Chapter 1 class 7 History

Class 7

Chapter 1 (History)

Tracing Changes through a Thousand years

Worksheet

Q1. Fill in the blanks:-

1.      The ‘Persian wheel’ was used for ______, spinning wheel for ____ and firearms in _____. (irrigation, weaving, combat)

2.      Rajput was the name derived from the word ____ which meant ‘son of a ruler’.(Rajaputra)

3.      Change in ___ forced forests dwellers to migrate.(habitats)

4.      Ancient name of Bengal was ___.(Gauda)

5.      ____ language was considered as the elite class language.(Sanskrit)

6.      Awadhi was predominantly spoken in eastern ___.(Uttar Pradesh)

7.      Archives are places where ___ and ___ are kept.(documents, monuments)

8.      ______ was a fourteenth century chronicler. (Ziyauddin Barani)

9.      _____, ______, ______, ______ and ______ were some of the new crops introduced into the subcontinent during this period.(potatoes, corns, chillies, tea, coffee)

Q2. Write (Y) for the statement and (N) for the wrong statement:-

1.      We do not find inscriptions for the period after 700 A.D.                             [F]

2.      The Marathas asserted their political importance during this period.          [T]

3.      Forest dwellers were sometimes pushed out of their lands with the spread of agriculture settlements.                                                                                                            [T]

4.      Sultan Ghiyasuddin Balban controlled Assam, Manipur and Kashmir.          [F]

Q3. Multiple Choice Questions:-

1.      Al-idrisi was a ____

a.      Geographer   b. Historian  c. Ruler    d. Poet                                            (a)

2.      Minhaj-i-Siraj was a Persian_____

a.      Chronicler      b. cartographer      c. story writer    d. foreigner                (a)

3.      ______ used the term ‘Hindustan’ in thirteenth century.

a.      Minhaj-i-Siraj   b. Babur   c. Amir khusrau   d. none of these                   (a)

4.      Ajnabi is a _____ word used for a stranger.

a.      Persian   b. Urdu   c. Hindi   d. Awadhi                                                      (a)

Q4. Define the following terms:-

1.      Cartographer: - A person who makes maps is called cartographer.

2.      Archives: - A place where documents and manuscripts are stored. Today all national and state governments have archives where they keep their old official records.

3.      Manuscripts :-

Q5. Answer the following questions in brief (in 1 or 2 lines):-

1.      Name the Arab geographer who prepared a map of the India subcontinent in 1154.

Ans: Al Idrisi.

2.      Name some sources that gave information about the past.

Ans: Coins, inscription, manuscripts, architects and textual records.

3.      Who were the patrons?

Ans: Patron means an influential, wealthy individual who supports another person- an artiste, a craftsperson, a learned man, or a noble.

4.      Name of the person who first bought the teachings of holy Quran to India.

Ans: Merchants and migrants

5.      Who were the Ulama?

Ans: Ulamas were the learned theologians and jurists.

6.      Name the two sects of Islam?

Ans: Shia (who believed in Prophet Muhammad’s son in law, Ali)

Sunni (who accepted the authority of the early leader, khalifa)

7.      In how many periods did the British divide the History of India?

Ans: The British divided the Indian History into 3 periods: “Hindu”, “Muslim” and “British”. The division was based on the idea that religion of rulers was the only important historical change.

8.      Who was considered a “foreigner” in the past?

Ans: In the past a foreigner was someone who was not a part of certain society or culture. A city dweller might have regarded a forest dweller as a foreigner.

9.       What was the term ‘pan- regional’ empire mean?

Ans: The term pan-regional applied to an empire which stretches over many regions. The Mughal Empire is a good example of such an empire.

10.  List some of the technological changes associated with the period (from 700 and 1750).

Ans: Persian wheel for irrigation, spinning wheel for weaving and fire arms for combat.

11.  Name the new food and beverages that arrived in the Indian sub-continent.

Ans: Potatoes, chillie, corn, tea and coffee.

Q6. Answer the following questions in detail (in 70 to 80 words):-

1.      Why did Brahmana become important in Hindu Society in the early 8^thcentury?

Ans: Brahamanas became important in Hindu society in the early century because of their knowledge of Sanskrit text. Their dominant position was established by the support of their patrons.

2.      What were some of the major religious developments during the period?

Ans: During this period important changes occurred in Hinduism. These included the worship of new deities, construction of temples by royalty and growing importance of Brahamanas.

One of the major developments of this period was the emergence of the idea of bhakti.

Merchants and migrants brought the teachings of Holy Quran.

Islam was interpreted in variety of ways by its followers. 

3.      How do historians divide the past into periods? Do they face any problem in doing so?

Ans: Historians divide the past into periods based on the economic and social factors. In doing so they faced two problems. First, economic and social changes keep taking place hence definite boundaries cannot be drawn. Second, these periods are compared with modernity, which gives sense of progress. This implies that there was no progress before, which was not true.

The British historians divided the History into three periods, “Hindu”, “Muslims” and “British”. This division was based on the religion of the rulers. While in this division they ignored the rich diversity of the subcontinent.

Hence it is very difficult to describe the entire period as one historical unit.

4.      What are sources? What information do these sources about the past? How are these sources helpful to historians?

Ans: Sources are the things that make some work easy. Here we are talking about the historical sources like coins, inscriptions, textual records, architecture etc. These sorces help the historians to recollect the past and interpret the past incidents in a very organized manner.

5.      What are the difficulties historians face in using manuscripts?

Ans: Manuscripts, in early days, were handwritten. The historians used to copy down those manuscripts. Different historians presented their version in their own way as many of the words or sentences were beyond their understanding. So they copied what they understood. Later it was difficult to recognize which one was the original manuscript. So historians interpreted the facts as per the copy they got. Hence we find a number of facts with different illustrations.

6.     In what ways has the meaning of the term “Hindustan “changed over the centuries?

Ans: The term ‘Hindustan” was used for the first time by Minhaj-i- Siraj, a thirteen century Persian chronicler. He, with this term, meant the area of Punjab, Haryana and the lands between Ganga and Yamuna. Thus it was used for the lands under the Delhi Sultanate and it never included south India.

Babur used this term to describe the geography, the fauna and the culture of the inhabitants of the sub-continent.

In 14^th century poet Amir Khusrau used the word ‘Hind’ for culture and people of Indus River.

Earlier, the term “Hindustan” never carried the political and national meaning which we associate with it today. But now this term is used for nowadays India.