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Class 9 History Chapter 4 Extra Questions and Answers Forest Society and Colonialism
Forest Society and Colonialism Class 9 Extra Questions and Answer History Chapter 4 Very Short Answers Type
Question 1.
What is tannin used to?
Answer:
Tannin is used to convert skins and hides into leather.
Question 2.
Mention the period of industrialisation.
Answer:
The period of industrialisation falls between 1700 and 1995.
Question 3.
Mention various reasons that caused forest depletion between 1700 and 1995.
Answer:
These reasons are—industrial uses, cultivation, pastures and fuelwood.
Question 4.
What was the main feature of deforestation during the colonial period?
Answer:
During the colonial period, deforestation was more systematic and extensive.
Question 5.
What did the colonial state think about forests?
Answer:
The colonial state thought that forests were unproductive.
Question 6.
Why were Adivasis hired by the forest department?
Answer:
They were hired to cut trees, and make smooth planks which would serve as sleepers for the railways.
Question 7.
Give two features of poplar forests.
Answer:
- Poplar forests are good mainly for timber. They are not used for leaves, fruits or other products.
- These trees grow in straight lines and all have uniform height.
Question 8.
Who was made the first Inspector General of Forests in India?
Answer:
Dietrich Brandis, a German expert was made the first Inspector General of Forests in India.
Question 9.
When and where was the Imperial Forest Research Institute set up in India?
Answer:
The Imperial Forest Research Institute was set up at Dehradun in 1906.
Question 10.
What was done in scientific forestry?
Answer:
In scientific forestry, natural forests which had lots of different types of trees were cut down and in their place, one type of trees was planted in straight rows.
Question 11.
The 1878 Act divided forests into three categories. Name them.
Answer:
Reserved, protected and village forests.
Question 12.
How were ‘reserved forests’ treated?
Answer:
‘Reserved forests’ were treated as the best forests. Villagers could not take anything from these forests, even for their own use.
Question 13.
Who are the main collectors of tendu leaves?
Answer:
Women, children and old men are the main collectors of tendu leaves.
Question 14.
What is shifting cultivation?
Answer:
In shifting cultivation, parts of the forest are cut and burnt in rotation. Seeds are sown in the ashes after the first monsoon rains, and the crop is harvested by October-November when the fertility of the land is over, the same practice is repeated at another location.
Question 15.
What was Taungya cultivation?
Answer:
Taungya cultivation was a system in which local farmers were allowed to cultivate temporarily within a plantation.
Question 16.
How did the British see large animals?
Answer:
The British saw large animals as signs of a wild, primitive and savage society. They believed that by killing dangerous animals the British would civilise India.
Question 17.
What is the belief of the people of Bastar? Why do they make offerings at each agricultural festival?
Answer:
The people of Bastar believe that each village was given its land by the Earth, and in return, they look after the earth by making some offerings at each agricultural festival.
Question 18.
Give two uses of Mahua.
Answer:
- Mahua flowers are used to make alcohol.
- The seeds are used to make oil.
Question 19.
What is shifting cultivation also known as?
Answer:
Shifting cultivation is also known as swidden agriculture.
Question 20.
What is shifting cultivation called in Southeast Asia and in Central America?
Answer:
In Southeast Asia, it is called lading and in Central America, it is called Milpa.
Question 21.
In India, there are many local terms for shifting agriculture. Name some of them.
Answer:
Dhya, penda, bewar, nevad,jhum, podu, khandad and kumri.
Question 22.
Name the colonial power in Indonesia?
Answer:
The Dutch are the colonial power in Indonesia.
Question 23.
Who were the Kalangs of Java?
Answer:
They were a community of skilled forest cutters and shifting cultivators.
Question 24.
What was known as the blanding diensten system?
Answer:
The Dutch first imposed rents on land being cultivated in the forest and then exempted some villages from these rents if they worked collectively to provide free labour and buffaloes for cutting and transporting timber. This was known as the blanding diensten system.
Question 25.
Name the islands where most of Indonesia’s forests are located.
Answer:
Sumatra, Kalimantan and West Irian.
Question 26.
Where did the Dutch begin their scientific forestry in Indonesia?
