PODAR INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL,CBSE,NERUL

CLASS X

STUDENT SUPPORT DOCUMENT

SUB: HISTORY

TOPIC: The Age of Industrialisation

Before the Industrial Revolution

 Proto-industrialisation: There was large-scale industrial production for an international

market not based on factories. It was controlled by merchants and the goods were produced
by a vast number of producers working within their family farms, not in factories.

 17th and 18th century: Merchants from the towns of Europe began moving to the
countryside, supplying money to peasants and artisans, persuading them to produce for an
international market. Merchants offered advances for producing clothes for them at a time
when open fields were disappearing and commons were being enclosed. Income from proto-
industrial production supplemented their shrinking income from cultivation.

The Coming Up of the Factory

 1730s: The earliest factories in England came up.

 First symbol of the new era was cotton.

 Inventions in the 18th century increased the efficacy of each step of production (carding,
twisting, spinning and rolling). The output per worker also rose.

 Richard Arkwright invented the cotton mill. Mill production of cotton started, which
allowed a more careful supervision over the production process.

 Cotton became the leading sector in the first phase of industrialization.

 The Pace of Industrial Change

 The expansion of railways in England and its colonies rapidly increased the demand for
iron and steel.

 The new, technologically advanced industrial sectors could not easily displace the
traditional industries. Textiles were still produced within domestic units and not in factories.

 The high cost of machines and the uncertainty of their performance made technological
changes slow. Merchants and industrialists were cautious about accepting and using the new
technology.

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 1781: James Watt improved the steam engine produced by Newcomen and patented the
new engine.

Importance of Hand Labour

 Introduction of machines required large capital investment. Hence, cheap labour was
preferred over the use of machines.

 Manual labour was also preferred in the industries where production fluctuated with
seasons.

 Goods with intricate designs and specific shapes were in great demand in the European
markets. This was possible only with hand labour and not machine outputs.

 The aristocrats and the bourgeoisie in Victorian Britain preferred the refined and carefully
handmade products; machine made goods were for the colonies.

Life of the Workers

 Large scale migrations to towns and cities from countryside in search of jobs.

 Many job-seekers had to wait weeks, spending nights under bridges or in night shelters.

 Workers became jobless after the busy season of work got over.

 Some returned to the countryside when the demand for labour in the rural areas opened up.

 Most people looked for odd-jobs, which till the mid-19th century were difficult to find.

 The fear of unemployment made workers hostile to the introduction of new technology.
Women who survived on hand-spinning began protesting when the Spinning Jenny was
introduced.

The Age of Indian Textiles

 Before the age of machines, silk and cotton goods from India dominated the international
textile market.

 Armenian and Persian merchants took goods from Punjab to Afghanistan, Eastern Persia
and Central Asia.

 Surat on Gujarat coast connected India to the Gulf and the Red Sea ports.

 Masulipatam on the Coromandel Coast and Hooghly in Bengal had trade links with
Southeast Asian ports.

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 A variety of Indian merchants and traders were involved in this network of export trade,
financing production, carrying goods and supplying exporters. They gave advances to the
weavers, procured the woven cloth from weaving villages and carried the supply to the ports.

 The European companies gradually gained power and monopoly rights.

 Trade through the new ports of Calcutta and Mumbai came to be controlled by the
European companies.

Plight of Weavers

 The East India Company gained monopoly rights over the Indian textile trade. It tried to
eliminate the existing traders and brokers connected with the cloth trade and established
direct control over the weavers.

 A paid servant called the gomastha was appointed for supervising weavers, collecting
supply and examining the quality of cloth.

 The Company prevented the weavers from dealing with other buyers.

 Once the order was placed, the weavers were given loans for purchasing raw material for
production. The produced cloth was to be handed over to the gomastha.

 The new gomasthas had no social link with the village. They acted arrogantly, marched into
villages with sepoys and peons and punished weavers for delays in supply.

 The price received by weavers from the Company was miserably low and the loans that
they had accepted tied them to the Company.

 In Carnatic and Bengal weavers deserted villages and migrated, setting up looms in other
villages where they had some family relation. Elsewhere, the weavers along with the village
traders revolted, opposing the Company and its officials.

 Weavers began refusing loans, closing down their workshops and taking to agricultural
labour.  British Textiles in India

 The British industrialists pressurized the government to impose duties on cotton textiles so
that Manchester goods could sell in Britain without any outside competition.

 The industrialists also persuaded the East India Company for selling the British
manufactures in the Indian markets.

 Exports of British cotton goods increased dramatically in the early 19th century.

 The export market of the Indian cotton weavers collapsed and the local market shrank,
being glutted with cheap Manchester imports.

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 The weavers could not get sufficient supply of good quality raw cotton. Weavers in India
were starved of supplies and forced to buy raw cotton at exorbitant prices.

