NCERT Class 7 History Chapter 6 - Towns, Traders and Craftpersons

Chapter 6 - Towns, Traders and Craftpersons

Question 1: Why do you think towns grew around the temple?
Answer: Towns grew around the temple because temple was central to economy and society. Temple authorities used their wealth to finance trade and banking. Also the large number of pilgrim provided ample opportunities for traders and artisans to conduct business.

Question 2: Why did people from distant lands visit Surat?
Answer: People from distant lands visit Surat because it was a gateway to trade with West Asia. It was famous for its zari textiles which had a market in West Asia, Africa and Europe.

Question 3: Describe various functions of small towns.
Answer:
• From the eighth century onwards the Indian subcontinent had several small towns.
• They probably emerged from large villages.
• They usually had a mandapika to which nearby villagers brought their produce to sell.
• They also had market streets called hatta lined with shops.
• There was also streets for different kinds of artisans like potters, oil pressers, sugar makers etc.
• Some of the traders lived in towns.
• Others travelled town to town.
• Many came from far and near to these towns to buy local articles and sell products of distant places like horse, salt and saffron.

Question 4: Describe Surat as a gateway to the West.
Answer: Surat was a gateway for trade with West Asia via Gulf of Ormuz. Surat had been called the gateway of Mecca because many pilgrims set sail from here. Textiles of Surat were famous for their gold lace border i.e. Zari and had a market in West Asia, Africa and Europe.

Question 5: Give an account of the architecture of Hampi.
Answer: The architecture of Hampi was distinctive in several ways:
• Hampi was a well fortified city. No mortars or cementing agent was used in the construction of these walls. The technique followed was to wedge them by inter-locking.
• The building in the royal complex had splendid arches, domes and pillared halls with niches for holding sculptures.
• They also had well-planned orchards and pleasure gardens with sculptural motifs such as the lotus and corbels.

Question 6: What made the city of Masulipatnam populous and prosperous?
Answer: The city of Masulipatnam was a center of intense activity during the 17th century. Both the Dutch and the English East India conpanies attempted to control this city as it became the most important part of the Andhra coast. Qutb Shah rulers of Golconda imposed royal monopolies on the sale of textiles, spices and other to prevent the trade from passing completely into the hands of the various East India Conpanies. This led to fierce competition among various  trading groups such as the Golconda nobles, Persian merchants, Telugu Komati Chettis and European traders. As a result, the city became populous and prosperous.

Question 7: How did the system of advances snatch the freedom of weavers?
Answer: The Indian textiles were in the great demand in the European markets. As a result, the English begin to make attempt to control the Indian craftpersons by appointing Indian traders as their agents. They introduced the system of advances under which weavers had to weave cloth which was already promised to the European agents. Weavers no longer had the liberty of selling their cloth or weaving their patterns. Instead, they had to reproduce the designs supplied to them by the company agents. This system snatched the freedom of the weavers. They began to be guided by someone else.

Question 8: Define the word 'Hundi'.
Answer: Hundi is a note recording a deposit made by a person. The amount deposited can be claimed in another place by presenting the record of the deposit.