Answer:
The Dutch began their scientific forestry in Java.
Forest Society and Colonialism Class 9 Extra Questions and Answer History Chapter 4 Short Answers Type
Question 1.
Mention different things that come from forests.
Answer:
- The paper in the book, desks and tables, doors and window, dyes, spices, tendu leaf in bidis, gum, honey, coffee, tea and rubber.
- The oil in chocolates, which comes from sal seeds, the tannin used to convert skins and hides into leather, or the herbs and roots used for medicinal purposes.
- Forests also provide bamboo, wood for fuel, grass, charcoal, packaging, fruits, flowers, animals, birds and many other things.
Question 2.
Which factors led to the expansion of cultivation in the colonial period?
Answer:
In the colonial period, cultivation expanded rapidly for a variety of reasons
(i) The British directly encouraged the production of commercial crops like jute, sugar, wheat and cotton. The demand for these crops increased in nineteenth century. Europe where foodgrains were needed to feed the growing urban population and raw materials were required for industrial production.
(ii) In the early nineteenth century, the colonial state thought that forests were unproductive. They were considered to be wilderness that had to be brought under cultivation so that the land could yield agricultural products and revenue, and enhance the income of the state.
Question 3.
Why were forests cut during the colonial period?
Answer:
(i) Oak forests were essential for building ships for the British Royal Navy. As these forests in England began to be disappeared, so in the 1820s, search parties were sent to explore the forest resources of India. Within a decade, trees were being felled on a massive scale and vast quantities of timber were being exported to England from India.
(ii) The spread of railways from the 1850s created a new demand for timber. As the railway tracks spread through India, a larger and larger number of trees were felled for sleepers. The government gave out contracts to individuals to supply the required quantities. These contractors began cutting trees indiscriminately. Forests around railway tracks fast started disappearing.
(iii) Large areas of natural forests were also cleared to make way for tea, coffee and rubber plantations to meet Europe’s growing need for these commodities.
Question 4.
What was ‘scientific forestry’? Mention its essential features.
Answer:
- In scientific forestry, natural forests which had lots of different types of trees were cut down. In their place, one type of tree was planted in straight rows.
- Forest officials surveyed the forests, estimated the area under different types of trees, and made working plans for forest management.
- They planned how much of the plantation area to cut every year. The area cut was then to be replanted so that if was ready to be cut again in some years.
Question 5.
How did forest rules affect the villagers across the country?
Answer:
- Forest rules made the lives of the villagers miserable by restricting their activities. All their everyday practices—cutting wood for their houses, grazing their cattle, collecting fruits and roots, hunting and fishing—became illegal.
- People were now forced to steal wood from the forests, and if they were caught, they were at the mercy of the forest guards who would take bribes from them.
- Women who collected fuelwood were especially worried. It was common for police constables and forest guards to harass people by demanding free food for them.
Question 6.
What did the colonial government do to properly control and manage the forest resources in India?
Answer:
- The property control and manage the forest resources in India, the British appointed a German expert, Dietrich Brandis, as the first Inspector General of Forests in India.
- Brandis introduced a new system and began to train people in conservation of forest resources. The Indian Forest Service was set up in 1864, and the Indian Forest Act was introduced in 1865.
- Grazing, felling of trees and any use of forest produce was made illegal and punishable offence. In the name of scientific forestry, they replaced natural vegetation with single type of trees.
Question 7.
Why was vast quantity of timber needed in Europe in the early nineteenth century?
Answer:
By the early nineteenth century, oak forests in England were disappearing. This created a problem of timber supply for the Royal Navy. Strong and durable timber was essential for building English ships. So, by the 1820s, search parties were sent to explore the forest resources of India. Within a decade, trees were cut on a massive scale and vast quantities of timber began to be exported to England from India.
Question 8.
New opportunities of work did not always mean improved well-being for the people’. Explain with examples.
Answer:
- In Assam, both men and women from forest communities like Santhals and Oraons from Jharkhand, and Gonds, from Chhattisgarh were recruited to work on tea plantations. Their wages were low and conditions of work were very bad. They could not return easily to their home villages from where they had been recruited.
- Many pastoralist and nomadic communities like the Korava, Karacha and Yerukula of the Madras Presidency lost their livelihoods.
