Class 8 History Chapter 6 Weavers, Iron Smelters and Factory Owners Extra Questions and Answers are provided here. These Extra Questions with solution are prepared by our team of expert teachers who are teaching in CBSE schools for years. Extra questions for Class 8 History Chapter 6 will help you to properly understand a particular concept of the chapter.

Weavers, Iron Smelters and Factory Owners Class 8 History Extra Questions and Answers

Very Short Answer Type Question

1. During which period patola weaving was famous?

Answer: Patola weaving was famous in mid-nineteenth century.

2. Why were bellows used?

Answer: Bellows were used for pumping air that kept the charcoal burning.

3. When and where was the first cotton mill set up in India?

Answer: The first cotton mill in India was set up as a spinning mill in Bombay in 1854.

4. What were piece goods?

Answer: Piece goods were usually woven cloth pieces that were 20 yards long and 1 yard wide.

5. What is Jamdani?

Answer: Jamdani is a fine muslin on which decorative motifs are woven on the loom, typically in grey and white.

6. Why were Indian textiles renowned in the world?

Answer: Indian textiles had long been renowned both for their fine quality and exquisite craftsmanship.

7. What were the most important centres of jamdani weaving?

Answer: The most important centres of jamdani weaving were Dacca in Bengal and Lucknow in the United Provinces.

8. Name the place where chintz was produced during the mid- nineteenth century?

Answer: Chintz was produced in Masulipatnam, Andhra Pradesh, in mid-nineteenth century.

9. How did the European trading companies purchase cotton and silk textiles in India?

Answer: European trading companies purchased cotton and silk textiles in India by importing silver.

10. What did Mahatma Gandhi urge people during national movement?

Answer: During the national movement, Mahatma Gandhi urged people to boycott imported textiles and use hand-spun and hand woven cloth.

11. What made Britain the foremost industrial nation in the nineteenth century?

Answer: Mechanised production of cotton textiles made Britain the foremost industrial nation in the nineteenth century.

12. How did Indian cotton factories prove to be helpful during the First World War?

Answer: During the First World War when textile imports from Britain declined and Indian factories were called upon to produce cloth for military supplies.

13. Name two towns emerged as important new centres of weaving in the late nineteenth century.

Answer: Sholapur in western India and Madura in South India emerged as important new centres of weaving in the late nineteenth century.

14. Why were printed Indian cotton textiles popular in England?
Or
Why there was craze for printed Indian cotton textiles in England and Europe?

Answer: There was craze for printed Indian cotton textiles in England and Europe mainly for their exquisite floral designs, fine texture and relative cheapness.

15. What was special about Tipu Sultan sword?
Or
Why was Tipu’s sword so special?

Answer: Tipu’s sword was made from special type of high carbon steel called Wootz. Wootz steel when made into swords produced a very sharp edge with a flowing water pattern.

Short Answer Type Questions

1. Write a short note on Patola weave.

Answer: Patola weave came into existence in mid-nineteenth century. Patola was woven in Surat, Ahmedabad and Patan. Highly valued in Indonesia, it became part of the local weaving tradition there.

2. What kinds of cloth had a large market in Europe?

Answer: Indian textiles had long been renowned both for their fine quality and exquisite craftsmanship. Printed cotton cloths called chintz, cossaes (or khassa) and bandanna had a large market in Europe.

3. What is smelting?

Answer: Smelting is the process of obtaining a metal from rock (or soil) by heating it to a very high temperature, or of melting objects made from metal in order to use the metal to make something new.

4. What came to be called ‘calico’?

Answer: When the Portuguese first came to India in search of spices they landed in Calicut on the Kerala coast in south-west India. The cotton textiles which they took back to Europe, along with the spices, came to be called “calico” (derived from Calicut).

5. Why Britain came to be known as the workshop of the world?

Answer: Mechanised production of cotton textiles made Britain the foremost industrial nation in the nineteenth century. And when its iron and steel industry started growing from the 1850s, Britain came to be known as the “workshop of the world”.

6. What is bandanna?

Answer: The word bandanna now refers to any brightly coloured and printed scarf for the neck or head. Originally, the term derived from the word “bandhna” (Hindi for tying), and referred to a variety of brightly coloured cloth produced through a method of tying and dying.