 By the end of the 19th century, factories in India began production, flooding the markets
with machine-made goods. Consequently, the weaving industry decayed and died.

Factories in India

 1854: First cotton mill came up in Bombay

 1855: The first jute mill came up; and another one in 1862

 1860s: The Elgin mill was started in Kanpur

 1861: The first cotton mill of Ahmadabad was set up

 1874: The first spinning and weaving mill of Madras began production  The Early
Entrepreneurs

 The British in India began exporting opium to China and took tea from China to England.
Many Indians participated in this trade by providing finance, procuring supplies and shipping
consignments.

 In Bengal, Dwarkanath Tagore made his fortune in the China trade and established six
joint-stock companies in the 1830s and 1840s.

 In Bombay, Dinshaw Petit and Jamsetjee Nusserwanjee Tata built huge industrial empires
in India. They accumulated their initial wealth partly from exports to China and partly from
raw cotton shipments to England.

 Merchants from Madras traded with Burma, Middle East and East Africa.

 Other trading activities included carrying goods from one place to another, banking,
transferring funds between cities and financing traders.

 However, Indian traders were barred from trading with Europe in manufactured goods and
had to export raw materials and food grains required by the British. They were also gradually
edged out of the shipping business.

Workers

 In most industrial regions, workers came from the nearby districts

 The job-seekers were always more than the jobs available.

 Industrialists employed a jobber for getting new recruits. He got people from his village,
ensured them jobs, helped them settle in the city and provided them money in times of crisis.

The Peculiarities of Industrial Growth

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 The European Managing Agencies established tea and coffee plantations, acquiring land at
cheap rates from the colonial governments. They also invested in mining, indigo and jute.

 Since yarn was not an important part of British imports into India, the early cotton mills in
India produced coarse cotton yarn rather than fabric. The yarn produced in Indian spinning
mills was used by handloom weavers in India or exported to China.

 Nationalists during the Swadeshi movement mobilized people to boycott foreign cloth.

 Industrial groups organized themselves to protect their collective interests, pressurizing the
government to increase tariff protection and grant other concessions.

 From 1906, the export of Indian yarn to China declined since produce from Chinese and
Japanese mills flooded the Chinese market.

 1900 and 1912: Cotton piece goods production in India doubled

 With British mills busy with war production to meet the needs of the army, Manchester
imports into India declined. As the war prolonged, Indian factories were called upon to
supply war needs including jute bags, cloth for army uniforms, tents and leather boots, horse
and mule saddles and a host of other items.

 Industrial production boomed owing to the increase in the working hours and the
establishment of new factories.

 Unable to modernize and compete with the US, Germany and Japan, the British economy
crumbled after the war. Cotton production collapsed and exports of cotton cloth from Britain
fell dramatically.

 Within the colonies, local industries substituted the foreign manufactures and captured the
home market.

Small-scale Industries

 Large industries formed only a small segment of the economy. Most of them were located
in Bombay and Bengal.

 Most of the workers worked in small workshops and household units.

 While cheap machine-made thread wiped out the spinning industry in the 19th century, the
weavers survived. Handloom cloth-production expanded steadily between 1900 and 1940.

 Technological changes and other small innovations made the handloom cloth production
rise. By the second decade of the 20th century, weavers used looms with a fly shuttle.

 Amongst weavers, some produced coarse cloth while others wove finer varieties. The
coarser cloth was bought by the poor and its demand fluctuated violently along with the

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fluctuations in their incomes. The finer ones were bought by the rich and its demand was
constant.

Market for Goods

 New consumers were created through advertisements. Advertisements expanded the

markets for products and shaped a new consumer culture.

 The label was needed for making the name and the place of manufacture and the name of
the company familiar to the buyer.

 Images of Indian gods and goddesses were imprinted on goods for making a foreign
product familiar to the Indian masses.

 Calendars were used for advertisements.

 Figures of important personages adorned advertisements and calendars.

 Advertisements became a vehicle of the nationalist message of Swadeshi.

Very Short Answer Questions (VSAQs):

1. Why did the industrial groups in England pressurise the government to impose import
duties on cotton textiles?
To eliminate any competition from outside.

2. Where was the first cotton mill set up in India?

Bombay in 1854.

3. Where were most of the large scale industries located in 1911?

Bengal and Bombay.

4. Who worked for industrialists to get new recruits?

Jobber.

5. Which industry followed the cotton industry in England?

Iron and steel industry

6. Name any one problem faced by cotton weavers in India.

They did not have good quality of cotton.

7. What was Spinning Jenny?

A machine which speeded up the spinning process and reduced the labour
demands.

8. Write down any one duty of Gomasthas?

Supervising weavers.