- Many of them were forced to work instead in factories, mines and plantations, under government supervision.
Question 9.
What were forest villages?
Answer:
The people of Bastar were worried when the colonial government proposed to reserve two-thirds of the forest in 1905, and stop shifting cultivation, hunting and collection of forest produce. Some villages, however, were allowed to stay on in the reserved forests on the condition that they worked free for the forest department in cutting and transporting trees, and protecting the forest from fires. Subsequently these came to be known as ‘forest villages’. People of other villages were displaced without any notice or compensation.
Question 10.
How did the British suppress the rebellion in Bastar? What was a major victory for the rebels?
Answer:
The British sent troops to suppress the rebellion. The Adivasi leaders tried to negotiate, but the British surrounded their camps and fired upon them. After that they marched through the villages flogging and punishing those who had taken part in the rebellion. Most villages were deserted as people fled into the jungles. It took three months for the British to regain control.
However, the British never managed to capture Gunda Dhur, the leader of the rebels. In a major victory for the rebels, work on reservation was temporarily suspended, and the area to be reserved was reduced to roughly half of that planned before 1910.
Question 11.
Who were the Kalangs of Java? Write a short note on them?
Answer:
The Kalangs of Java were a community of skilled forest cutters and shifting cultivators. They were so valuable that in 1755 when the Mataram Kingdom of Java split, the 6,000 Kalang families were equally divided between the two kingdoms.
Without their expertise, it would have been difficult to harvest teak and for the kings to build their palaces. When the Dutch began to gain control over the forest in the eighteenth century, they tried to make the Kalangs work under them. In 1770, the Kalangs resisted by attacking a Dutch fort of Joana, but they were suppressed.
Forest Society and Colonialism Class 9 Extra Questions and Answer History Chapter 4 Long Answers Type
Question 1.
How did forest rules affect shifting cultivation?
Answer:
- One of the major impacts of European colonialism was on the practice of shifting cultivation or Swidden agriculture. This is a traditional agricultural practice in many parts of Asia, Africa and South America.
- European foresters regarded this practice as harmful for the forests. They felt that land which was used for cultivation every few years could not grow trees for railway timber.
- In shifting cultivation, parts of the forest are cut and burnt. European foresters thought that when a forest was burnt, there was added danger of the flames spreading and burning valuable timber.
- Shifting cultivation also made it harder for the government to calculate taxes. Therefore, the government decided to ban this practice.
- After shifting cultivation was banned, the communities involved in it were forcibly displaced from their homes in the forests.
Question 2.
Enlist five facts about the people of Bastar.
Answer:
(i) Bastar is located in the southern most part of Chhattisgarh and is inhabited by a number of different communities such as Maria and Muria Gonds, Dhurwas, Bhatras and Halbas.
(ii) These people speak different languages but share common customs and beliefs, they believe that each village was given its land by the Earth, and in return, they look after the earth by making some offerings at each agricultural festival.
(iii) In addition to the Earth, they show respect to the spirits of the river, the forest and the mountain. Since each village knows where its boundaries lie, the local people look after all the natural resources within that boundary.
(iv) If people from a village want to take some wood from the forests of another village, they pay a small fee called dev sari, dand or man in exchange.
(v) Some villages also protect their forests by engaging watchmen and each household contributes some grain to pay them. Every year there is one big hunt where the headmen of villages in a pargana meet and discuss issues of concern, including forests.
Question 3.
Describe why the people of Bastar rebelled against the colonial government?
OR
Give a brief description of the rebellion which took place in the kingdom of Bastar in 1910.
Answer:
(i) When the colonial government proposed to reserve two-thirds of the forests in 1905, and stop shifting cultivation, hunting and collection of forest produce, the people of Bastar got upset.
(ii) Although some villages were allowed to stay in the reserved forests on the condition that they worked free for the forest department, people of other villages were displaced without any notice or compensation. Then came the terrible famines, in 1899-1900 and again in 1907-1908. People were also upset due to reservations.
(iii) Worried people began to gather and discuss these issues in their village councils, in bazaars and at festivals or wherever the headmen and priests of several villages were assembled.
