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NCERT Solutions for Class 9 History chapter 6 – Peasants and Farmers

Back Exercise

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:
(a) A rich farmer:
Ans. The open field system was not beneficial to the rich farmer because he could not have exclusive control of the commons. He could not expand his area under cultivation beyond the strips which were allocated at the beginning of the year.
(b) A labourer:
Ans. This system was beneficial to labourer because it provided additional sources of livelihood. The labourer could hunt rabbits and catch fish for getting some nutritious food. The commons provided some source of livelihood during off seasons when farm work was not available. They pastured their cows and grazed their sheep.
(c) A peasant woman:
Ans. For a peasant woman, the commons provided ample space for collecting firewood, fruits and berries.

Question 2.
Explain briefly the factors which led to the enclosures in England.
Answer:
The factors which led to the enclosures in England were:
(a) Increasing population and due to it increasing demand for food grains and other things led to the enclosure in England.
(b) The rising prices of agricultural products such as wool, wheat, milk, fruits etc. also played a role in promoting enclosures in England.
(c) Industrialisation and war needs made foodgrain prices soar, making it necessary to take steps to increase its production.
(d) In the nineteenth-century, enclosures were seen necessary to make long-term investments on land and plan crop rotations to improve the soil.
(e) Enclosures also allowed the richer landowners to expand the land under their control and produce for the market.

Question 3.
Why were threshing machines opposed by the poor in England?
Answer:
Threshing machines reduced the need for manual labour. After the end of Napoleonic Wars, many soldiers who came back to villages could not find jobs because of threshing machines. For them, the threshing machine was a symbol of joblessness and hence they opposed the threshing machines.

Question 4.
Who was Captain Swing? What did the name symbolise or represent?
Answer:
Captain Swing was a mythical person. During the riots, the letters seeking to destroy threshing machines and farm houses left by the rioters-carried the signature of Captain Swing. The name symbolised the protest of poor against the rich farmers and against the new technology.

Question 5.
What was the impact of the westward expansion of settlers in the USA?
Answer:
The following was the impact of the westward expansion of the settlers in the USA.
(a) The westward expansion of the settlers led to displacement of local tribes. They were driven beyond river Mississippi and further west.
(b) The settlers began agriculture on an extensive scale. They slashed and burnt forests, pulled out the stumps, cleared the land for cultivation and built log cabing in the forest clearings. Then they cleared larger areas and erected fences around the fields. They ploughed the land and sowed corn and wheat. Thus, agriculture was undertaken at the expense of grasslands and forests.
(c) The settlers continued moving further west to explore new land and raise a new crop. After the 1860s, the settlers reached the Great Plains across the River Mississippi. They started growing wheat and soon turned this region into a major wheat producing area of America.

Question 6.
What were the advantages and disadvantages of the use of mechanical harvesting machines in the USA?
Answer:
The advantages of the use of mechanical harvesting machines in the USA were:
(a) The price of wheat was high and demand limitless. These new machines allowed farmers to quickly clear tracts, break up the soil, remove the grass and prepare the ground for cultivation.
(b) The work could be done within a shorter time period and with a lesser number of labourers.
(c) With power-driven machinery, four men could plough, seed and harvest 2,000 to 4,000 acres of wheat in a season.
However there were some disadvantages for the poorer farmers too.
(a) They were thrown out of their jobs and they lost their means of livelihood.
(b) Many of them bought this machine too but it adversely affected them as the machines were expensive and once the demand crossed its limit there was enough surplus grain in the market.
(c) Thus, farmers needed to pay back the loan they had taken from banks to buy these machines, and the farmers had no money.

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 US countryside from a bread basket to a dust bowl teaches the importance of conservation of the ecosystem. Human development cannot take place at the cost of natural environment. We need to respect the nature and maintain its form in every possible way.

Question 8.
Write a paragraph on why the British insisted on farmers growing opium in India.
Answer:
The British were heavily dependent on China for tea imports. Since the Chinese authority did not allow foreign goods, so the British had to pay for tea in silver and bullions. This had the potential danger of empting off the treasure of Britain. Opium was sought to be the commodity that could be easily smuggled into China. Profits from opium trade could thus be utilised to finance the tea imports. Therefore, the British insisted on farmers in India to grow opium.