9. Who was the typical worker in the mid-nineteenth century, according to historians?
Traditional craftsperson and labourer.

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10. Why the export of Indian yarn to China declined in 1906?
Produce from the Chinese and Japanese mills flooded the Chinese market.

11. Who produced a popular music book that had a picture on the cover page announcing
the Dawn of the Century?
E. T. Paull
Short Answer Questions (SAQs):
1. What is meant by proto-industrialization? Why was it successful in the countryside in
England in the 17th Century?

Proto-industrialization was the early phase of industrialization in Europe and

England when there was large scale industrial production for an international
market which was not based on factories.
It was successful in the countryside in England due to the following reasons:
i. The peasants had been shut out of village commons due to enclosure
movement.
ii. They now looked for alternative source of income.
2. Why did technological changes occur slowly in Britain in the early nineteenth
century? Explain any three reasons.
(i) New technology was expensive and merchants and industrialists were cautious
about using it.
(ii) The machines often broke down and repairs were costly.
(iii) They were not much effective as compared to cheap labour.
3. “The upper classes, during Victorian period, preferred things produced by hands.”
Explain.

(i) They symbolised refinement and class.

(ii) They were better finished.
(iii) They were individually produced and carefully designed.

4. Explain the role played by advertisements in creating new consumers for the British
products.

(i) Advertisements have played a part in expanding the markets for products,
and in shaping a new consumer culture.
(ii) Advertisements make products appear desirable and necessary.
(iii) They try to shape the minds of people and create new needs.

5. Mention any three restrictions imposed by the British Government upon the Indian
merchants in the 19th Century?

(i) The colonial control over Indian trade tightened and space within which
Indian merchants could function became limited.
(ii) They were barred from trading with Europe in manufactured goods, and had
to export mostly raw materials and food grains, raw cotton, opium, wheat and
indigo required by the British.
(iii) They were also gradually edged out of the shipping business.
6. Who were the Jobbers? Explain their main functions.

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 The jobber was a person with some authority and used to help the industrialists
to get workers. His role was to ensure job to workers. His functions were:
(i) He got people from his village.
(ii) He ensured them jobs.
(iii) He helped the workers to settle in the cities.
7. Explain any three major problems faced by the new European merchants In setting up
their industries in towns before the industrial revolution.

The new merchants found it difficult to set up production units in towns before
the Industrial Revolution because:
(a) the urban crafts and trade guilds were very powerful. These were
associations of producers who trained the crafts people, regulated the prices and
maintained control over production.
(b) The new entrants were barred from entering the guilds. Thus, restricted the
entry of new European merchants into the trade.
(c) Rulers gave monopoly rights to the guilds to produce and trade in specific
products. It was therefore difficult for new producers to find space in the towns.

8. How did the seasonality of employment affect the lives of Indian workers during 18th
century?
Seasonality of employment badly affected the lives of Indian workers in the
following ways,
(a) It prolonged the period of unemployment and the poor workers came to
streets again,
(b) A few of them went back to countryside.
(c) Most of them looked for odd jobs in cities.

9. Why did some industrialists in nineteenth century Europe prefer hand labour to
machines?
Some industrialist: in nineteenth century Europe preferred hand labour to
machines because
i. machines were costly, ineffective, difficult to repair and required huge
capital investments.
ii. labour was available at low wages at that period of time.
iii. in seasonal industries, only seasonal labour was required.
iv. market demands of a variety of designs and colour and specific type could
not be fulfilled by machine-made clothes. Intricate designs and colours
could be done by human skills only.
v. In Victorian age, the aristocrats and other upper-class people preferred
articles made by hands only
10. Name the sea routes that connected India with Asian countries.

i. A vibrant sea trade operated through the main pre-colonial ports.

ii. Surat on the Gujarat coast connected India with the Gulf and the Red
Sea ports.
iii. Masulipatnam on the Coromandal Coast and Hooghly in Bengal had
trade links with the south-east Asian ports.

11. Explain new problem faced by the weavers in 1850s.

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 i. By the 18608, weavers faced a new problem. They could not get sufficient
supply of raw cotton of good quality.
ii. When the American Civil War broke out and cotton supplies from the US
were cut off, Britain turned to India.
iii. As raw cotton exports from India increased, the price of raw cotton shot up.
Weavers in India were starved of supplies and forced to buy raw cotton at
exorbitant prices. In this situation weavers couldn’t pay.
12. Explain any three problems faced by the Indian cotton weavers by the turn of the 1
9th century.

