NCERT Solutions for Class 9 Social Science History Chapter 6 Peasants and Farmers

NCERT Solutions for Class 9 Social Science History Chapter 6 Peasants and Farmers

Textbook Exercises

Question 1.
Explain briefly what the open field system meant to rural people in eighteenth-century England.
Look at the system from the point of view of:
(i) A rich farmer
(ii) A labourer
(iii) A peasant women.
Answer:
(i) A Rich Farmer—
The open field system, as it prevailed in the 18th century England meant for a rich farmer to cultivate on its own allotted strip, everyone having his own, a mix of good and bad land:

(ii) A Labourer—
A labourer looked at the open field system as a wage-earner. He would get the value of his labour without being exploited.

(iii) A Peasant Woman—
The peasant woman, in the open field system, would help the peasant, worked for him in the household, collected fuelwood for fire, and. fruit for food.

Question 2.
Explain briefly the factors which led to the enclosures in England.
Answer:
The following are some of the factors which led to the enclosures in England.

  1. When the price of wool Went up in the world market in the sixteenth century, rich farmers Wanted to expand wool production to earn profits.
  2. The rich farmers thought that the improved breeding of sheep would help them earn more profit. So they drought the compact blocks of land were more profitable.
  3. Dividing and: enclosing the common land and building hedges around their holdings were measures that made enclosures possible.
  4. Rich farmers drove out the poor villagers who had small cottages on the common land, preparing, ground for the enclosures.

Question 3.
Why were the threshing machines opposed by the poor in England?
Answer:
The poor in England were opposed to the use of threshing machines because they would, oust them of their jobs, and create, in the process, unemployment.

Question 4.
Who was Captain Swing? What did the name symbolise or represent?
Answer:
Captain Swing was a mythic name. The name symbolised or represented a leader who was opposed to the use of threshing machines, in wheat production. As the threshing machines would throw thousands of poor peasants and labourers out of job, Captain Swing and his rioters used violence to show their anger and opposition for the threshing machines.

Question 5.
What was the impact of the westward Expansion of settlers in the USA?
Answer:
The impact of the westward expansion of settlers in the USA was very significance. As. the: settlers moved westward, they established control up to the west coast, and in the process, drove and displaced the local tribes, carving the entire landscape into different agricultural belts. As a result of these agricultural belts, the US-dominated the world market in agricultural produce.

Question 6.
What were the advantages and disadvantages of the use of mechanical harvesting machines in the USA?
Answer:
Advantages :
By the mechanical harvesting machines, used in the USA, about 500 acres of wheat of could b’e harvested in two week’s time. These also helped the farmers to clear large tracts, break up the soil, remove the grass and prepare the ground for cultivation. With power-driven machinery, four men could plough, seed and harvest 2000 to 4000 acres of wheat in a season,

Disadvantages :
Such machines meant misery for the poorer farmers. The poorer farmers bought these machines on credit; they could not pay back the loan as the prices of the wheat did not rise as they had expected. They had to desert their small farms and looked for jobs elsewhere. Thus, for poorer peasants, these machines were a liability.

Question 7.
What lessons can we draw from the conversion of the countryside in the USA from a bread basket to a dust bowl?
Answer:
The conversion of the countryside in the USA from a bread basket to a dust bowl give us numerous lessons. Some of these are:

  1. The entire landscape should not have ploughed over. It was precisely this that brought in black blizzards.
  2. Expansion of wheat production should not have been a ground to uproot all vegetation, breaking thus the sod into dust.
  3. The ecological conditions should be respected, or else the nature responds, responds very heavily as it did in the US, turning a land of plenty into a nightmare.

Question 8.
Write a paragraph on why the British insisted on fanners growing opium in India.
Answer:
Opium trade with China was profitable for the English East India. Such a trade, for the British, meant huge profits.

The returns from opium sale, financed the. tea purchases in China. Hence, the British wanted Indian cultivators to grow opium. But it was unprofitable for the cultivators in India to grow opium.

Question 9.
Why were the Indian farmers reluctant to grow opium?
Answer:
The prices given to the peasants for the purchase of opium were so low that the peasants thought it unprofitable to grow opium. The colonial government, on the other hand, wanted to give The peasants as minimum as possible and seek as maximum a price as was possible.

These Solutions are part of NCERT Solutions for Class 9 Social Science. Here we have given NCERT Solutions for Class 9 Social Science History Chapter 6 Peasants and Farmers.

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