CUET Preparation Today
What was the primary function of colonial cities like Calcutta, Bombay or Madras? |
They had a climate similar to Britain and therefore easily habitable by the Britishers. They were near to the French and Portuguese colonial cities of Chandennagore and Calicut. They were the primary link for the export of raw materials to Britain and the import of manufactured British goods. They already had an educated middle class that helped the British administration. |
They were the primary link for the export of raw materials to Britain and the import of manufactured British goods. |
The correct answer is Option (3) → They were the primary link for the export of raw materials to Britain and the import of manufactured British goods. " Cities had a key role in the economic system of empires. Coastal cities such as Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai were favoured. From here primary commodities could be easily exported and manufactured goods could be cheaply imported. Colonial cities were the prime link between the economic centre or core in Britain and periphery or margins in colonised India. Cities in this sense were the concrete expression of global capitalism. In British India for example Bombay was planned and re-developed so that by 1900 over three-quarters of India’s raw cotton were shipped through the city. Calcutta exported jute to Dundee while Madras sent coffee, sugar, indigo dyes and cotton to Britain." |
