CHAPTER 4: The Colonial Era in India
Q1. What is colonialism?
A. The practice of one country taking control of another region and imposing its systems
B. The practice of establishing democratic governments in every country
C. The process of developing local industries without foreign involvement
D. The system of sharing political power equally among all nations
Answer: A. The practice of one country taking control of another region and imposing its systems
Q2. Which period is generally associated with the Age of Colonialism?
A. The 5th century onward
B. The 15th century onward
C. The 10th century onward
D. The 20th century onward
Answer: B. The 15th century onward
Q3. Which of the following was a major motivation behind European colonial expansion?
A. Ending international trade
B. Reducing political influence
C. Gaining natural resources, markets and trade routes
D. Promoting the independence of colonised countries
Answer: C. Gaining natural resources, markets and trade routes
Q4. Which European countries were among the major colonial powers mentioned in the chapter?
A. India, China and Japan
B. Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet
C. Thailand, Korea and Mongolia
D. Spain, Portugal, Britain, France and the Netherlands
Answer: D. Spain, Portugal, Britain, France and the Netherlands
Q5. What did colonial rulers often claim was their mission in colonised countries?
A. To bring civilisation and progress
B. To end all international communication
C. To prevent the development of technology
D. To establish complete local independence
Answer: A. To bring civilisation and progress
Q6. Which of the following was a consequence of colonial rule for many colonised people?
A. Complete freedom from foreign interference
B. Loss of independence and exploitation of resources
C. The immediate disappearance of poverty
D. Equal economic benefits for colonisers and colonised people
Answer: B. Loss of independence and exploitation of resources
Q7. According to the chapter, when did colonialism decline rapidly across much of the world?
A. During the 16th century
B. During the 18th century
C. During the mid-20th century, especially after World War II
D. During the early 15th century
Answer: C. During the mid-20th century, especially after World War II
Q8. Which of the following Indian goods was highly sought after in international trade before European colonial expansion?
A. Only European manufactured machinery
B. Only imported paper
C. Only petroleum products
D. Spices, cotton, ivory, gems and sandalwood
Answer: D. Spices, cotton, ivory, gems and sandalwood
Q9. According to historical estimates discussed in the chapter, approximately what share of world GDP did India contribute during the period before European colonial expansion?
A. At least one-fourth
B. About one-tenth
C. About one-fiftieth
D. Less than one-hundredth
Answer: A. At least one-fourth
Q10. Which European navigator arrived at Kappad near Kozhikode in May 1498?
A. Christopher Columbus
B. Vasco da Gama
C. Ferdinand Magellan
D. James Cook
Answer: B. Vasco da Gama
Q11. Which European power established its early colonial presence in India through Vasco da Gama’s arrival?
A. The Dutch
B. The French
C. The Portuguese
D. The British
Answer: C. The Portuguese
Q12. Which Indian coastal city became the capital of the Portuguese colony in India after its capture in 1510?
A. Surat
B. Calcutta
C. Madras
D. Goa
Answer: D. Goa
Q13. What was the Portuguese system called that required ships in the Arabian Sea to purchase navigation permits?
A. Cartaz
B. Subsidiary alliance
C. Doctrine of Lapse
D. Permanent Settlement
Answer: A. Cartaz
Q14. What was the main purpose of the Portuguese cartaz system?
A. To provide free navigation to every ship
B. To control maritime trade and strengthen their naval dominance
C. To encourage Indian ships to avoid all ports
D. To establish village self-government
Answer: B. To control maritime trade and strengthen their naval dominance
Q15. What was the Inquisition established by the Portuguese in Goa in 1560?
A. A council for collecting agricultural revenue
B. A court for resolving disputes between merchants only
C. A tribunal that persecuted people suspected of opposing Church doctrine
D. An institution for training Indian soldiers
Answer: C. A tribunal that persecuted people suspected of opposing Church doctrine
Q16. Who was Rani Abbakka I?
A. A Mughal queen who ruled Delhi
B. A French governor of Pondicherry
C. A British official in Bengal
D. A ruler of Ullal who resisted Portuguese attempts to capture her territory
Answer: D. A ruler of Ullal who resisted Portuguese attempts to capture her territory
Q17. Which European power focused primarily on commercial dominance, particularly in the spice trade, after arriving in India in the early 17th century?
A. The Dutch
B. The Spanish
C. The British Crown
D. The French
Answer: A. The Dutch
Q18. Which Indian ruler defeated the Dutch at the Battle of Colachel in 1741?
