NCERT Solutions Class 10 Social Science India And The Contemporary World Chapter 4 The Age of Industrialisation

The Age of Industrialisation explains how machines, factories and railways became symbols of modern progress.
These NCERT Solutions help students answer Chapter 4 questions on workers, weavers, colonial trade and industrial growth.

Chapter 4 The Age of Industrialisation does not treat factories as the only sign of industry. It first shows how merchants, peasants and artisans produced goods before factory production spread. The chapter then compares Britain’s slow industrial change with India’s colonial experience. Students learn why hand labour survived, why women attacked the Spinning Jenny, how gomasthas controlled weavers, and how Manchester cloth damaged Indian textile markets. These answers follow the 2026-27 NCERT exercise order and help students connect events with causes.

Key Takeaways

• Proto-industrialisation: Production for international markets existed before factories spread in Europe.
• Hand labour: British industrialists used workers when machines were costly or designs needed skill.
• Indian textiles: Indian silk and cotton goods dominated international markets before machine-made imports grew.
• Colonial markets: Manchester cloth entered India and weakened many Indian weavers.

NCERT Solutions Class 10 Social Science India And The Contemporary World Chapter 4 Structure 2026-27

The Age of Industrialisation Exercise Answers

The NCERT exercise tests cause-and-effect links, not only definitions. These NCERT Solutions for Class 10 History Chapter 4 The Age of Industrialisation explain each event through workers, markets and colonial power.

Q1. Explain the following.

(a) Women workers in Britain attacked the Spinning Jenny.

Answer: Women workers attacked the Spinning Jenny because it threatened hand spinning.

Many women earned money by spinning thread at home. The Spinning Jenny allowed one worker to spin several threads together.

This reduced the need for hand spinners. Women feared unemployment and lower household income.

Their anger came from the loss of work, not only fear of machines.

(b) In the seventeenth century, merchants from towns in Europe began employing peasants and artisans within villages.

Answer: Merchants moved production to villages because town guilds restricted new business.

Urban guilds controlled training, production, prices and entry into trades. New merchants could not easily expand production inside towns.

At the same time, colonial trade increased demand for goods.

Poor peasants and artisans in villages needed extra income. Many had small plots and shrinking access to common lands.

Merchants gave advances and asked them to produce for international markets.

This early system is known as proto-industrialisation class 10 students should link with pre-factory production.

(c) The port of Surat declined by the end of the eighteenth century.

Answer: Surat declined because colonial companies shifted trade control to new ports.

Earlier, Surat connected India with Gulf and Red Sea ports. Indian merchants and bankers controlled much of this trade.

European companies later gained concessions and monopoly rights. They controlled shipping and trade through Bombay and Calcutta.

As a result, old ports like Surat and Hoogly weakened.

Surat’s trade value fell from Rs 16 million in the late seventeenth century to Rs 3 million by the 1740s.

(d) The East India Company appointed gomasthas to supervise weavers in India.

Answer: The East India Company appointed gomasthas to control cloth production directly.

Earlier, weavers sold cloth to different traders and could bargain over prices. The Company wanted regular supply, low costs and fixed control.

Gomasthas supervised weavers, collected cloth and checked quality. They also enforced advances given to weavers.

Once weavers accepted loans, they had to sell only to the Company.

This reduced their bargaining power and tied them to low prices.

Q2. Write True or False against each statement.

(a) At the end of the nineteenth century, 80 per cent of Europe’s workforce was employed in technologically advanced industrial sectors.

Answer: False

Less than 20 per cent of the workforce worked in technologically advanced industrial sectors.

Traditional work and small workshops remained important.

(b) The international market for fine textiles was dominated by India till the eighteenth century.

Answer: True

Indian silk and cotton goods dominated the international textile trade before machine-made cloth expanded.

(c) The American Civil War resulted in the reduction of cotton exports from India.

Answer: False

The American Civil War increased raw cotton exports from India.

Britain turned to India because cotton supplies from the United States were cut off.

(d) The introduction of the fly shuttle enabled handloom workers to improve their productivity.

Answer: True

The fly shuttle helped weavers produce faster.

It increased productivity per worker and helped handlooms compete with mills.

Q3. Explain what is meant by proto-industrialisation.

Answer: Proto-industrialisation means industrial production before factories became common.

In seventeenth and eighteenth-century Europe, merchants from towns gave advances to rural peasants and artisans.

These workers produced goods at home or on family farms. The goods were made for international markets.

Merchants controlled the system, but production remained outside factories.

This system connected towns, villages, merchants, peasants, spinners, weavers, fullers and dyers.

It helped rural families earn extra income while continuing small cultivation.

Discussion Questions From The Age of Industrialisation

The Age of Industrialisation Class 10 questions and answers require clear reasoning. These answers explain why industrial growth looked different in Britain and colonial India.

Q1. Why did some industrialists in nineteenth-century Europe prefer hand labour over machines?

Answer: Some industrialists preferred hand labour because workers were easily available and machines were expensive.

In Victorian Britain, poor peasants and job seekers moved to cities in large numbers. This kept wages low.

Machines needed large investment. They also broke down often and repairs were costly.

Many industries had seasonal demand. Gas works, breweries, bookbinders, printers and ship repair units needed extra workers only during busy months.

