NCERT Solutions Class 7 Social Science (History)
The NCERT Solutions in English Language for Class 7 Social Science (History) Chapter – 1 (Tracing Changes Through A Thousand Years) has been provided here to help the students in solving the questions from this exercise.
Chapter – 1 (Tracing Changes Through A Thousand Years)
Let’s Recall
1. Who was considered a “foreigner” in the past?
Answer – Any stranger who did not belong to a certain society or culture and was not a part of that particular village was regarded as a foreigner.
2. State whether true or false:
(a) We do not find inscriptions for the period after 700.
(b) The Marathas asserted their political importance during this period.
(c) Forest-dwellers were sometimes pushed out of their lands with the spread of agricultural settlements.
(d) Sultan Ghiyasuddin Balban controlled Assam, Manipur and Kashmir.
Answer –
(a) We do not find inscriptions for the period after 700. (False)
(b) The Marathas asserted their political importance during this period. (True)
(c) Forest-dwellers were sometimes pushed out of their lands with the spread of agricultural settlements. (True)
(d) Sultan Ghiyasuddin Balban controlled Assam, Manipur and Kashmir. (False)
3. Fill in the blanks:
(a) Archives are places where _________ are kept.
(b) _____________ was a fourteenth-century chronicler.
(c) _______, _______, _______, ________ and ________ were some of the new crops introduced into the subcontinent during this period.
Answer –
(a) Archives are places where manuscripts are kept.
(b) Ziyauddin Barani was a fourteenth-century chronicler.
(c) Potatoes, corn, chillies, tea and coffee were some of the new crops introduced into the subcontinent during this period.
4. List some of the technological changes associated with this period.
Answer – Following are some of the technological changes that were associated with this period:
(i) Use of spinning wheel in weaving
(ii) Use of Persian wheel in irrigation
(iii) Use of firearms in combat
5. What were some of the major religious developments during this period?
Answer – Some of the important and major religious developments that took place during this particular period are :
(i) Worship of new deities
(ii) Building of new temples by the royalty
(iii) Increasing importance of Brahmanas; the priests, as dominant groups in society.
(iv) The emergence of the idea of bhakti among people.
(v) Appearance of many new religions like Islam.
(vi) Teachings of the holy Quran were brought by the merchants and the migrants in India.
Let’s Understand
6. In what ways has the meaning of the term “Hindustan” changed over the centuries?
Answer – Over the centuries there has been a vast change in the meaning of the term “Hindustan”. Today it is understood as India, the modern nation state. In the thirteenth century the term stood for the lands under the Delhi Sultanate. Babur used the term to describe the geography, culture and fauna of the subcontinent.
7. How were the affairs of Jatis regulated?
Answer – The affairs of the Jatis were regulated by an assembly of elders, known in some areas as the jati panchayat.
8. What does the term pan-regional empire mean?
Answer – The term pan-regional empire is applied to an empire which stretches over many regions. The Mughal empire is a good example of such an empire.
Let’s Discuss
9. What are the difficulties historians face in using manuscripts?
Answer – The historians face several difficulties in using manuscripts. There was no printing press in those days so scribes copied manuscripts by hand. Manuscript copying is not an easy job. As scribes copied manuscripts, they also introduced small changes—a word here, a sentence there.
10. How do historians divide the past into periods? Do they face any problems in doing so?
Answer – Historians divide the past into periods based on the economic and social factors which characterize them. In doing so they are faced with two problems. First, economic and social changes keep taking place hence definite boundaries cannot be drawn. Second, these periods are compared with modernity. Modernity gives a sense of progress. This implies that there was no progress before, which is not true.
