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MCQs — The Age of Industrialisation

Chapter 4 · Class 10 History

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Practice MCQs (15) — with Explanations

Each MCQ matches real UPSC/State PSC difficulty. Click 'Show answer' to reveal — try answering first.

  1. Which phase of industrial production refers to large-scale rural manufacturing for international markets that existed before the factory system?

    1. A. Mercantilism
    2. B. Proto-industrialisation
    3. C. Cottage capitalism
    4. D. Putting-in system
    Show answer

    Correct: Proto-industrialisation

    Explanation: Historians use 'proto-industrialisation' for the seventeenth and eighteenth-century phase when town merchants supplied money and raw material to peasants and artisans in the European countryside, who produced for an international market. The system bypassed urban guilds.

    Source (NCERT): "Many historians now refer to this phase of industrialisation as proto-industrialisation."

  2. Why did European merchants move from the towns into the countryside in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to organise production?

    1. A. Because urban wages had risen sharply
    2. B. Because urban guilds held monopoly rights and restricted entry
    3. C. Because raw cotton was grown only in the villages
    4. D. Because royal taxes on towns were too high
    Show answer

    Correct: Because urban guilds held monopoly rights and restricted entry

    Explanation: Urban crafts and trade guilds were powerful associations of producers that trained craftsmen, controlled production, regulated competition and prices, and restricted new entrants. Rulers had granted them monopoly rights, so new merchants turned to the countryside instead.

    Source (NCERT): "Rulers granted different guilds the monopoly right to produce and trade in specific products."

  3. Who is credited with creating the cotton mill that brought all production processes under one roof?

    1. A. James Watt
    2. B. Matthew Boulton
    3. C. Richard Arkwright
    4. D. James Hargreaves
    Show answer

    Correct: Richard Arkwright

    Explanation: Earlier, cotton production was scattered across rural households. Richard Arkwright invented the cotton mill — costly machines could now sit in one building under one management, allowing supervision, quality control and labour discipline that village production never permitted.

    Source (NCERT): "Then Richard Arkwright created the cotton mill."

  4. James Watt patented his improved steam engine in which year, with Matthew Boulton manufacturing the model?

    1. A. 1764
    2. B. 1781
    3. C. 1793
    4. D. 1801
    Show answer

    Correct: 1781

    Explanation: Watt improved Newcomen's earlier steam engine and patented the new design in 1781. His industrialist friend Matthew Boulton produced it. For years, however, Boulton struggled to find buyers — proof that even powerful new technology spread slowly.

    Source (NCERT): "James Watt improved the steam engine produced by Newcomen and patented the new engine in 1781."

  5. How many steam engines were in use across all of England at the start of the nineteenth century?

    1. A. Around 100
    2. B. Around 321
    3. C. Around 800
    4. D. Over 1,200
    Show answer

    Correct: Around 321

    Explanation: By the early 1800s only 321 steam engines existed in all of England — 80 in cotton, 9 in wool, the rest in mining, canal works and ironworks. The figure exposes how cautiously industrialists adopted expensive, breakdown-prone technology.

    Source (NCERT): "At the beginning of the nineteenth century, there were no more than 321 steam engines all over England."

  6. Who devised the Spinning Jenny, the machine that triggered attacks by hand-spinning women in the woollen industry?

    1. A. Richard Arkwright
    2. B. James Hargreaves
    3. C. Edmund Cartwright
    4. D. Samuel Crompton
    Show answer

    Correct: James Hargreaves

    Explanation: James Hargreaves devised the Spinning Jenny in 1764. By turning a single wheel a worker could set several spindles going, multiplying output but slashing labour demand. Women dependent on hand-spinning attacked the machine when it spread to woollen mills.

    Source (NCERT): "Spinning Jenny – Devised by James Hargreaves in 1764, this machine speeded up the spinning process and reduced labour demand."

  7. By 1873, Britain's exports of iron and steel were worth approximately how much?

    1. A. £20 million
    2. B. £40 million
    3. C. £77 million
    4. D. £150 million
    Show answer

    Correct: £77 million

    Explanation: By 1873 Britain's iron and steel exports stood at about £77 million, roughly double the value of its cotton exports. After the 1840s, iron and steel — driven by railway expansion in England and the colonies — overtook cotton as Britain's leading sector.

    Source (NCERT): "By 1873 Britain was exporting iron and steel worth about £ 77 million, double the value of its cotton export."

  8. By the 1740s, the gross value of trade passing through Surat had slumped to:

    1. A. Rs 16 million
    2. B. Rs 8 million
    3. C. Rs 3 million
    4. D. Rs 1 million
    Show answer

    Correct: Rs 3 million

    Explanation: Surat's trade was Rs 16 million in the late seventeenth century. By the 1740s it had collapsed to Rs 3 million as European companies took over and shifted commerce to Bombay and Calcutta. The fall mirrored the decline of Indian merchant networks.

