situated in the Caribbean islands, the African slaves who worked in plantations rebelled in 1791.

Q7: Which tragedy occurred during 1770 in Bengal?
Ans: In 1770, a terrible famine killed ten million people in Bengal. About one-third of the population was wiped out.

Q8: What are the two main systems of indigo cultivation in India?
Ans: There were two main systems of indigo cultivation – nij and ryoti.

Q9: Who gave the extensive description of Caribbean islands?
Ans: Jean Baptiste Labat wrote extensively about Caribbean islands.

Q10: Who was the President of the Indigo Commission?
Ans: W. S. Seton Karr was the President of the Indigo Commission.

Q11: Who and when did the Permanent Settlement introduced in Bengal?
Ans: The Permanent Settlement was introduced by Lord Cornwallis in 1793.

Q12: Where did the Portuguese begin cultivating indigo?
Ans: The Portuguese began cultivating indigo in Brazil.

Q13: Who were the gomasthas?
Ans: Gomasthas were the agents of planters.

Q14: What did the Permanent Settlement actually mean?
Ans: The amount to be paid was fixed permanently, that is, it was not to be increased ever in the future.

Q15: What role did women play in the cultivation of indigo?
Ans: Women usually carried the indigo plant to the vats.

Q16: Why did cloth dyers prefer indigo to woad?
Ans: Cloth dyers, however, preferred indigo as a dye because Indigo produced a rich blue colour, whereas the dye from woad was pale and dull.

Q17: Where did the French begin cultivating indigo?
Ans: The French began cultivating indigo in St Domingue in the Caribbean islands.

Q18: Who holds the responsibility of paying the revenue in the Mahalwari Settlement?
Ans: Village headman holds the responsibility of paying the revenue in the Mahalwari Settlement.

Q19: Who was William Morris?
Ans: William Morris, a famous poet and artist of nineteenth-century Britain.

Q20: Who created Kalamkari print?
Ans: Weavers of Andhra Pradesh in India created Kalamkari print.