NCERT Solutions for Class 8 History Chapter 6

NCERT Solutions for Class 8 History Chapter 6 – Weavers, Iron Smelters and Factory Owners (Social Science), contains solutions to various questions in Exercise for Chapter 6. At the end of the Solutions, all the keywords and Notes which are important to understand From Weavers, Iron Smelters and Factory Owners 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 6 – Weavers, Iron Smelters and Factory Owners

Download NCERT Solutions for Class 8 History Chapter 6 – Weavers, Iron Smelters and Factory Owners

NCERT Solutions for Class 8 History Chapter 6 – Weavers, Iron Smelters and Factory Owners– NCERT Exercises

Question 1:-

What kinds of cloth had a large market in Europe?

Answer 1:-

  • Europe was found to be India’s prospective market for selling its silk and cotton textiles.
  • The Indian cotton textiles seemed to have a finer texture in contrast to other cotton textiles and the floral designs printed over them grabbed the attention of the buyers..
  • The printed cotton textiles included chintz, bandana and cossaes which were highly demanded by the people of Europe..
  • These were also obtainable at a comparatively cheaper rate than the others which made them more consumer-friendly to buy.

Question 2:-

What is jamdani?

Answer 2:-

  • Jamdani is the name given to fine muslin which was ornamented by interlacing motifs over them.
  • These motifs usually were in white and grey colours and were woven using gold and cotton threads.
  • The most noticeable centres for jamdani weaving included Lucknow in the United provinces and Dacca in Bengal.

Question 3:-

What is bandanna?

Answer 3:-

  • The term ‘bandanna’ has derived from the word “bandhna’’ which means “to tie” in hindi.
  • The bandannas were cotton textiles which possessed bright and vibrant colours. The process of tying and dying were used to produce them.
  • The term bandanna now refers to bright printed scarves which one wears over the head or neck.

Question 4:-

Who are the Agaria?

Answer 4:-

  • The Agaria were a community encompassing iron-smelters.
  • Towards the end of nineteenth century, Central India was hit by a series of massive famines which hit the Agaria community hard and they had to put a halt to their work as a consequence.
  • The iron-smelters were forced to leave their villages in which they earlier vested in and had to migrate in order to look for new work opportunities.

Question 5:-

Fill in the blanks:

(a) The word chintz comes from the word _________.

(b) Tipu’s sword was made of_________ steel.

(c) India’s textile exports declined in the _________ century.

Answer 5:-

Fill in the blanks:

(a) The word chintz comes from the word chhint.

(b) Tipu’s sword was made ofwootz steel.

(c) India’s textile exports declined in the nineteenth century.




Question 6:-

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

Answer 6:-

The names of different textiles are suggestive of their histories:

  • ‘Muslin’denoted all the textiles which were intertwined with a fine texture and pattern. The word was given by the traders of Europe who encountered the fine textured cotton clothes and carried it to Mosul (which is the present day Iraq) with  the help of merchants of Arabia.
  • ‘Calico’ derived from the word ‘Calicut’ which is indicative of the name of the place where the Portuguese first landed in India on the Kerela coast in search of spices.
  • ‘Chintz’ derives from the hindi word ‘Chhint’. The word referred to a cloth possessing small and vibrant designs of printed flowers which made them attractive in the European market.
  • ‘Bandanna’ derived from the word “bandhna”.The word literally refers to‘tying’in hindi language.The bandannas were cotton cloths which possessed bright and vibrant colours. The techniques of tying and dying were used to produce them.
  • Several cloths came to be knownby the places in which they originated.These included ones sourced from places such as Kasimbazar, Patna, Orissa, Calcutta and Charpoore.

Question 7:-

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

Answer 7:-

  • The wool and silk producers of England began feeling threatened by the import of Indian textiles as they were emerging out to be as extremely popular in the European markets in the early eighteenth century.
  • During the early eighteenth century, England experienced the burgeoningof its own textile industries. Competition from Indian textiles would shower upon them harsh consequences as they were aware of it having a better texture tagged along a lower price.
  • Thus, in order to secure their markets from this cut-throat competition, the protests against import of Indian textiles began.

Question 8:-

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

Answer 8:-

The development of cotton industries in Britain affected the Indian textile producers in several harsh ways:

  • The burgeoning of cotton textile industry in England meant increased competition for the Indian textiles. They now had to cope up with the competition which started to triumph in both American as well as the European markets themselves.
  • To make the British textiles more pocket friendly and hence consumer friendly, the Indian textiles were imposed high duties over. This rendered the Indian textiles to be expensive in comparison to their own ones and hence the demand for them faced a decline.
  • The Indian textile producers faced a gigantic wave of unemployment as the demand for their products had significantly declined in the markets which they primarily dealt in including the markets of Africa, America and Europe.
  • The conditions of the Indian textile weavers further worsened when they had little scope of operation left in the markets of their own country by the 1830s.

