Read the following statements about towns in seventeenth-century India:
(A) About 15 per cent of the population lived in towns during the seventeenth century.
(B) This urban share was, on average, lower than the share of urban population in Western Europe in the same period.
(C) There were manufacturing towns, trading towns and port-towns.
(D) Sacred centres and pilgrimage towns also existed.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → A, C and D only
(A) About 15 per cent of the population lived in towns during the seventeenth century. — Correct. In the seventeenth century about 15 per cent of the population lived in towns.
(B) This urban share was, on average, lower than the share of urban population in Western Europe in the same period. — Incorrect. The comparison is reversed. The urban share was, on average, higher than in Western Europe in the same period.
(C) There were manufacturing towns, trading towns and port-towns. — Correct. Manufacturing, trading and port-towns were among all kinds of towns historians list against Bernier's single picture of camp towns.
(D) Sacred centres and pilgrimage towns also existed. — Correct. Sacred centres and pilgrimage towns were also among the many kinds of towns.
NCERT (2026-27): “6.2 A more complex social reality … “As in the case of the question of landownership, Bernier was drawing an oversimplified picture. There were all kinds of towns: manufacturing towns, trading towns, port-towns, sacred centres, pilgrimage towns, etc. …” |