(iv) The initiative was taken by the Dhurwas of the Kanger forest, where reservation first took place. Gunda Dhur, from village Nethanar, emerged as an important figure in the movement.
(v) In 1910, mango boughs, a lump of earth, chillies and arrows, began circulating between villages. These were actually messages inviting villagers to rebel against the British. Every village contributed something to the rebellion expenses.
(vi) Bazaars were looted, the houses of officials and traders, schools and police stations were burnt and robbed, and grain redistributed.
Forest Society and Colonialism Class 9 Extra Questions and Answer History Chapter 4 Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) Questions
Question 1.
Explain why European foresters regarded the practice of shifting cultivation harmful for the forests?
Answer:
(i) One of the major impacts of European colonialism was on the practice of shifting cultivation or Swidden agriculture. This is a traditional agricultural practice in many parts of Asia, Africa and South America.
(ii) European foresters regarded this practice as harmful for the forests. They felt that land which was used for cultivation every few years could not grow trees for railway timber.
(iii) In shifting cultivation, parts of the forest are cut and burnt. European foresters thought that when a forest was burnt, there was added danger of the flames spreading and burning valuable timber.
(iv) Shifting cultivation also made it harder for the government to calculate taxes. Therefore, the government decided to ban this practice.
(v) After shifting cultivation was banned, the communities involved in it were forcibly displaced from their homes in the forests.
Question 2.
What do you know about Samin’s challenge?
OR
How did Surontiko Samin resist the Dutch?
Answer:
- Around 1890, Surontiko Samin of Randublatung village, a teak forest village, began questioning state ownership of the forest.
- He argued that the state had not created the wind, water, earth and wood, so it could not own it.
- Soon a widespread movement developed. Among those who helped organise it were Samin’s sons-in- law. By 1907, three thousand families became his followers.
- Some of the Saminists protested by lying down on their land when the Dutch came to survey it, while others refused to pay taxes or fines or perform labour.
Question 3.
What are the new developments in forestry?
Answer:
(i) The colonial government encouraged scientific forestry and adopted the policy of keeping forest communities away from forests. But the governments across Asia and Africa have started taking initiatives for forest conservation since the 1980s because they think that the colonial policies were based on selfish motives.
(ii) Conservation of forests rather than collecting timber has become a more important goal now: The government has recognised that in order to meet this goal, the people who live near the forests must be involved.
(iii) It has been seen that dense forests in many parts of India have survived only because villages protected them in sacred groves.
(iv) Some villagers have been patrolling their own forests, with each household taking it in turns, instead of leaving it to the forest guards.
Forest Society and Colonialism Class 9 Extra Questions and Answer History Chapter 4 Value-based Questions (VBQs)
Question 1.
Name forest products used by people in forest areas. How are these products useful?
OR
In what different ways were forest products used by people in forest areas?
Answer:
Roots, leaves, fruits and tubers are forest products used by people in forest areas for many things-
- Fruits and tubers are nutritious to eat, especially during the monsoons before the harvest has come in.
- Herbs are used for medicine, wood for agricultural implements like yokes and ploughs, bamboo makes excellent fences and is also used to make baskets and umbrellas.
- A dried scooped-out gourd can be used as a portable water bottle.
- Leaves can be stitched together to make disposable plates and cups, the siadi (Bauhinia vahlii) creeper can be used to make ropes, and the thorny bark of the semur (silk cotton) tree is used to grate vegetables.
- Oil for cooking and to light lamps can be pressed from the fruit of the mahua tree.
Question 2.
What policy did the Dutch follow in Java to have a control over the forest?
Answer:
(i) Like the British, the Dutch introduced scientific forestry in Java to make way for shipbuilding and spreading railway tracks.
(ii) They enacted forest laws there, restricting villagers’ access to forests. Now wood could only be cut for specified purposes like making river boats or constructing houses, and only from specific forests under close supervision.
(iii) Villagers were punished for grazing cattle in young stands, transporting food without a permit, or travelling on forest roads with horse carts or cattle.
(iv) The Dutch needed labour force of cutting trees, transporting logs and preparing the sleepers. So, they exempted some villages from rents if they worked collectively to provide free labour and buffaloes for cutting and transporting timber.