Write in Brief
Question 1.
Give two reasons why the
population of London”expanded from the middle of the eighteenth century.
Answer:
- Industrialisation opened avenues for job opportunities – this led to expansion of population.
- Urbanisation as cause and effect of industrialisation helped the population of London grow in number.
Question 2.
What were the changes in the
kind of the work available to women in London between the 19th and the 20th
century? Explain the factors which led to this change.
Answer:
Technological developments forced
women to leave their industrial jobs which hitherto they had been doing. The
large number of children, pushed into the factories by their parents, on
low-paid wages also forced women to leave their jobs in the factories. These
led the women to enter into domestic domain to work as maidservants. Wartime
conditions were responsible for women to work in wartime industries and leave
domestic services.
Question 3.
How does the existence of a
large urban population affect each of the following? Illustrate with
historical examples.
(a) A private
landlord.
(b) A Police Superintendent in
charge of law and order.
(c) A leader of a
political party.
Answer:
(a) A private landlord puts up cheap tenements for the workers working in
the factories.
(b) A Police Superintendent has to maintain law and order. Usually, overcrowding leads to the committing of crimes in the Cities, as it really was the position. In 1870s, London alone had about 20000 criminals. He has to manage the situation in case of the worker’ strike.
(c) Political parties and their leaders mobilise the population in their favour-oftenly, they instigate people to launch movements and master public support.
Question 4.
Give explanations for the
following:
(a) Why well-off Londoners
supported the need to build housing for the poor in the nineteenth century,
(b) Why a number of Bombay films were about the lives of migrants.
(c) What led to the major expansion of Bombay’s population in the
mid-nineteenth century.
Answer:
(a) The well-off Londoners supported the need to build housing for the poor
in the nineteenth century for numerous reasons.
These were as : First, the vast mass’ of one-room houses occupied by the
poor were seen as a serious threat to public health: they were overcrowded,
badly ventilated, and lacked sanitation. Second, there were worries about fire
hazards created by poor housing. Third, there was a widespread fear of social
disorder, especially after the Russian Revolution in 1917. Workers’ mass
housing schemes were planned to prevent the London poor from turning
rebellious.
(b) Most of the people in the film industry were themselves migrants who came from cities like Lahore, Calcutta, Madras and contributed to the national character of the industry. Those who came from Lahore, then in Punjab, were especially important for the development of the Hindi film industry. Many famous writers like Ismat Chughtai and Saadat Hasan Manto, were associated with Hindi cinema.
(c) These are numerous reasons which were responsible for the expansion of Bombay’s population in the mid 19th century. With the growth of trade in cotton and opium, the traders and bankers, artisans and shopkeepers, a large number of people came to settle in Bombay during the nineteenth century.
Discuss
Question 1.
What forms of entertainment came
up in nineteenth-century England to provide leisure activities for the
people.
Answer:
Numerous forms of entertainment came up in the nineteenth century England.
Common people had newer types of entertainment. Libraries, art galleries and
museums began functioning, People, thus, came to know about their history,
culture, art, and as how their ancestors lived their lives.
People, in lakhs, visited the museums, Music-halls became popular with the lower classes, cinemas and theatres were other sources of entertainment. The industrial workers used to spend their holidays by the sea enjoying the sun, An estimate is that about 10 lakh people went to sea side at Blackpool in 1883; this number went up to about 70 lakh in 1939.
Question 2.
Explain the social changes in
London which led to the for the underground railway. Why was the development
of the underground criticised?
Answer:
With industrialisation, the workers, in thousands could hardly find place to
live. Many of them began settling in suburbs, away from their factories, while
others lived and slept in the gardens nearby. Such social changes could not be
allowed for long. The London underground railway solved the problems,
partially for it would bring and take people to and from the place of work and
the place they lived.
The development of the underground railway was criticized because numerous facilities were not available to the passengers; health care was not taken care of; there was a lot of suffocation, smoke, and those who travelled in the train began complaining. The iron monsters added to the unhealthiness of the city. For contracting railway of two miles, about 900 houses were destroyed: heaps of earth and clay made”their disposal difficult.
Question 3.
Explain what is meant by the
Haussmanisation of Paris. To what extent would you support or oppose this form
of development? Write a letter to the editor of a newspaper, to either support
or oppose this, giving reasons for your view.
Answer:
By Haussianisation of Paris, it is
meant designing Paris a new. The chief architect of the new Paris was Baron
Haussmann who built the capital fresh on modern lines while beautifying the
city. However, the process did mean displacement but made the city a hub of
new architectural, social and intellectual development.
It gave people the employment, while it displaced many. What was wrong was that force and violence was used in the whole enterprise We can write a letter about the whole episode to the editor of a newspaper as this: New construction always brings displacement. What was done by Baron Haussmann in redesigning Paris afresh and anew is no exception.
The exercise did give jobs to many, but in the process, it displaced about 350,00 people away from the centre of Paris. The enterprise gave Paris wide and long road but made the people walk miles away to bring home eatables. The exercise made Paris a hub of activity, but the cost was the use of force and violence.
Question 4.
To what extent does government
regulation and new laws solve problems of population? Discuss one example each
of the success and failure of legislation to change the quality of
(a) public life
(b) private life.
Answer:
For solving the problems of
pollution the governmental regulations made numerous efforts and newer laws
were also made in this respect. For public life, common gardens and parks were
designed; open spaces were utilized so to beautify cities: decongestion steps
were taken; rent control laws were formulated.
These are some examples of solving pollution problems in Britain. For individuals, apartments were made so to enable the common poor people have shelter. And yet the benefits of all these legislations went to the rich who entered the construction industry and profited a lot.