7. How were Indian textiles viewed in the world market?
Or
Mention the importance of Indian textiles in the world market.

Answer: Indian textiles had long been renowned both for their fine quality and exquisite craftsmanship. They were extensively traded in Southeast Asia and West and Central Asia. From the sixteenth century European trading companies began buying Indian textiles for sale in Europe.

8. Who were weavers? Name some communities famous for weaving?

Answer: Weavers often belonged to communities that specialized in weaving. Their skills were passed on from one generation to the next. The tanti weavers of Bengal, the julahas or momin weavers of north India, sale and kaikollar and devangs of south India are some of the communities famous for weaving.

9. Who are the Agaria? Why did they leave their village?

Answer: The Agaria were an Indian community of iron smelters. In the late nineteenth century a series of famines devastated the dry tracts of India. In Central India, many of the Agaria iron smelters stopped work, deserted their villages and migrated, looking for some other work to survive the hard times. A large number of them never worked their furnaces again.

10. What was Calico Act?

Answer: By the early eighteenth century, worried by the popularity of Indian textiles, wool and silk makers in England began protesting against the import of Indian cotton textiles. In 1720, the British government enacted a legislation banning the use of printed cotton textiles – chintz – in England. Interestingly, this Act was known as the Calico Act.

11. What happened to the weavers and spinners who lost their livelihood?

Answer: Many weavers became agricultural labourers. Some migrated to cities in search of work, and yet others went out of the country to work in plantations in Africa and South America. Some of these handloom weavers also found work in the new cotton mills that were established in Bombay (now Mumbai), Ahmedabad, Sholapur, Nagpur and Kanpur.

12. Why did the wool and silk producers in England protest against the import of Indian textiles in the early eighteenth century?

Answer: Textile industries had just begun to develop in England in the early eighteenth century. Unable to compete with Indian textiles, English producers wanted a secure market within the country by preventing the entry of Indian textiles. Therefore, they protested against the import of Indian textiles.

13. What problems did the Indian textile industry face in the early years of its development?

Answer: The textile factory industry in India faced many problems. It found it difficult to compete with the cheap textiles imported from Britain. In most countries, governments supported industrialisation by imposing heavy duties on imports. This eliminated competition and protected infant industries. The colonial government in India usually refused such protection to local industries.

14. Write a short note on growth of cotton mills in India.
Or
Give a brief description of growth of cotton mills in India.

Answer: The first cotton mill in India was set up as a spinning mill in Bombay in 1854. By 1900, over 84 mills started operating in Bombay. Mills came up in other cities too. The first mill in Ahmedabad was started in 1861. A year later a mill was established in Kanpur, in the United Provinces. Growth of cotton mills led to a demand for labour. Thousands of poor peasants, artisans and agricultural labourers moved to the cities to work in the mills.

15. Why was the Wootz steel making process completely lost by the mid-19th century?
Or
Wootz steel making process was completely lost by the mid-19th century. Give reasons.
Or
Wootz steel making process was completely lost by the mid-nineteenth century. Why this was so?

Answer: Wootz steel making process was completely lost by the mid-nineteenth century because of the following reasons.

• The swords and armour making industry died with the conquest of India by the British.
• Imports of iron and steel from England displaced the iron and steel produced by craftspeople in India.

Long Answer Type Questions

1. How did the invention of spinning jenny and steam engine revolutionised cotton textiles moving in England?

Answer: Competition with Indian textiles led to a search for technological innovation in England. In 1764, the spinning jenny was invented by John Kaye which increased the productivity of the traditional spindles. The invention of the steam engine by Richard Arkwright in 1786 revolutionised cotton textile weaving. Cloth could now be woven in immense quantities and cheaply too.

2. What helped TISCO expand steel production during the First World War?

Answer: By the time TISCO was set up the situation was changing. In 1914 the First World War broke out. Steel produced in Britain now had to meet the demands of war in Europe. So imports of British steel into India declined dramatically and the Indian Railways turned to TISCO for supply of rails. As the war dragged on for several years, TISCO had to produce shells and carriage wheels for the war. By 1919 the colonial government was buying 90 per cent of the steel manufactured by TISCO. Over time TISCO became the biggest steel industry within the British empire.

