NCERT Solutions for Class 8 History Chapter 1 – How When and Where

NCERT Solutions for Class 8 History Chapter 1 – How, When and Where (Social Science), contains solutions to various questions in Exercise for Chapter 1. At the end of the Solutions, all the keywords and Notes which are important to understand From How, When and Where Class 8 History, have been explained in a simple and easy to understand manner. NCERT Solutions for Class 8 Social Science help to check the concept you have learnt from detailed classroom sessions and application of your knowledge.

Category NCERT Solutions for Class 8
Subject History (Social Science)
Chapter Chapter 1 – How, When and Where (Social Science)

Download NCERT Solutions for Class 8 History Chapter 1 – How, When and Where

NCERT Solutions for Class 8 History Chapter 1 – How, When and Where – NCERT Exercises

Question 1:-

State whether true or false –

(a) James Mill divided Indian history into three periods – Hindu, Muslim, Christian.

(b) Official documents help us understand what the people of the country think.

(c) The British thought surveys were important for effective administration.

Answer 1: –

(a) False

(b) False

(c) True




Question 2:-

What is the problem with the periodisation of Indian history that James Mill offers?

Answer 2 :-

With the periodization of Indian History into Hindu, Muslim and British period, James Mill tried to emphasize that

i) India before the advent of Britishers, were ruled by Hindu and Muslim despots.

ii) Division on the basis of religion reveals the religious intolerance, superstition practices and caste taboos that enslaved India.

iii) Indians were living in the dark and the British Rule was a ray of light for them.

Thus, he tried to justify the British Rule in India by claiming that introducing European manners, arts, institutions and laws in India would civilize the barbaric Indians. However, characterizing an age only through the religion of the rulers of the time is not correct. To do so is to suggest that the lives and practices of common people do not really matter. A variety of faiths existed simultaneously and there was no communal atmosphere as such. It presents Indian history in a narrow perspective. The periodization of James Mill is therefore biased and erroneous.

Question 3:-

Why did the British preserve official documents?

Answer 3:-

The official documents were very crucial source of information for the British Empire. They contained day to day details of their administration. They preserved them so that later their policies and documents could be retrieved, studied and debated It also led to a healthy administrative culture of memos, notings and report writing.

Question 4:-.

How will the information historians get from old newspapers be different from that found in police reports?

Answer 4 :-

The information which a historian derives from an old newspaper and a police report will be different in a number of ways because they have a different perspective and purpose for writing the information. The police intend to keep record for official procedures. Therefore they would mention more facts and narratives. The information derived from police reports may contain only those significant details that fulfill their official needs. A reporter’s job however is to explain the readers how and why the event occurred in the light of the facts. His report would focus on overall analysis of the information highlighting the causes, minute details, conclusions and relevance of the information.

Question 5:-

Can you think of examples of surveys in your world today? Think about how toy companies get information about what young people enjoy playing with or how the government finds out about the number of young people in school. What can a historian derive from such surveys?

Answer 5 :-

Surveys are carried out to assess thoughts, opinion, feelings of the people at the grass root level. There are many interesting types of surveys undertaken in our world today like percentage of people who wash their hands, number of students who study one day before ēxam etc.

Toy companies would carry out surveys among children to find out about their choices, likes and fantasies etc. They collect this information and accordingly design products for Kids.

The authorities at the local, state, regional and national level maintain records of the government and private schools. It would form the analysis from gathering information from these sources.

A Historian can derive formal and informal information of a particular period, class, region, gender, age group etc. by studying these surveys. It would provide him with clear facts to understand the past.




Topics Covered in Chapter 1 – How, When and Where Class 8 History (Social Science)

  • How Important are Dates?
  • Which dates?
  • How do we periodise?
  • What is colonial?
  • Administration produces records
  • Surveys become important
  • What official records do not tell

Important Terms Relevant for NCERT Solutions for Class 8 History Chapter 1 – How, When and Where :

Colonisation: The process of subjugation of one country by another for political, economic, social and cultural interests is referred as colonisation.

Source: In History, source refers to any piece of written or physical material that supplies information about the past.

Archive: A place in which public records or historical materials are preserved.

Calligraphists: People specialized in the art of beautiful writing are known as caliigraphists.

NCERT Solutions for Class 8 History (Social Science)

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