NCERT Solutions for Class 9 Social Science History Chapter 4 Forest Society and Colonialism

Forest Society and Colonialism Class 9 Questions and Answers Provided helps you to answer complex Questions too easily. You can use them while preparing for board exams and all of them are given by subject experts. Reading NCERT Solutions for Class 9 Social Science History Chapter 4 Forest Society and Colonialism familiarizes you with the kind of questions appearing in the board exams. Students are advised to read these solutions on a regular basis to score well.

Forest Society and Colonialism Class 9 Questions and Answers History Chapter 4

Make your learning experience enjoyable by preparing from the quick links available on this page. Use the Class 9 SST History Chapter 4 NCERT Solutions and get to know different concepts involved. All the Solutions are covered as per the latest syllabus guidelines. Knowing the NCERT Class 9 History Chapter 4 Questions and Answers helps students to attempt the exam with confidence.

Forest Society and Colonialism NCERT Intext Questions and Answers

Question 1.
If you were the Government of India in 1862 and responsible for supplying the railways with sleepers and fuel on such a large scale, what were the steps you would have taken?
Answer:

  • Trees of same nature would have been planted in order to maintain the forest cover.
  • Restrictions would have been put on forest people to discourage them from trading in wood.
  • Poachers would have been prevented from entering the forests.

NCERT Solutions for Class 9 Social Science History Chapter 4 Forest Society and Colonialism

Question 2.
Children living around forest areas can often identify hundreds of species of trees and plants. How many species of trees can you name?
Answer:
Do it yourself.

History Class 9 Chapter 4 NCERT Textbook Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Discuss how the changes in forest management in the colonial period affected the following groups of people:
(i) Shifting cultivators
(ii) Nomadic and pastoralist communities
(iii) Firms trading in timber (forest produce)
(iv) Plantation owners
(v) Kings/British officials engaged in Shikar (hunting)
Answer:
(i) Shifting Cultivators – European foresters regarded shifting cultivation as harmful for the forests. So, they banned this practice. As a result, many communities were forcibly displaced from their homes in the forests. Some changed their occupations, while some resisted through large and small rebellions.

(ii) Nomadic and pastoralist communities – The forest laws deprived these people of their customary rights. This caused severe hardships for them. They could not cut wood for their houses, could not graze their cattle or collect fruits and roots. Hunting and fishing were declared illegal. These developments forced them to steal wood. If they were caught, they were at the mercy of the forest guards and they would have to offer bribes to the guards.

(iii) Many pastoralist and nomadic communities like the Korava, Karacha and Yerukula of the Madras Presidency lost their livelihoods. Some of them began to be called ‘criminal tribes’, and were forced to work instead in factories, mines and plantations, under government supervision. They were also recruited to work in plantations. Their wages were low and conditions of work were very bad. They could not return easily to their home villages from where they had been recruited.

NCERT Solutions for Class 9 Social Science History Chapter 4 Forest Society and Colonialism

(iv) Firms trading in timber/forest produce—The British government gave many large European trading firms the sole right to trade in the forest products of particular areas. The government gave contracts to contractors who cut trees indiscriminately and made huge profits.

(v) Plantation owners – Large areas of natural forests were cleared to make way for tea, coffee and rubber plantations to meet Europe’s growing need for these commodities. The colonial government took over the forests, and gave vast areas to European planters at cheap rates. These areas were enclosed and cleared of forests, and planted with tea or coffee. The plantation owners recruited both men and women from forest communities to work on their plantations. They gave them low wages and thus made huge profits.

(vi) Kings/British officials engaged in Shikar (hunting) – In India, Shikar or hunting of tigers and other animals had been part of the culture of the court and nobility for centuries. Many Mughal paintings shows princes and emperors enjoying a hunt. But under colonial rule the scale of hunting increased to such an extent that various species became almost extinct. The British saw large animals as signs of a wild, primitive and savage society. They gave rewards for the killing of tigers, wolves and other large animals on the grounds that they posed a threat to cultivators.

Question 2.
What are the similarities between colonial management of the forests in Bastar and in Java?
Answer:
Colonial management of the forests in Bastar was in the hands of the British and in Java it was in the hands of the Dutch. There are following similarities between the two—
(i) Like the British, the Dutch wanted timber from Java to build ships and to make sleepers for railway tracks.

(ii) Both the British and the Dutch enacted forest laws to control the forests in their favour. Both colonial governments put restrictions on the customary rights of the local people. They were prevented from entering the forests.

