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Indian HistoryMediumAsked in: CDS · CDS-II 2018, GK

Who among the following European travellers never returned to Europe and settled down in India?

  1. A.Duarte Barbosa
  2. B.Manucci
  3. C.Tavernier
  4. D.Bernier

Correct answer

B. Manucci

Explanation

The correct answer is B, Manucci. The Venetian Niccolao Manucci came to India as a boy, spent the rest of his life here, and died in India in the early eighteenth century.

Manucci arrived around 1656, at about seventeen, and worked as a gunner in the army of Dara Shikoh and later as a physician. He finally settled in Madras and Pondicherry under the English and French. His memoir Storia do Mogor is a rich source on the Mughal court from Shah Jahan to Aurangzeb, written in India and sent to Europe for publication.

Option A is wrong because Duarte Barbosa, a Portuguese official who described the Malabar coast and Vijayanagara in the early sixteenth century, went back to Europe. Option C is wrong because the French jeweller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier made six voyages to India and returned to France each time. Option D is wrong because the French physician François Bernier, who served Danishmand Khan at Aurangzeb's court, returned to France and wrote his Travels there.

Exam tip: Manucci = Storia do Mogor, stayed in India; Bernier and Tavernier = French visitors who went home.

Practice Questions

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Q1.Indian HistoryAsked in: CDS · CDS-II 2016, GKEasy

The 'water frame' of Richard Arkwright was a device for

  1. A.producing a new type of painting
  2. B.irrigating fields for rice cultivation
  3. C.producing strong threads of yarn
  4. D.the faster movement of steamships
Show answer
Correct answer: C. producing strong threads of yarn

Richard Arkwright's water frame, patented in 1769, was a spinning machine driven by water power that spun strong cotton thread.

Q2.Indian HistoryAsked in: CDS · CDS-I 2017, GKMedium

Consider the following statements about the Salt March : 1. The Salt March was deliberately ignored by the European media. 2. The Salt March was widely covered by the American and European press. 3. The Salt March was the first nationalist activity in which women participated in large numbers. 4. The Salt March impressed upon the British the urgent need to devolve more power to Indians. Which of the statements given above are correct?

  1. A.1, 2 and 4
  2. B.2, 3 and 4
  3. C.3 and 4 only
  4. D.2 and 3 only
Show answer
Correct answer: B. 2, 3 and 4

The Salt March drew wide notice in the American and European press, brought women into the national movement in large numbers, and made the British see that they had to share more power with Indians.

Q4.Indian HistoryAsked in: CDS · CDS-II 2016, GKHard

The term Upari refers to which one of the following?

  1. A.A category of proprietary tenure under the Mughal rule
  2. B.A category of tenancy tenure under the Maratha rule
  3. C.A soldier in the Maratha army
  4. D.A village headman in the Mughal period
Show answer
Correct answer: B. A category of tenancy tenure under the Maratha rule

In the Maratha villages of the Deccan, an upari was a tenant who cultivated land without any hereditary right to it.

Q5.Indian HistoryAsked in: CDS · CDS-II 2017, GKHard

With regard to nature of Mughal State, who among the following scholars argued that "the peculiar feature of the State in Mughal India was that it served not merely as the protective arm of the exploiting classes, but was itself the principal instrument of exploitation"?

  1. A.Irfan Habib
  2. B.Satish Chandra
  3. C.Athar Ali
  4. D.J. F. Richards
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Irfan Habib

In his study of the Mughal agrarian system, Habib argued that the Mughal State did not merely protect the exploiting classes but was itself the main instrument for taking the peasants' surplus.