A. Tipu Sultan
B. King Marthanda Varma of Travancore
C. Shivaji Maharaj
D. Siraj-ud-daulah
Answer: B. King Marthanda Varma of Travancore
Q19. Where did the French establish a trading post in 1668 before establishing another at Pondicherry in 1674?
A. Bombay
B. Calcutta
C. Surat
D. Delhi
Answer: C. Surat
Q20. Which French governor-general trained Indian soldiers in European military techniques and developed the strategy of indirect rule through puppet rulers?
A. Robert Clive
B. Vasco da Gama
C. Warren Hastings
D. Dupleix
Answer: D. Dupleix
Q21. Which series of conflicts between Britain and France took place from 1746 to 1763?
A. The Carnatic Wars
B. The Anglo-Maratha Wars
C. The Anglo-Mysore Wars
D. The Anglo-Sikh Wars
Answer: A. The Carnatic Wars
Q22. Which company was initially established by the English as a trading company and later became a major political and military power in India?
A. Dutch East India Company
B. English East India Company
C. French East India Company
D. Portuguese East India Company
Answer: B. English East India Company
Q23. Which English monarch granted the English East India Company its royal charter?
A. Queen Victoria
B. Queen Mary I
C. Queen Elizabeth I
D. Queen Anne
Answer: C. Queen Elizabeth I
Q24. Which of the following was one of the early British trading footholds in India?
A. Kathmandu
B. Thimphu
C. Lhasa
D. Surat
Answer: D. Surat
Q25. What does the policy of “divide and rule” mean in the context of British colonialism?
A. Exploiting divisions and rivalries among Indian rulers and communities
B. Giving every Indian ruler equal political authority
C. Ending all conflicts between regional kingdoms
D. Allowing every Indian state to control British foreign policy
Answer: A. Exploiting divisions and rivalries among Indian rulers and communities
Q26. Who was the Nawab of Bengal during the Battle of Plassey in 1757?
A. Mir Jafar
B. Siraj-ud-daulah
C. Shah Alam II
D. Bahadur Shah Zafar
Answer: B. Siraj-ud-daulah
Q27. Which British East India Company official conspired with Mir Jafar before the Battle of Plassey?
A. Lord Dalhousie
B. Lord Lytton
C. Robert Clive
D. Thomas B. Macaulay
Answer: C. Robert Clive
Q28. Why was Mir Jafar’s role important in the British victory at Plassey?
A. He led the French forces against the British.
B. He prevented the British from entering Bengal.
C. He transferred the British army to Delhi.
D. His forces stood aside during the battle, helping the British win.
Answer: D. His forces stood aside during the battle, helping the British win.
Q29. What was the Doctrine of Lapse?
A. A policy under which a princely state could be annexed if its ruler died without a natural male heir
B. A policy that granted complete independence to every princely state
C. A law that prohibited British officials from collecting taxes
D. A system for electing village councils
Answer: A. A policy under which a princely state could be annexed if its ruler died without a natural male heir
Q30. What was a subsidiary alliance?
A. An agreement that ended British military involvement in India
B. An arrangement under which Indian rulers maintained British troops and surrendered control over foreign relations
C. A system that gave Indian rulers control over British foreign policy
D. An agreement that abolished all princely states immediately
Answer: B. An arrangement under which Indian rulers maintained British troops and surrendered control over foreign relations
Q31. Which princely state’s ruler was among the first to enter a subsidiary alliance in 1798?
A. Mysore
B. Travancore
C. Hyderabad
D. Jhansi
Answer: C. Hyderabad
Q32. What was one major consequence of the East India Company’s harsh revenue collection policies in Bengal during 1770–1772?
A. A permanent end to agricultural difficulties
B. A rapid increase in the population
C. The immediate disappearance of food shortages
D. A catastrophic famine that killed an estimated 10 million people
Answer: D. A catastrophic famine that killed an estimated 10 million people
Q33. What was one major reason the Bengal famine of 1770 became so devastating?
A. High cash-tax demands continued despite crop failures and poor harvests
B. The Company completely stopped collecting land revenue
C. All agricultural land was converted into forests
D. Farmers were exempted from every tax
Answer: A. High cash-tax demands continued despite crop failures and poor harvests
Q34. Which British viceroy organised an extravagant durbar in Delhi during the Great Famine of 1876–1878?
A. Lord Curzon
B. Lord Lytton
C. Lord Dalhousie
D. Lord Mountbatten
Answer: B. Lord Lytton
Q35. Which Indian political figure wrote Poverty and Un-British Rule in India in 1901?
A. Romesh Chunder Dutt
B. William Digby
C. Dadabhai Naoroji
D. Charles Metcalfe
Answer: C. Dadabhai Naoroji
Q36. What did the “drain of India’s wealth” refer to?
