A 'small fixed market' in 18th century was known as:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Ganj
Option (1) Qasbah — Incorrect. A qasbah is a small town in the countryside, often the seat of a local notable, not a market. Like the ganj, it was one of the new urban settlements of the eighteenth century.
Option (2) Ganj — Correct. A ganj is a small fixed market. Local notables and officials linked with Mughal rule in North India set up qasbahs and ganjs, which dealt in cloth, fruit, vegetables and milk products and supplied noble families and the army.
Option (3) Cantonment — Incorrect. Cantonments were places where Indian troops under European command were stationed, developed by the British as safe enclaves. They were military areas, not markets.
Option (4) Centres — Incorrect. “Centre” is a general word for any important place, such as a centre of trade or of administration; it is not the name of a market.
Note: This question is taken from the chapter ‘Colonial Cities’ which was there in the pre-rationalised NCERT and has been deleted from subsequent editions of NCERT, including the NCERT book (2026-27).
NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “1.2 Changes in the eighteenth century … Some local notables and officials associated with Mughal rule in North India also used this opportunity to create new urban settlements such as the qasbah and ganj. However, the effects of political decentralisation were uneven. In some places there was renewed economic activity, in other places war, plunder and political uncertainty led to economic decline.… Qasbah is a small town in the countryside, often the seat of a local notable. Ganj refers to a small fixed market. Both qasbah and ganj dealt in cloth, fruit, vegetables and milk products. They provided for noble families and the army. 3.2 A new urban milieu … Cantonments– places where Indian troops under European command were stationed – were also developed as safe enclaves.…” |