i. Their export market collapsed and the local market shrank, being glutted with
Manchester imports. Produced by machines at lower costs, the imported cotton
goods were so cheap that weavers could not easily compete with them. By the
18503, several weaving regions of India declined.
ii. By the 1860s, weavers faced another problem. They could not get sufficient
supply of raw cotton of good quality. When the American Civil War broke out
and cotton supplies from the US were cut-off, Britain turned to India. As raw
cotton exports from India increased, the price of raw cotton shot up. Indian
weavers were starved of supplies and forced to buy raw cotton at very high
prices. In such a situation weaving industries could not survive.
iii. By the end of the nineteenth century. weavers and craftspersons faced yet
another problem. Factories in India began production and the market began to be
flooded with machine goods. This again posed a problem before the weavers.
Long Answer Questions (LAQs):
1. Explain with examples the importance of advertisement in the marketing of the goods.
i. Advertisements play a very vital role in the marketing of any product.
ii. New consumers are created is through advertisements.
iii. Advertisements make products appear desirable and necessary to the
customers.
iv. They try to shape the minds of the people and create new needs.
v. The advertisement appear in newspapers, magazines, hoardings, street
walls, television screens which have played a part in expanding the
markets for products, and in shaping a new consumer culture.

2. How did the Indian and British merchants and manufacturers advertise their products
in India to promote their sale? OR Describe any five methods adopted by the British
manufacturers to take over the Indian market in the beginning of 20th century.
i. The Manchester industrialists put ‘Made in Manchester’ label in bold
which assured the buyers of the quality of the cloth.
ii. The British manufacturers used images of Indian Gods and Goddesses on
the labels which symbolized the divine approval for the commodity. It
also created familiarity with the Indian buyers.
iii. Manufacturers were printing calendars to popularise their products
which were used even by people who could not read. They were hung in
tea shops and in poor people’s homes just as much as in offices and
middle-class apartments.
iv. The figures of important personages, of emperors and nawabs from the
past were also displayed on advertisements and calendars which carried
messages such as if you respect the royal figure, then respect this product

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 and also when the product was being used by kings, or produced under
royal command, its quality could not be questioned.
v. The Indian manufacturers printed the image of Bharat Mata and a
nationalist message on the labels. They also printed ‘Made in India’ on
the labels thus appealing to the nationalist sentiments. The imprinted
image of Krishna or Saraswati on labels was also intended to make the
manufacture from a foreign land appear somewhat familiar to Indian
people.
3. Why were there frequent clashes between Gomasthas and weavers in the villages?
Explain five reasons.

i. Earlier supply merchants often belonged to the same villages and had a close
relationship with the weavers.
ii. The company’s appointed Gomasthas were outsiders, with no long-term social
link with the villagers.
iii. They acted arrogantly, marched into villages with sepoys and peons, and
punished weavers for delays in supply often beating and flogging them.
iv. The weavers lost the space to bargain for prices and sell to different buyers.
v. The price they received from the Company was miserably low and the loans they
had accepted tied them to the Company.

4. “Historians now have come to increasingly recognise that the typical worker in the
mid-nineteenth century was not a machine operator but the traditional craftsperson
and labourer!” Justify it by giving examples.

i. Traditional industries were deeply rooted in England. New machines could not
easily displace them. Even at the end of the 19th century, less than 20 per cent of
the total workforce was employed in technologically advanced industrial sectors.

(it) Textiles was a dynamic sector but a large portion of the output was produced
not within factories, but outside, within domestic units.
ii. New technology was expensive and merchants and industrialists were cautious
about using it. The machines often broke down and repair was costly. They were
not as effective as their inventors and manufacturers claimed.
iii. Here, the case of the steam engine is worth-mentioning. James Watt improved
the steam engine produced by Newcomen and patented the new engine in 1781.
His industrialist friend Mathew Boulton manufactured the new model. But for
years he failed to find any buyer.
iv. At the beginning of the 19th century, there were not more than 321 steam
engines all over England. So even the most powerful new technology that
enhanced the productivity of labour manifold was slow to be accepted by
industrialists.
In the light of the above we Ca say that an average worker in the mid-nineteenth
century was not machine operator but the traditional craftsperson and
labourer.

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5. Evaluate the important features of ‘proto-industrialisation phase’ in Europe.
The phase of proto-industrialisation took shape in the 17th and 18th centuries. Its
important features are given below:

i. Merchants from the towns in Europe moved to the countryside. There

they supplied money to peasants and artisans and persuaded them to
produce for an international market.
ii. Poor peasants and artisans began working for the merchants. By working
for the merchants, they could remain in the countryside and continue to
cultivate their small plots. Income from proto-industrial production
supplemented their shrinking income from cultivation. It also allowed
them a fuller use of their family labour resources.
iii. Within this system, a close relationship developed between the town and
the countryside. Merchants were based in towns but the work was done
mostly in the countryside.
iv. This system was a domestic one in which peasants and artisans usually
used primitive methods of production.

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