Class 7 History Chapter 10 Eighteenth-Century Political Formations Extra Questions and Answers
Class 7 History Chapter 10 Eighteenth-Century Political Formations extra questions and answers available here. Solving class 7 extra questions help students to revise the Chapter most competently. We prepared these questions as per the latest NCERT book and CBSE syllabus. Practicing these extra questions before the exam will ensure excellent marks in the exam.
Eighteenth-Century Political Formations Class 7 History Extra Questions and Answers
Very Short Extra Questions and Answers
1: Who imposed Chauth?
Answer: Marathas
2: Who founded Awadh?
Answer: Sa’adat Khan
3: The two noble groups to which the later Mughal emperors were puppets were Iranis and Turanis. True/ False
Answer: True
4: Sikhs organized themselves into a number of bands called_______.
Answer: Jathas
5: The independent state of Jats was established by______.
Answer: Churaman
6: Name the group that was considered as the back bone of Maratha army.
Answer: Kunbis
7: After 1708 A.D. the Sikh revolt was led by______.
Answer: Banda Bahadur
8: When did Marathas successfully raided Delhi?
Answer: 1737 AD
9: When the Third battle of Panipat did took place?
Answer: 1761
10: What was the position of Jagat Seth during the rule of Alivardi Khan?
Answer: Banker
11: The system of rakhi was introduced in Bihar. True/ False
Answer: False
12: What was the purpose of introducing system of rakhi?
Answer: By introducing the system of rakhi, the Sikhs collected 20% of the produce from the peasant as tax, on the promise of providing protection to them.
13: Kunbis were ____________
Answer: Maratha’s peasant warriors.
14: Why does the entire body of Sikhs used to meet in Amritsar at the time of Baisakhi and Diwali?
Answer: To take collective decisions known as “Resolutions of the Guru” or gurumatas.
15: Name two important trading center in the area dominating by Jats.
Answer: Panipat and Ballabharh.
16: Who was a Naib?
Answer: Deputy to the governor of the province.
17: Name a Naib of the Bengal province.
Answer: Murshid Quli Khan
18: How Saadat khan did reduced Mughal control over his state?
Answer: By reducing the number of Mughal jagirdars in Awadh
19: Where is Bharatpur fort situated?
Answer: Dig
20: Khalsa was established in__________ AD
Answer: 1699 AD
21: Why were ijaradars appointed by Nawab in Awadh?
Answer: Ijaradars to minimize the influence of Mughal jagirdars. These ijaradars had the responsibility to collect revenue from the peasants and paid a fixed amount to the state.
22: Burhan ul Mulk Sa’adat Khan founded the state of_________.
Answer: Awadh
23: Nadir Shah was a ruler of ___________.
Answer: Iran
24: Who established the independent Sikh state of Punjab?
Answer: Maharaja Ranjit Singh
25: Who seized the rich province of the Punjab and the Sarkar of Sirhind from the Mughals in mid of the 17th century?
Answer: Ahmed Shah Abdali
26: Where was the capital of Maratha kingdom under the rule of Peshwa?
Answer: Poona
27: Churaman was a Maratha leader. True/ False.
Answer: False
28: Who built new forts at Deeg?
Answer: Suraj Mal
29: Name the son of Nadir Shah
Answer: Jawahir Shah
30: Name The Persian ruler, who raided India for the first time.
Answer: Nadir Shah
31: State the collective name given to the whole army of the “misls”.
Answer: dal Khalsa
32: The Capital of Maharaja Ranjit Singh was located at _________.
Answer: Lahore
33: Name the Maratha chiefs who made Baroda their seat of power.
Answer: Gaekwad
34: The capital of Sawai Raja Jai Singh was_________.
Answer: Amber
35: Name the governor of Malwa who founded his new capital at Jaipur.
Answer: Sawai Raja Jai Singh.
Short Extra Questions and Answers
1. Where was Bharatpur fort built?
Answer: Bharatpur fort was built at Dig.
2. Who was Jawahir Shah?
Answer: Jawahir Shah was son of Nadir Shah.
3. When was khalsa established?
Answer: The Khalsa tradition was initiated in 1699.
4. When was Banda Bahadur captured and executed?
Answer: Banda Bahadur was captured in 1715 and executed in 1716.