Question 9.
Why were Indian farmers reluctant to grow opium?
Answer:
The Indian farmers were reluctant to grow opium due to the following reasons.
(a) The crop had to be grown on the best land, on fields that lay near the villages and were well manured.
(b) This land was usually used for growing pulses. If opium was grown on fertile and well manured land then pulses would have to be grown on less fertile land and yield would not be good in quality as well as quantity.
(c) The cultivation of opium was difficult and time-consuming as the plants required looking after. As a consequence, the cultivators would not have time to look after their other produce.
(d) The farmers had to pay the rent for their land to the landlords. This rent was very high. The cultivators owned no land.
(e) Finally, the price the government paid for the opium produce was very low and would leave the farmers with no profits.

In-Text Questions

Page 120

Activity 1 Look at the graph carefully. See how the price line moves up sharply in the 1790s and slumps dramatically after 1815.Can you explain why the line of the graph shows this pattern?

Answer 1) During the 1790s, due to the industrial revolution, a large number of people migrated from the villages to the towns in search of jobs. For survival there, they had to buy food grains from the market. Due to this increased demand, the prices of food grains grew rapidly.

Another factor increasing the prices was the fact that England was at war with France from near the end of the 18th century and so food grain imports from Europe were drastically reduced. This made the agriculturists in England cover more land for growing grains, to increase their profits.

However, after the Napoleonic wars ended in 1815, the food grains started flowing in from Europe again. Together with the increased production in England itself, it caused a glut, thus depressing the prices substantially.

On Page 122

Question 1. What happened to the women and children? Cow keeping, collection of firewood, gleaning, gathering of fruits and berries from the common lands was earlier mostly done by women and children. Can you suggest how enclosures must have affected the lives of women and children? Can you imagine how the disappearance of common lands might have changed the relationship between men, women and children within the family?

Answer When the landlords erected these enclosures, the women and children could not carry out their traditional activities listed here. They could only do so against suitable payment, but as they were very poor, they could not do so.

Due to the disappearance of common lands, the traditional relationships in the families were drastically affected. Probably, the following problems would have occurred

(i) The men would become stressful due to being not able to feed the family properly. They would quarrel with other family members while trying to justify themselves.

(ii) The women would be trying to do odd jobs to earn some money and so neglecting their traditional family duties. They would also quarrel with other members of the family.

(iii) The children would be the most affected, as they would not get the nutrition desired. They may become ill-mannered and may also resort to stealing food items to satisfy their hunger.

Page 123

Activity 1. Read Sources C and D and answer the following.

(a) What is the peasant trying to say in Source C?

Answer He is trying to say that the law is one-sided, only favouring the rich farmers, who have taken over the commons. A poor man can be hanged for stealing one sheep, whereas the rich landlords have taken over the common land in which the poor were earlier grazing their large numbers of sheep.

The rich farmers were not being penalised for taking over the commons, although they deprived the poor men’s sheep of fodder. He was protesting against the unjust laws.

(b) What is John Middleton arguing?

Answer John Middleton is arguing in favour of the rich farmers. He says that before the law regarding enclosures was enacted, the farmer could not make improvements in the soil, as other people were also using the same land. Now, when it is enclosed, he can make whatever changes he desires to improve the agricultural yield and thus increase his profits.

(c) Re-read from Section 1.1 to 1.4 and summarise the two sides of the argument for and against open fields. Which argument do you sympathise with?

Answer The main argument for open fields is that they are open to all for doing whatever they wanted, thus benefiting everybody. The main argument against open fields is that the land could not be improved for increasing the yield by anyone who wanted to do it.

He would have to abide by the majority opinion of all who were using the land. I would definitely sympathise with the people who wanted open fields, as they benefited everyone equally, without giving excess profit to one person at the expense of all other users.

Page 132

Activity 1. On the arrows in the map indicate the commodities that flowed from one country to another.

Answer The commodities flowing are as given below :

(i) From India to China: Opium.

(ii) From China to England: Tea and silk.

(iii) From India to England: Sugarcane, cotton, jute, wheat and other crops.

(iv) From England to India: Manufactured goods.

Page 137

Activities

Activity 1. Draw a timeline from 1650 to 1930 showing the significant agricultural changes which you have read about in this chapter.

Answer

Timeline of Agricultural Changes

Activity 2 Fill in the following table with the events outlined in this chapter. Remember, there could be more than one change in a country.

Answer