Contents
Know the Terms
Administration : The management of public affairs; government.
Archives : Collection of historical documents or records providing information about a place, institution or group of people.
Contemporary: It refers to the present or modern period or belonging to the present time.
Colonization : The action or process of settling among and establishing control over the indigenous people of an area.
Debate : A formal discussion on a matter of public interest.
Economist : An expert who studies the relationship between a society’s resources and its production or output.
Historian : An expert in or a student of history, especially that of a particular period, geographical region, or social phenomenon.
Imperialism : It is a political system based on extension of empire by conquest of colonies.
Museum : A building in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored and exhibited.
Nationalism : The system of rigid allegiance , devotion and loyalty towards one’s nation.
Periodisation : The process or study of categorizing the past into discrete, quantified named blocks of time in order to facilitate the study and analysis of history.
Subjugation : The action of bringing someone or something under domination or control.
Survey : Examine and record the area and features of (an area of land) so as to construct a map, plan or description.
Taboo : Prohibited or restricted by social custom.
Topography : The arrangement of the natural and artificial physical features of an area.
Important Dates
1773 : Warren Hastings, an English statesman, became the first Governor General of India.
1782 : James Rennel produced the first map.
1817 : “A History of British India”, a massive 3-volume work, was produced by James Mill.
1920s : The National Archives of India came up.
Important Notes
The events covered in the Modern History of India are:
(i) Establishment of company rule.
(ii) The setup of British administration system i.e. land revenue, economic policies, etc.
(iii) The first war of India’s independence-The Revolt of 1857.
(iv) End of Mughal Empire.
(v) Direct control over India by British Government.
(vi) The new socio-economic reform movement began in India.
(vii)The role of National leaders or era of rise of Nationalism.
(viii) Freedom Movement and Independence.
History is a record of significant events that have occurred over a period of time or on a particular day in the past. History is a subject which deals with past events, such as when a battle was fought, period of dynasties, when a king was crowned, birth of any religion and various other changes, etc. History is also important to know the exact date and year of any particular event.
We continue to associate history with a string of dates, since details of any such events which have occurred in the past cannot be determined without referring to the specific dates. So, in other words, we can say that history is synonymous with dates.
Historians divided the history of world into three periods-Ancient, Medieval and Modern. Each period has some distinct features. The modern period of the history is said to have begun with exploration, renaissance and reformation movements. This classification of history into three periods is known as the Periodisation of History.
We periodise a time in History because it is the subject from where we find out how things were in the past and how things have changed in the past.
We periodise a time
(a) In order to characterise it into different periods on the basis of some significant events that have happened during those days. These demarcations of time into different periods in the past is known as ‘Periodisation’, which become important for history.
(b) They help to reflect our ideas quickly about the happenings and changes from one period to the next.
Following are the points that should be kept in mind while classifying history into three parts :
(a) There is no fixed date or proof as when the first period ended and the other period began.
(b) Each period evolved gradually from the previous one.
(c) In different continents, modern period began at different time.
The features of modern age are :
(i) Growth of democratic ideas and institution.
(ii) Industrialization followed by imperialism.
(iii) Growth of scientific ideas.
(iv) Rise of humanism.
(v) Growth of urban centres.
Survey
Survey means a study or investigation of important facts and figures regarding a particular subject, topic or a country for acquiring additional and specific information for further study or investigation.
Examples of Survey conducted
In the early 19th century, detailed surveys were conducted throughout the country in almost all the major fields; Such as, the topography studying the cropping pattern. Botanical surveys, zoological surveys, archeological surveys, anthropological surveys and forest surveys, were conducted in order to collect necessary information regarding the country.
Importance of Survey
(a) The practice of surveying became important during colonial administration because the Britishers believed that a country had to be properly known before it was effectively administered.
(b) In the early 19th century, detailed surveys were being carried out to map the entire city to know the facts about religion.
(c) By the end of the 19th century, detailed survey of census were carried out. It gave information about number of people in all provinces of India in detail.
(d) Surveys in any field are very important and crucial in the sense that they help one to collect the right data, figures, information and reports regarding a subject.
(e) For a historian, surveys are equally important because a historian studies facts about history. For the historians, archeological surveys are important because they deal with the past.
(f) A historian can come across certain information like the ancient civilizations, the behaviours of human beings in the past, structure of the society, the culture and the traditions, habits and their livelihood.
(g) These are important because the historians can assess actual information prevalent during the period and what transformation has been brought or will be taking place in future.
Surveys in any field are very important and crucial in the sense that they help one to collect the right data, figures, information and reports regarding a subject. For a historian, surveys are equally important because a historian studies facts about history. For the historians, archeological surveys are important because they deal with the past. A historian can come across certain information like the ancient civilizations, the behaviours of human beings in the past, structure of the society, the culture and the traditions, habits and their livelihood. These are important because the historians can assess actual information prevalent during the period and what transformation has been brought or will be taking place in future.
Secondary sources of history :The conclusions that are reached by scholars and historians after carefully examining and studying and the original source such as official documents, newspapers, magazines and original documents are known as Secondary Sources of History.
(ii) The secondary sources of history provide us valuable information about the famous personalities and the contemporary societies and policies.
Colonial : During the British rule in India, people never enjoyed equality, freedom or liberty. During this period, Indian economy was exploited and channelized for the development of British economy. In history, this period of British rule has been termed as ‘Colonial’ by many historians.
Calligraphist : They were experts in the art of beautiful handwriting. In the early years of the 19th century, important documents were carefully copied and beautifully written by the calligraphist. The other literary sources, except official records are biographies, memoirs, newspapers, autobiographies of prominent persons and records of travelers and pilgrims are other literary sources to know about the past events and history of a society.
Official records are not the best sources of information because they provide the views of people who are in power and they are usually biased and provide only an official view of an incident, which cannot be deemed to be right source of information with common man’s point of view.
Use of Dates
Use of dates in history is must as dates provide a framework to present a historical event in sequence. Dates help in forming a sequential pattern of an incident under an appropriate timeline of events.
History is a record of significant events that have occurred over a period of time or on a particular day in the past.
History is a subject which deals with past events, such as when a battle was fought, period of dynasties, when a king was crowned, birth of any religion and various other changes, etc.
History is also important to know the exact date and year of any particular event.
Hence, we continue to associate history with a string of dates, since details of any such events which have occurred in the past cannot be determined without referring to the specific dates. So, in other words, we can say that history is synonymous with dates.
The way in which the Britishers started the very important procedure of writing the history are :
(i) Literary sources prove to be most important in gaining knowledge about past events.
(ii) The Britishers laid the foundation of keeping records of each and every plan, policy, decision, instruction, agreement and treaty, etc.
(iii) They started preserving important written documents such as letters, memos, etc.
(iv) Record rooms were established across all the important offices in rural as well as urban areas.
(v) Later, archives and museums were established to protect these records and documents so that they could be accessed in the future.
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