Question 9:-

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

Answer 9:-

The craft of iron smelting experienced a deterioration by the late nineteenth century due to several reasons:

  • The iron smelters could not meritoriously procure iron ore and wood for charcoal after a ban was imposed over their entries into reserved forests by the issue of new forest laws. Even if they managed to somehow enter these forests by staying out of sight of the authorities, it was a risky affair and they could not sustain their business over the same for a long period.
  • The government did grant access of certain forests to the people but charged from them for every furnace that they used in the forests. This was in the form of extremely high taxes which were to be paid by the iron smelters to the forest department. The earnings of these iron smelters were not so high as to bear such a massive cost.
  • The demand for iron which was produced by the local smelters of India gradually faced a decline after Iron and steel were initiated to be imported from Britain in the country. This took place by the late nineteenth century whereby the ironsmiths started to use these imported raw materials for their daily operations rather than opting for their home-country produced iron.
  • Central India was also exposed to a series of harsh famines in the late nineteenth century post which many communities of iron smelters such as the Agarias had to restrict their occupation.

Question 10:-

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

Answer 10:-

The Indian textile industry faced a number of problems in the early years of its development they are as follows:

  • The British textile industry selected more modern capital-intensive techniques of production wherein they could produce cloth in enormous quantities with a lower per-unit cost.
  • The colonial government prevalent in India denied provision of protection to the local industries of the country and did not take any measure to safeguard them against the massive competition. The governments of other countries however took steps to protect their industries, especially the infant ones, allowing them to develop. They imposed heavy duties over imports of textiles from other countries which made their products expensive and reduced their demand.
  • The Indian textiles were exposed to a loss of its primary markets in which they dealt in textiles. These included the markets of Africa, America and Europe. A reduction in demand in these markets meant a massive decline in the opportunities and incomes of Indian textile producers.

Question 11:-

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

Answer 11:-

  • The Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) began its production of steel in the year 1912. With the first World War breaking out in 1914, the demand for steel saw a gigantic hike.
  • The steel produced in Britain now had to cope up with the demands of the war and hence were almost entirely used for the purpose. This led to decline of their steel imports into India.
  • With no other alternative to turn to, The Indian Railways had to look up to TISCO for meeting the iron and steel demands for supply of rails.
  • As the war continued for several years at stretch, the dependency over TISCO for iron and steel requirements grew which helped it to expand massively.

Question 12:-

Find out about the history of any craft around the area you live. You may wish to know about the community of craftsmen, the changes in the techniques they use and the markets they supply. How have these changed in the past 50 years?

Answer 12:-

Ivory carving is an old craft which developed during the Mughal era and is famous where I live in Shahjahanabad in Old Delhi. With the ban on ivory, the skilled craftsmen had no option but change to their raw materials and they started using bones of buffaloes and camels instead of ivory for the same in the previous years.

Question 13:-

On a map of India, locate the centres of different crafts today. Find out when these centres came up.

Answer 13:-

Some centres of different crafts today include:

  • Punjab – Phulkari is a craft involving special type of flower and mirror embroidery. It is widespread since the fifteenth century in whole of Punjab.
  • Kerala – Calicut and Ernakulam are centres of craft where coconut shell craft is predominant since the people of ancient times in Dravidian region practiced it.
  • Rajasthan – Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Alwar are centres of craft where terracotta is practiced since 1212 AD.
  • Assam – Muli, Dhalu, Khang, Pecha are centres of craft for cane and bamboo products which has been used since 7th century AD.
  • Varanasi – a centre of silk production famous for silk sarees which have been mentioned in the Mahabharata and Buddhist scriptures of the first millennium.




Topics Covered in Chapter 6 – Weavers, Iron Smelters and Factory Owners Class 8 History (Social Science)

  • Indian Textiles and the World Market
  • Words tell us histories
  • Indian textiles in European markets
  • Who were the weavers?
  • The decline of Indian textiles
  • Cotton mills come up
  • The sword of Tipu Sultan and Wootz steel
  • Abandoned furnaces in villages
  • Iron and steel factories come up in India
  • Early years of industrialisation in Japan

Keywords Relevant to the Chapter Weavers, Iron Smelters and Factory Owners

Spinning Jenny: A machine used for spinning of thread. Several threads could be spun by a single worker making use of this technology.

Aurang: A warehouse is called an ‘Aurang’ in the Persian language. The goods are collected and stored as inventory before they are transported for sale in these warehouses.

Smelting: The process of heating rocks or soil at a very high temperature in order to obtain metal from them or melting up of existing metals to form something new out of them.

Bellows: An equipment consisting of an air bag used to pump air for purposes such as keeping charcoal at a burning state.

Slag heaps: When metal is smelted after passing through the process of being subjected to high temperature, a certain waste is left behind. These wastes refer to slag heaps.

NCERT Solutions for Class 8 History (Social Science)

NCERT Solutions for Class 8

CBSE Notes for Class 8

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