3. Describe the process of weaving.

Answer: Process of weaving

• The first stage of production was spinning – a work done mostly by women. The charkha and the takli were household spinning instruments. The thread was spun on the charkha and rolled on the takli.
• When the spinning was over the thread was woven into cloth by the weaver. In most communities weaving was a task done by men.
• For coloured textiles, the thread was dyed by the dyer, known as rangrez. For printed cloth the weavers needed the help of specialist block printers known as chhipigars.

4. Describe the regions where textile production was concentrated in the early 19th century.

Answer: Textile production was concentrated in four regions in the early nineteenth century.

• Bengal was one of the most important centres. Located along the numerous rivers in the delta, the production centres in Bengal could easily transport goods to distant places.
• Decca in Eastern Bengal (now Bangladesh) was the foremost textile centre in the eighteenth century. It was famous for its mulmul and jamdani weaving.
• Cluster of cotton weaving centres was concentrated along the Coromandel Coast stretching from Madras to northern Andhra Pradesh.
• On the western coast there were important weaving centres in Gujarat

5. Why handloom weaving did not completely die in India?

Answer: Handloom weaving did not completely die in India.

• This was because some types of cloths could not be supplied by machines. For example, machines could not produce saris with intricate borders or cloths with traditional woven patterns. These had a wide demand not only amongst the rich but also amongst the middle classes.
• Nor did the textile manufacturers in Britain produce the very coarse cloths used by the poor people in India.
• Sholapur in western India and Madura in South India emerged as important new centres of weaving in the late nineteenth century.
• Later, during the national movement, Mahatma Gandhi urged people to boycott imported textiles and use hand-spun and handwoven cloth. Khadi gradually became a symbol of nationalism.

6. How did the development of cotton industries in Britain affect textile producers in India?

Answer: The development of cotton industries in Britain affected textile producers in India in several ways.

• Indian textiles now had to compete with British textiles in the European and American markets.
• Exporting textiles to England also became increasingly difficult since very high duties were imposed on Indian textiles imported into Britain.
• By the beginning of the nineteenth century, English made cotton textiles successfully ousted Indian goods from their traditional markets in Africa, America and Europe.
• Thousands of weavers in India were now thrown out of employment. Bengal weavers were the worst hit.
• By the 1830s British cotton cloth flooded Indian markets. This affected not only specialist weavers but also spinners.

7. How do the names of different textiles tell us about their histories?

Answer: It is interesting to trace the names of different textiles as it tells us about their histories.

Muslin – European traders first encountered fine cotton cloth from India carried by Arab merchants in Mosul in present-day Iraq. So they began referring to all finely woven textiles as “muslin”.

Calico – When the Portuguese first came to India in search of spices they landed in Calicut on the Kerala coast in south-west India. The cotton textiles which they took back to Europe, along with the spices, came to be called “calico” (derived from Calicut), and subsequently calico became the general name for all cotton textiles.

Chintz – It is derived from the Hindi word chhint, a cloth with small and colourful flowery designs.

Bandanna – The word bandanna now refers to any brightly coloured and printed scarf for the neck or head. Originally, the term derived from the word “bandhna” (Hindi for tying), and referred to a variety of brightly coloured cloth produced through a method of tying and dying.

8. Why did the Indian iron smelting industry decline in the nineteenth century?

Answer: Indian iron smelting industry began to decline in the nineteenth century due to the following reasons:

• The new forest law colonial government prevented people from entering the reserved forests. Thus, the iron smelters were not able to find wood for charcoal and iron ore for producing iron.
• Defying forest laws, they often entered the forests secretly and collected wood, but they could not sustain their occupation on this basis for long. Many gave up their craft and looked for other means of livelihood.
• In some areas the government did grant access to the forest. But the iron smelters had to pay a very high tax to the forest department for every furnace they used. This reduced their income.
• Moreover, by the late nineteenth century iron and steel was being imported from Britain. Ironsmiths in India began using the imported iron to manufacture utensils and implements. This inevitably lowered the demand for iron produced by local smelters.