5. When was the third battle of Panipat fought?
Answer: The third battle of Panipat took place in 1761.
6. Where did Sawai Raja Jai Singh found his new capital?
Answer: Sawai Raja Jai Singh founded his new capital at Jaipur.
7. Name two important trading centres in the areas dominated by Jats.
Answer: Panipat and Ballabhgarh became important trading centres in the areas dominated by Jats.
8. What was the result of Aurangzeb’s long war in the Deccan?
Answer: Emperor Aurangzeb had depleted the military and financial resources of his empire by fighting a long war in the Deccan.
9. Why was system called rakhi introduced?
Answer: A system called rakhi was introduced, offering protection to cultivators on the payment of a tax of 20 per cent of the produce.
10. What was chauth?
Answer: 25 per cent of the land revenue claimed by zamindars was called chauth. In the Deccan this was collected by the Marathas.
11. What was Sardeshmukhi?
Answer: 9-10 per cent of the land revenue paid to the head revenue collector in the Deccan was called Sardeshmukhi.
12. What was the geographical and economic importance of Awadh?
Answer: Awadh was a prosperous region, controlling the rich alluvial Ganga plain and the main trade route between north India and Bengal.
13. Why did the Nawabs of Awadh and Bengal try to do away with the jagirdari system?
Answer: The Nawabs of Awadh and Bengal try to do away with the jagirdari system in order to decrease Mughal influence in the Awadh region.
14. Who seized the rich province of the Punjab and the Sarkar of Sirhind from the Mughals in mid of the 17th century?
Answer: Ahmad Shah Abdali had seized the rich province of the Punjab and the Sarkar of Sirhind from the Mughals.
15. Name the new social groups that developed in Awadh to influence the management of the state’s revenue system.
Answer: New social groups, like moneylenders and bankers were developed to influence the management of the state’s revenue system.
16. How were peasant-pastoralists important for Shivaji?
Answer: Groups of highly mobile, peasantpastoralists (kunbis) provided the backbone of the Maratha army. Shivaji used these forces to challenge the Mughals in the peninsula.
17: Who were the “Subedars”?
Answer: The “subedars” were basically the mansabdars, who enjoyed great power in their respective provinces and performed both the civil and the military duties. They were directly appointed by the emperors.
18. What were the policies adopted by Asaf Jah to strengthen his position?
Answer: Asaf Jah brought skilled soldiers and administrators from northern India who welcomed the new opportunities in the south. He appointed mansabdars and granted jagirs.
19. What were the offices held by Sa‘adat Khan?
Answer: Sa‘adat Khan held the combined offices of subadari, diwani and faujdari. In other words, he was responsible for managing the political, financial and military affairs of the province of Awadh.
20. Who ruled the Maratha kingdom after the death of Shivaji?
Answer: After Shivaji’s death, effective power in the Maratha state was wielded by a family of Chitpavan Brahmanas who served Shivaji’s successors as Peshwa (or principal minister). Poona became the capital of the Maratha kingdom.
21. Why zamindars of Bengal had to borrow money from bankers and moneylenders?
Answer: Revenue was collected in cash with great strictness from all zamindars. As a result, many zamindars had to borrow money from bankers and moneylenders.
22. Name the three states that were carved out of the old Mughal provinces in the 18th century and stand out very prominently.
Answer: Amongst the states that were carved out of the old Mughal provinces in the eighteenth century, three stand out very prominently. These were Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad.
23. What was the ambition of the Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah? Why was his ambition not fulfilled?
Answer: The ambitions of the Nizam to control the rich textile-producing areas of the Coromandel coast in the east were checked by the British who were becoming increasingly powerful in that region.
24. Write a short note on administration of Marathas.
Answer: The Marathas developed an effective administrative system as well. They introduced revenue demands gradually taking local conditions into account. Agriculture was encouraged and trade revived. This allowed Maratha chiefs (sardars) to raise powerful armies.
Long Extra Questions and Answers
1. Why did the Marathas want to expand beyond the Deccan?
Answer: Marathas wanted to expand beyond the Deccan for power and authority. It gradually chipped away at the authority of the Mughal Empire. By the 1720s, they seized Malwa and Gujarat from the Mughals and by the 1730s, the Maratha king was recognised as the overlord of the entire Deccan peninsula. He possessed the right to levy chauth and sardeshmukhi in the entire region.