Hiring hand labour for the season was cheaper than buying machines.

Hand labour was also better for goods with special designs and shapes.

In mid-nineteenth-century Britain, 500 varieties of hammers and 45 kinds of axes were produced. Such products needed human skill.

Upper-class buyers also preferred handmade goods because they looked refined and carefully finished.

Q2. How did the East India Company procure regular supplies of cotton and silk textiles from Indian weavers?

Answer: The East India Company created a strict system to control Indian weavers.

First, it removed many existing traders and brokers from the cloth trade.

Second, it appointed gomasthas to supervise weavers and collect supplies.

Third, it gave advances to weavers for buying raw material.

Once weavers accepted the advance, they could not sell cloth to other buyers.

The Company used this system to ensure regular supply and control costs.

The new gomasthas were often outsiders. They had no old social ties with weaving villages.

They marched with sepoys and peons and punished weavers for delays.

Many weavers lost freedom, bargaining power and fair prices.

Some deserted villages, some resisted Company officials, and others shifted to agricultural labour.

Q3. Write a short article on Britain and the history of cotton.

Answer: Cotton became the first major symbol of industrial growth in Britain.

Before factories, cloth was produced through a network of merchants, peasants and artisans. This was proto-industrial production.

Production was spread across villages, while merchants controlled orders and exports from towns.

In the eighteenth century, new inventions improved carding, twisting, spinning and rolling.

Richard Arkwright created the cotton mill. This brought machines, labour and supervision under one roof.

Britain’s raw cotton imports rose sharply. In 1760, Britain imported 2.5 million pounds of raw cotton.

By 1787, this increased to 22 million pounds.

Cotton led Britain’s first phase of industrialisation until the 1840s. Later, iron and steel became more important with railway expansion.

British cotton also changed India’s economy. Cheap Manchester cloth entered Indian markets and reduced demand for many Indian weavers.

This makes cotton central to the history of factories, colonial trade and global markets.

Q4. Why did industrial production in India increase during the First World War?

Answer: Industrial production in India increased because the war reduced British imports.

British mills became busy producing goods for the army. Manchester cloth imports into India declined.

Indian mills suddenly had a larger home market to supply.

Indian factories were also asked to produce war materials. These included jute bags, army cloth, tents, leather boots, saddles and other goods.

Old factories began running multiple shifts.

New factories were set up, more workers were employed, and working hours increased.

After the war, Manchester could not regain its old control over the Indian market.

Indian industrialists gradually strengthened their position in the home market.

Industrialisation Before Factories: Key Chapter Ideas

Class 10 History Chapter 4 The Age of Industrialisation asks students to look beyond factory chimneys. The chapter shows that industrial work was already organised before machines entered large mills.

Why Factories Are Not the Starting Point

Industrial production began before factories dominated the landscape.

Merchants controlled work from towns, while rural producers worked from homes and small farms.

Why Merchants Went to Villages

Town guilds restricted entry into many trades.

Villages offered cheaper labour and families who needed extra income after commons were enclosed.

How Rural Households Helped Production

Peasant families used spare labour for spinning, weaving and related work.

This helped them supplement income from small plots.

How the Proto-Industrial Network Worked

A merchant clothier bought wool and passed it through different workers.

Spinners, weavers, fullers and dyers handled separate stages before cloth reached export markets.

Why Factory Growth Was Slow

New machines were costly and risky.

Steam engines, for example, spread slowly even after James Watt improved the design in 1781.

Why Hand Labour Continued

Many products required skill and variation.

Factories could produce standardised goods, while hand workers made goods with special designs.

Colonial India and Industrial Change: Evidence for Answers

NCERT Solutions Class 10 History The Age of Industrialisation should show how colonial rule changed Indian trade. The Indian part of the chapter moves from textile strength to Company control, imported cloth and Indian mills.

Indian Textiles Before Colonial Control

Indian silk and cotton goods dominated international markets.

Surat, Masulipatam and Hoogly linked Indian textiles with West Asia, Southeast Asia and other regions.

What Changed After European Companies Gained Power

European companies secured concessions and monopoly rights.

Old trade networks weakened, while Bombay and Calcutta grew under colonial control.

Why Weavers Lost Bargaining Power

Gomasthas controlled supplies and quality.

Advances tied weavers to the Company and stopped them from selling to other buyers.

Manchester Comes to India

Manchester comes to India class 10 answers should mention two problems for Indian weavers.

Their export market collapsed, and their local market filled with cheap British machine-made cloth.

Why Raw Cotton Became Costly

During the American Civil War, Britain imported more raw cotton from India.

Indian weavers then struggled to buy good-quality cotton at affordable prices.

How Indian Factories Began Growing

The first cotton mill in Bombay came up in 1854.

Jute mills came up in Bengal in 1855 and 1862.

Why Early Indian Mills Avoided Manchester Competition

Early Indian cotton mills produced coarse yarn, not cloth.

This helped them avoid direct competition with British cotton imports.

How Swadeshi Changed the Market

Nationalists encouraged people to boycott foreign cloth.

Indian manufacturers used advertisements to connect buying Indian goods with national pride.

Chapter Details Students Should Remember

The Age of Industrialisation Class 10 NCERT Solutions often require specific examples. These details help students add evidence in 3-mark and 5-mark answers.

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