A. The construction of irrigation canals in villages
B. The transfer of British wealth into Indian villages
C. The development of Indian-owned industries
D. The extraction and transfer of India’s wealth to Britain
Answer: D. The extraction and transfer of India’s wealth to Britain
Q37. Which Indian textile industry was particularly damaged by British colonial economic policies?
A. The cotton textile industry
B. The modern automobile industry
C. The computer manufacturing industry
D. The petroleum refining industry
Answer: A. The cotton textile industry
Q38. How did British trade policies harm Indian textile producers?
A. They banned all British manufactured goods from India.
B. They imposed heavy duties on Indian textiles entering Britain while allowing British goods into India with minimal tariffs.
C. They provided unlimited financial support to Indian weavers.
D. They prevented British traders from selling textiles in India.
Answer: B. They imposed heavy duties on Indian textiles entering Britain while allowing British goods into India with minimal tariffs.
Q39. What happened to many skilled Indian artisans as indigenous industries declined?
A. They became rulers of princely states.
B. They gained complete control over international shipping.
C. Many were impoverished and forced to return to subsistence agriculture.
D. They were all appointed to senior British administrative posts.
Answer: C. Many were impoverished and forced to return to subsistence agriculture.
Q40. What was the main purpose of replacing traditional village governance with a centralised British bureaucracy?
A. To strengthen independent village councils
B. To give every village complete control over foreign policy
C. To restore all traditional legal practices without changes
D. To facilitate tax collection and maintain colonial order
Answer: D. To facilitate tax collection and maintain colonial order
Q41. Which British official described Indian village communities as “little republics”?
A. Charles Metcalfe
B. Robert Clive
C. Lord Lytton
D. Thomas B. Macaulay
Answer: A. Charles Metcalfe
Q42. Which British politician wrote the Minute on Indian Education in 1835?
A. William Bentinck
B. Thomas B. Macaulay
C. Dadabhai Naoroji
D. Romesh Chunder Dutt
Answer: B. Thomas B. Macaulay
Q43. What was one objective of the British education policy described in the chapter?
A. To eliminate every form of government administration
B. To ensure that all education remained exclusively in traditional institutions
C. To create a class of Indians who could serve British administrative interests
D. To prevent Indians from learning English
Answer: C. To create a class of Indians who could serve British administrative interests
Q44. What was one major purpose of building the railway network in colonial India?
A. To end all trade between Indian regions
B. To provide free transport to every Indian
C. To replace every existing road and waterway
D. To transport raw materials to ports, distribute British goods and move troops
Answer: D. To transport raw materials to ports, distribute British goods and move troops
Q45. Who traditionally participated in the Sannyasi-Fakir Rebellion that began in Bengal after the famine of 1770?
A. Hindu sannyasis and Muslim fakirs
B. Only British soldiers
C. Only French merchants
D. Only Mughal court officials
Answer: A. Hindu sannyasis and Muslim fakirs
Q46. What was one major cause of tribal uprisings under British rule?
A. The complete restoration of tribal land rights
B. Restrictions on forests, loss of land, cash taxes and disruption of traditional life
C. The abolition of all colonial laws
D. The transfer of every forest to tribal councils
Answer: B. Restrictions on forests, loss of land, cash taxes and disruption of traditional life
Q47. Who led the Santhal Rebellion of 1855–1856?
A. Mangal Pandey and Nana Sahib
B. Rani Lakshmibai and Tantia Tope
C. Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu
D. Begum Hazrat Mahal and Bahadur Shah Zafar
Answer: C. Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu
Q48. Which event was one of the earliest signs of major discontent among Indian sepoys before the 1857 Rebellion?
A. Battle of Colachel
B. Battle of Plassey
C. Battle of Panipat
D. Vellore Mutiny of 1806
Answer: D. Vellore Mutiny of 1806
Q49. Which sepoy attacked British officers at Barrackpore in 1857?
A. Mangal Pandey
B. Mir Jafar
C. Kanhoji Angre
D. Sidhu Murmu
Answer: A. Mangal Pandey
Q50. Which statement best summarises the impact of British colonial rule in India, as described in the chapter?
A. Colonial rule strengthened every indigenous industry and ended poverty.
B. Colonial rule extracted wealth, damaged industries, changed traditional institutions and faced repeated resistance.
C. Colonial rule had no effect on education, trade or governance.
D. Colonial rule immediately gave every Indian region political independence.
Answer: B. Colonial rule extracted wealth, damaged industries, changed traditional institutions and faced repeated resistance.