2. What was the impact of Nadir Shah’s invasion upon Delhi?
Or
Which foreign invaders arrived in the middle of the economic and political crisis in 1739?
Answer: In the midst of this economic and political crisis, the ruler of Iran, Nadir Shah, sacked and plundered the city of Delhi in 1739 and took away immense amounts of wealth. This invasion was followed by a series of plundering raids by the Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Abdali, who invaded north India five times between 1748 and 1761.
3. Who established a stable Maratha kingdom and how?
Answer: The Maratha kingdom was another powerful regional kingdom to arise out of a sustained opposition to Mughal rule. Shivaji (1627-1680) carved out a stable kingdom with the support of powerful warrior families (deshmukhs). Groups of highly mobile, peasantpastoralists (kunbis) provided the backbone of the Maratha army. Shivaji used these forces to challenge the Mughals in the peninsula.
4. Highlight the steps taken by Murshid Quli Khan to decrease Mughal influence in Bengal.
Or
How did Murshid Quli Khan decrease the Mughal influence in Bengal?
Answer: In an effort to reduce Mughal influence in Bengal he transferred all Mughal jagirdars to Orissa and ordered a major reassessment of the revenues of Bengal. Revenue was collected in cash with great strictness from all zamindars. As a result, many zamindars had to borrow money from bankers and moneylenders. Those unable to pay were forced to sell their lands to larger zamindars.
5. How did Burhan-ul-Mulk reduce Mughal influence in the Awadh region?
Or
Enumerate the steps taken by Saadat Khan to reduce Mughal influence in Awadh.
Or
How did Saadat Khan try to decrease the Mughal influence in the Awadh region?
Answer: Burhan-ul-Mulk tried to decrease Mughal influence in the Awadh region by reducing the number of office holders (jagirdars) appointed by the Mughals. He also reduced the size of jagirs, and appointed his own loyal servants to vacant positions. The accounts of jagirdars were checked to prevent cheating and the revenues of all districts were reassessed by officials appointed by the Nawab’s court.
6. Who were the very powerful governors of Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad among the early and later Mughal rulers?
Answer: All three states were founded by members of the high Mughal nobility who had been governors of large provinces – Sa‘adat Khan (Awadh), Murshid Quli Khan (Bengal) and Asaf Jah (Hyderabad). All three had occupied high mansabdari positions and enjoyed the trust and confidence of the emperors. Both Asaf Jah and Murshid Quli Khan held a zat rank of 7,000 each, while Sa’adat Khan’s zat was 6,000.
7. How did Murshid Quli Khan become powerful in Bengal?
Answer: Bengal gradually broke away from Mughal control under Murshid Quli Khan who was appointed as the naib, deputy to the governor of the province. Although never a formal subadar, Murshid Quli Khan very quickly seized all the power that went with that office. In an effort to reduce Mughal influence in Bengal he transferred all Mughal jagirdars to Orissa and ordered a major reassessment of the revenues of Bengal. Revenue was collected in cash with great strictness from all zamindars.
8. Who were the Jats? How did they consolidate their power during the late 17th and 18th centuries?
Answer: The Jats were prosperous agriculturists. They consolidated their power during the late seventeenth and eighteenth-centuries. Under their leader, Churaman, they acquired control over territories situated to the west of the city of Delhi, and by the 1680s they had begun dominating the region between the two imperial cities of Delhi and Agra. Towns like Panipat and Ballabhgarh became important trading centres in the areas dominated by them. Under Suraj Mal the kingdom of Bharatpur emerged as a strong state.
9. How were the Sikhs organised in the eighteenth century?
Answer: Under a number of able leaders in the eighteenth century, the Sikhs organized themselves into a number of bands called jathas, and later on misls. Their combined forces were known as the grand army (dal khalsa). The entire body used to meet at Amritsar at the time of Baisakhi and Diwali to take collective decisions known as “resolutions of the Guru (gurmatas)”. A system called rakhi was introduced, offering protection to cultivators on the payment of a tax of 20 per cent of the produce.
