Tanvi, a student of history, is preparing a project on journeys made between the tenth and seventeenth centuries. She begins with a map of the routes that linked Central Asia, Persia, Africa and Europe with the subcontinent. Then she imagines a young man from a distant country arriving at a busy port on the western coast and spending his first months there. She wants to know what such visitors chose to write about, and whose voices are present or missing in the records that have come down to us. Finally, she makes a list of travel accounts to look for in the library.
Suppose the young man Tanvi imagines is one of the few visitors who keep an account of the new land. What would such an account generally record?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → What he finds unusual or remarkable in the land
Option (1) The names and reigns of the local ruling families — Incorrect. Some accounts did deal with affairs of the court, but family lists of rulers were not the general content. Travellers wrote most about what struck them as unusual.
Option (2) What he finds familiar and similar to his homeland — Incorrect. Familiar things do not catch a visitor's eye. Writers noted the differences of landscape, customs, languages and beliefs.
Option (3) The daily prices of goods sold in the port — Incorrect. Market prices could appear in a trader's notes, but they are not what travel accounts generally recorded. The focus was on what seemed strange.
Option (4) What he finds unusual or remarkable in the land — Correct. Most visitors adapt to the differences of a new land. The somewhat exceptional ones note them in accounts, generally recording what they find unusual or remarkable, such as the coconut and the paan.
NCERT (2026-27): “Perceptions of Society FIVE (c. tenth to seventeenth century) … “in terms of the landscape or physical environment as well as customs, languages, beliefs and practices of people. Many of them try to adapt to these differences; others, somewhat exceptional, note them carefully in accounts, generally recording what they find unusual or remarkable. Unfortunately, we have practically no accounts of travel left by women, though we know that they travelled.” |