The staple commodities of export by the English East India Company from Bengal in the middle of the 18th century were
- A.Raw cotton, oil-seeds and opium
- B.Sugar, salt, zinc and lead
- C.Copper, silver, gold, spices and tea
- D.Cotton, silk, saltpetre and opium
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is D, Cotton, silk, saltpetre and opium. In the mid-18th century the English East India Company's main exports from Bengal were cotton textiles, silk, saltpetre and opium. Bengal was famous for its fine cotton cloth, especially the muslins of Dhaka, and for raw silk and silk goods from places such as Murshidabad and Kasimbazar. Saltpetre from Bihar was in great demand in Europe because it was a key ingredient of gunpowder, and opium grown in Bihar and Bengal later became the commodity the Company sold to China to pay for tea. Option A is wrong because raw cotton and oilseeds became important exports only in the 19th century, after the Industrial Revolution turned India into a supplier of raw materials. Option B is wrong because salt was traded inside India, while zinc and lead were not Bengal's export staples. Option C is wrong because the Company brought silver and gold into Bengal to buy goods, spices came mainly from the Malabar coast and the East Indies, and tea came from China. Exam tip: 18th-century Bengal exports were cotton, silk, saltpetre and opium; 19th-century India exported raw cotton, indigo and jute.
Practice Questions
View allArthashastra, the classical work of Indian political thought, focuses primarily on
- A.economy
- B.culture
- C.statecraft
- D.monarchy
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The Arthashastra is a manual on how a king should govern, defend and expand his state, so its main subject is statecraft.
Read the full explanation →The call for 'renunciation of (all) voluntary associations with the (British) Government' was given during
- A.Non-Cooperation Movement.
- B.Civil Disobedience Movement.
- C.Quit India Movement.
- D.Protest against partition of Bengal.
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The Congress resolution on non-cooperation, passed at the special Calcutta session of September 1920 and confirmed at Nagpur in December 1920, called for the renunciation of all voluntary association with the British Government.
Read the full explanation →Consider the following events leading to the Indian Independence : 1. Lucknow Pact 2. Return of Subhash Chandra Bose to India 3. Cripps Mission 4. Naval Mutiny in Bombay Select the chronological sequence of these events (earliest to latest) from the code given below:
- A.4, 3, 2, 1
- B.3, 4, 2, 1
- C.1, 2, 3, 4
- D.2, 1, 3, 4
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The events run from the Lucknow Pact of 1916, through Subhas Chandra Bose's return to India in the 1920s and 1930s, to the Cripps Mission of 1942 and the Naval Mutiny of 1946.
Read the full explanation →During the period 100 BCE - 200 CE, valuable evidence of India's maritime trade links has been identified from which of the following sites on the Coromandel Coast ?
- A.Arikamedu
- B.Tamralipti
- C.Bharukachcha
- D.Muchiri
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Arikamedu, near Puducherry on the Coromandel Coast, has yielded clear evidence of trade with the Roman world between about the first century BCE and the second century CE.
Read the full explanation →Who was the founder of Mahakali Pathshala in Calcutta?
- A.Her Holiness Mataji Maharani Tapaswini
- B.Sister Nivedita
- C.Madame Blavatsky
- D.Sarojini Naidu
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Mataji Tapaswini founded the Mahakali Pathshala in Calcutta in 1893 to give girls an education rooted in Indian tradition. Tapaswini was a woman ascetic from Maharashtra who settled in Calcutta and won the support of leading Bengali families for her school.
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