(iii) Both the British and the Dutch introduced scientific forestry, in which natural forests which had lots of different types of trees were cut down. In their place, one type of tree was planted in straight rows.

(iv) Both the governments banned shifting cultivation.

(v) When the colonial exploitation became too much, the forest communities in Bastar and Java revolted. Both the revolts were suppressed.

NCERT Solutions for Class 9 Social Science History Chapter 4 Forest Society and Colonialism

Question 3.
Between 1880 and 1920, forest cover in the Indian subcontinent declined by 9.7 million hectares, from 108.6 million hectares to 98.9 million hectares. Discuss the role of the following
factors in this decline-
(i) Railways
(ii) Shipbuilding
(iii) Agricultural expansion
(iv) Commercial farming
(v) Tea/Coffee plantations
(v) Adivasis and other peasant users
Answer:
(i) Railways – The spread of the railways from the 1850s became a necessity with increase in trade and transportation. Railways were essential for colonial trade and for the movement of imperial troops. To run locomotives, wood was needed as fuel, and to lay railway lines sleepers were essential to hold the tracks together. From the 1860s, the railway network expanded rapidly. By 1890, about 25,500 km of track had been laid. In 1946, the length of the tracks had increased to over 765,000 km. As the railway tracks spread through India, a larger and large number of trees were felled. Forests around the railway tracks fast started disappearing.

(ii) Shipbuilding – The British Government needed huge ships for its Royal Navy. Ships are built of strong, durable timber. When the oak forests in England began to disappear the British attacked the forest resources in India. By the 1830s, trees were felled on a massive scale and vast quantities of timber were exported to England from India.

(iii) Agricultural expansion – As population increased over the centuries, demand for food also increased. To meet the increased demand for food more and land to be cultivated. But we should not forget that for land to be brought under the plough, forests have to be cleared.

(iv) Commercial farming – During the colonial period the demand for commercial crops like jute, sugar, wheat and cotton increased. Europe needed more food grain for its growing population and more raw material for its growing industrial production. So, forests were cleared to enable commercial farming.

(v) Tea/Coffee plantations – Large areas of natural forests were cleared to cultivate tea and coffee as there was a great demand for these commodities in Europe. The colonial government took over the forests, and gave vast areas to European planters at cheap rates. These areas were cleared of forests and planted with tea or coffee.

(vi) Adivasis and other Peasant users – In most parts of the world, shifting cultivation was done by the Adivasis and other peasant communities in India also. We know that in shifting cultivation, parts of the forest are cut and burnt in rotation. Seeds were sown in the ashes after the first monsoon rains and the crop was harvested by October-November. When fertility decreased, the process was repeated at another location. This practice led to the depletion of forests on a large scale.

NCERT Solutions for Class 9 Social Science History Chapter 4 Forest Society and Colonialism

Question 4.
Why are forest affected by wars?
Answer:
(i) Forests are affected by wars because forest products are needed for fulfilling various war requirements. The two world wars had a major impact on forests. In India, at this time, the forest department cut trees freely to meet British war needs.

(ii) During the Second World War in Java just before the Japanese occupied the region, the Dutch followed ‘a scorched earth policy’, destroying sawmills and burning huge piles of giant teak logs so that they did not fall into Japanese hands.

(iii) The Japanese exploited the forests recklessly for their war industries, forcing villagers to cut down forests. Many villagers took this opportunity to expand cultivation in the forests. Thus, wars also lead to the depletion of forests.

Class 9 History Chapter 4 NCERT Intext Activity Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Have there been changes in forest areas where you live? Find out what these changes are and why they have happened?
Answer:
Everywhere on the earth there have been changes in forest areas. Such changes can be seen in my town too.
Some of them are-

  • Entry to forest area is restricted. The Forest Department has posted guards to check any illegal entry.
  • The natives of the forests are gradually leaving their traditional occupations and moving to the towns/cities in pursuit of better opportunities.
  • The number of wild animals and birds are decreasing.
  • As deforestation on large scale has caused environmental degradation, therefore afforestation is being encouraged.
  • Van Mahotsava is being organised time to time to spread awareness among common people.

NCERT Solutions for Class 9 Social Science History Chapter 4 Forest Society and Colonialism

Question 2.
Write a dialogue between a colonial forester and an adivasi discussing the issue of hunting in the forest.
Answer:
Prepare the dialogue yourself.

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