    Source (NCERT): "By the 1740s it had slumped to Rs 3 million."

  9. After 1760, what was the role of the gomastha appointed by the East India Company?

    1. A. To collect land revenue from peasants
    2. B. To supervise weavers, collect supplies and examine the quality of cloth
    3. C. To manage the Company's port-side warehouses
    4. D. To recruit sepoys for the Bengal Army
    Show answer

    Correct: To supervise weavers, collect supplies and examine the quality of cloth

    Explanation: The Company appointed a paid servant called the gomastha to supervise weavers, gather supplies and inspect cloth. Combined with the system of advances, the gomastha eliminated competing buyers and tied weavers down on Company terms.

    Source (NCERT): "It appointed a paid servant called the gomastha to supervise weavers, collect supplies, and examine the quality of cloth."

  10. Indian piece-goods made up 33 per cent of India's exports in 1811-12. By 1850-51, this share had fallen to:

    1. A. 20 per cent
    2. B. 12 per cent
    3. C. 8 per cent
    4. D. 3 per cent
    Show answer

    Correct: 3 per cent

    Explanation: Piece-goods exports collapsed from 33 per cent in 1811-12 to just 3 per cent by 1850-51. Manchester cloth, protected by British tariffs at home and dumped into India, undercut Indian weavers in both export and domestic markets.

    Source (NCERT): "In 1811-12 piece-goods accounted for 33 per cent of India's exports; by 1850-51 it was no more than 3 per cent."

  11. When did the first cotton mill in Bombay begin operations?

    1. A. Set up in 1854, into production by 1856
    2. B. Set up in 1862, into production by 1864
    3. C. Set up in 1855, into production by 1857
    4. D. Set up in 1874, into production by 1876
    Show answer

    Correct: Set up in 1854, into production by 1856

    Explanation: Bombay's first cotton mill came up in 1854 and went into production two years later. By 1862 four mills were at work with 94,000 spindles and 2,150 looms, signalling the beginning of organised mill industry in colonial India.

    Source (NCERT): "The first cotton mill in Bombay came up in 1854 and it went into production two years later."

  12. Who set up the first Indian-owned jute mill in Calcutta in 1917?

    1. A. Dwarkanath Tagore
    2. B. Jamsetjee Tata
    3. C. Seth Hukumchand
    4. D. G.D. Birla
    Show answer

    Correct: Seth Hukumchand

    Explanation: Seth Hukumchand, a Marwari businessman who had earlier traded with China, set up the first Indian jute mill in Calcutta in 1917. Earlier jute mills in Bengal — starting from 1855 — had been controlled by European Managing Agencies.

    Source (NCERT): "Seth Hukumchand, a Marwari businessman who set up the first Indian jute mill in Calcutta in 1917, also traded with China."

  13. In 1912, J.N. Tata set up India's first iron and steel works at:

    1. A. Bhilai
    2. B. Jamshedpur
    3. C. Rourkela
    4. D. Burnpur
    Show answer

    Correct: Jamshedpur

    Explanation: J.N. Tata established India's first iron and steel works at Jamshedpur in 1912. Iron and steel arrived much later than textiles in colonial India, since machinery, railways and locomotives were largely imported, and capital goods industries lagged behind.

    Source (NCERT): "In 1912, J.N. Tata set up the first iron and steel works in India at Jamshedpur."

  14. Which three European Managing Agencies dominated Indian industries until the First World War?

    1. A. Bird Heiglers, Andrew Yule, Jardine Skinner
    2. B. Tata, Birla, Walchand
    3. C. Bombay Chamber, Madras Chamber, Bengal Chamber
    4. D. East India Co., Dutch Co., French Co.
    Show answer

    Correct: Bird Heiglers, Andrew Yule, Jardine Skinner

    Explanation: Bird Heiglers & Co., Andrew Yule, and Jardine Skinner & Co. were the three biggest European Managing Agencies. They mobilised capital, ran joint-stock companies, and concentrated on tea, coffee, mining, indigo and jute — products meant mainly for export.

    Source (NCERT): "Three of the biggest ones were Bird Heiglers & Co., Andrew Yule, and Jardine Skinner & Co."

  15. What was the role of the 'jobber' in early Indian mill industry?

    1. A. A factory inspector appointed by the colonial government
    2. B. An old trusted worker who recruited new mill hands and controlled their lives
    3. C. A weaver licensed by the East India Company
    4. D. A wholesale yarn merchant of Bombay
    Show answer

    Correct: An old trusted worker who recruited new mill hands and controlled their lives

    Explanation: Industrialists used a jobber — usually an old, trusted worker — to find new recruits. He brought people from his village, helped them settle and lent them money. Over time he turned into a power-broker, demanding gifts and controlling workers' lives.

    Source (NCERT): "Industrialists usually employed a jobber to get new recruits."

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