10. Why did the Mughals lose their power by the eighteenth century?
Or
How did the later Mughal emperors lose their control over their nobles?
Answer: Under later Mughal emperors, the efficiency of the imperial administration broke down. It became increasingly difficult for the later Mughal emperors to keep a check on their powerful mansabdars. Nobles appointed as governors (subadars) often controlled the offices of revenue and military administration (diwani and faujdari) as well. This gave them extraordinary political, economic and military powers over vast regions of the Mughal Empire. As the governors consolidated their control over the provinces, the periodic remission of revenue to the capital declined.
11. How did moneylenders and bankers achieve influential position in the state of Awadh?
Answer: The state depended on local bankers and mahajans for loans. It sold the right to collect tax to the highest bidders. These “revenue farmers” (ijaradars) agreed to pay the state a fixed sum of money. Local bankers guaranteed the payment of this contracted amount to the state. In turn, the revenue-farmers were given considerable freedom in the assessment and collection of taxes. These developments allowed new social groups, like moneylenders and bankers, to influence the management of the state’s revenue system, something which had not occurred in the past.
12. What were the different overlapping group of states that emerged in the 18th Century after the decline of the Mughal Empire?
Or
Divide the states of the eighteenth century into three overlapping groups.
Answer: Broadly speaking the states of the eighteenth century can be divided into three overlapping groups:
(i) States that were old Mughal provinces like Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad. Although extremely powerful and quite independent, the rulers of these states did not break their formalties with the Mughal emperor.
(ii) States that had enjoyed considerable independence under the Mughals as watan jagirs. These included several Rajput principalities.
(iii) The last group included states under the control of Marathas, Sikhs and others like the Jats. These were of differing sizes and had seized their independence from the Mughals after a long-drawn armed struggle.
13. Write a short note on expansion of Maratha Empire between 1720 and 1761.
Or
Give an account of the Maratha expansion occurred between 1720 and 1761.
Answer: Between 1720 and 1761, the Maratha empire expanded. It gradually chipped away at the authority of the Mughal Empire. Malwa and Gujarat were seized from the Mughals by the 1720s. By the 1730s, the Maratha king was recognised as the overlord of the entire Deccan peninsula. After raiding Delhi in 1737 the frontiers of Maratha domination expanded rapidly: into Rajasthan and the Punjab in the north; into Bengal and Orissa in the east; and into Karnataka and the Tamil and Telugu countries in the south. These were not formally included in the Maratha empire, but were made to pay tribute as a way of accepting Maratha sovereignty.
14. Discuss the factors that led to the decline of Mughal Empire.
Or
The Mughal Empire had to face a variety of crises towards the closing years of the 17th century. What were the causes behind it?
Answer: Mughal Empire faced crisis caused by a number of factors towards the end of the seventeenth century.
- Aurangzeb depleted military and financial resources of his empire by fighting a long war in the Deccan.
- It became increasingly difficult for later Mughal Emperors to keep a check on powerful mansabdars.
- The Governors established independent kingdoms in different areas.
- Mounting taxes led to Peasants and zamindari rebellions.
- Nadir Shah sacked and plundered the city of Delhi in 1739 and took away immense amounts of wealth.
- This invasion was followed by series of plundering raids by the Afghan ruler, Ahmad Shah Abdali, who invaded north India five times between 1748 and 1761.The empire was further weakened by the competition amongst different groups of nobles.
15. Describe the three common features of the states like Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad.
Or
State the three common features between the states Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad.
Or
What are the common features of the three regional states of Bengal, Awadh and Hyderabad?
Answer: Three common features amongst these states were:
(i) Though many of the larger states were established by erstwhile Mughal nobles they were highly suspicious of some of the administrative systems that they had inherited, in particular the jagirdari system.
(ii) Their method of tax collection differed. Rather than relying upon the officers of the state, all three regimes contracted with revenue-farmers for the collection of revenue. The practice of ijaradari, thoroughly disapproved of by the Mughals, spread all over India in the eighteenth century. Their impact on the countryside differed considerably.
(iii) The third common feature in all these regional states was their emerging relationship with rich bankers and merchants. These people lent money to revenue farmers, received land as security and collected taxes from these lands through their own agents. Throughout India the richest merchants and bankers were gaining a stake in the new political order.