HISTORY QUIZ

TIPU SULTAN

➤ Tipu Sultan was a great warrior, also known as the 'Tiger of Mysore'.

➤ His father Haidar Ali ruled Mysore from 1761 to 1782 and Tipu Sultan ruled from 1782 to 1799.

➤ Tipu introduced a number of administrative innovations during his rule, including his coinage, a new calendar, and a new land revenue system, which initiated the growth of Mysore silk industry.

➤ He organised his army on European model and adopted western military methods like artillery and rockets.

➤ Tipu Sultan is considered as the ‘pioneer of rocket technology’ in India.

➤ He wrote a military manual called "Fathul Mujahidin" explaining the operation of rockets.

➤ Although he took the help of the French officers to train his soldiers, he never allowed the French to develop into a pressure group.

➤ He was well aware of the importance of a naval force. In 1796, he set up a Board of Admiralty and planned for a fleet of 22 battleships and 20 large frigates.

➤ Tipu was a great believer in democracy and a great diplomat who gave his support to the French soldiers at Seringapatnam in setting up a Jacobin Club in 1797.

➤ Tipu himself became a member of the Jacobin Club and allowed himself to be called Citizen Tipu.

➤ He planted the Tree of Liberty at Seringapatnam.

➤ Tipu Sultan established embassies in France, Turkey and Egypt on modern lines.

Jhansi was annexed by the 'Doctrine of Lapse' (not by Subsidiary Alliance).

Order in which the Indian States entered into Subsidiary Alliance Treaty with the British :

1⃣ Lord Wellesley signed the first Subsidiary Treaty with the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1798.

2⃣ Next was Mysore in 1799 – After Tipu Sultan was defeated in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War.

Tanjore also signed Subsidiary Treaty in 1799.

3⃣ The Nawab of Awadh was forced to sign Subsidiary Alliance in 1801.

The five chiefs of the Maratha Confederacy entered into subsidiary alliance as follows :

4⃣ Peshwa Bajirao II→ Treaty of Bassein (1802)

5⃣ Scindia (Gwalior)→1804

6⃣ Gaekwad (Baroda)→1805

7⃣ Bhonsle (Nagpur) →1806

8⃣ Holkar (Indore) →1818 (The last Maratha Chief to sign subsidiary treaty)

PERMANENT SETTLEMENT

● Introduced by Lord Cornwallis in 1793.

● The land revenue was collected from the peasants by the intermediaries known as Zamindars.

● Under Permanent Settlement System, Zamindars were made owners of the land and were given hereditary rights over the collection of land revenue.

● The Zamindars could sell or transfer the land as they wished.

● The system was most prevalent in Bengal, Bihar and Odisha.

SUNSET CLAUSE

● The Permanent Settlement fixed the land revenue demand in perpetuity.

● The amount to be paid by the zamindars was fixed. It was agreed that this would not increase in future (permanent).

● The share of the British Government in the total land revenue collected by the zamindars was 10/11th and the remainder 1/11th was kept by the zamindars.

● The Zamindars’ proprietorship would remain as long as he paid the fixed revenue on due date to the government.

● The Zamindar had to deposit the collected revenue on a fixed date before sunset.

● If not done, he would lose the full estate or a part thereof. The estate would then be sold off to other zamindar in an open auction.

RISE OF ABSENTEE LANDLORDISM

● A new crop of unofficial middlemen also grew between the Zamindars and Peasants.

● Zamindars would often sublet the land to these middlemen and would relocate to big cities like Calcutta to live a luxurious life.

● Thus, Zamindars turned into Absentee landlords due to permanent settlement.

BATTLE OF WANDIWASH (1760)

➤ The Battle of Wandiwash was a decisive battle which took place in Vandavasi, Tamil Nadu between the French and the British in on Jan 22, 1760.

It was an attempt by the French forces under their commander Count de Lally to acquire the Fort of Vandavasi.

This attempt was foiled by the British Forces under the command of British Lt-Gen Sir Eyre Coote, leading to the Battle of Wandiwash.

➤ The battle was part of the Third Carnatic War fought between the French and British colonial empires, which itself was a part of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) at global level.

➤ It sealed the fate of the French East India Company in India.

SAMACHAR DARPAN - THE FIRST VERNACULAR NEWSPAPER OF INDIA

➤ Samachar Darpan was a weekly Bengali newspaper, started in 1818 by Marshman, a missionary in Serampore. It was published by the Baptist Missionary Society.

➤ It was started during the tenure of Governor-General Lord Hastings (1813-1823), when he repealed the Censorship of Press act of 1799 enacted by Wellesley.

➤ It is widely considered as India's first newspaper in an Indian language.

UDANT MARTAND - THE FIRST HINDI LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER OF INDIA

➤ Udant Martand (The Rising Sun) was the first Hindi language newspaper published in India.

➤ Started in 1826 from Calcutta, the weekly newspaper was published every Tuesday by Pt. Jugal Kishore Shukla.

SAMBAD KAUMUDI - NEWSPAPER OF RAJA RAM MOHAN ROY

➤ Sambad Kaumudi was a Bengali weekly newspaper, first published in 1821 from Kolkata by Raja Ram Mohan Roy.

➤ It was a pro-reformist publication that actively campaigned for the abolition of Sati.

AMRIT BAZAR PATRIKA

● Amrita Bazar Patrika was a popular weekly Bengali newspaper started in 1868 by two brothers, Sisir Kumar Ghosh and Moti Lal Ghosh.

● Its anti-government views and vast influence among the people was a persistent problem for the British government.

● Hence, Lord Lytton promulgated a draconian law called the Vernacular Press Act, 1878, mainly to curb Amrita Bazar Patrika.

● But to escape the restrictions imposed by the Vernacular Press Act, Amrita Bazar Patrika, in an unanticipated move, turned from a vernacular to an English newspaper overnight.

● The Patrika became a daily in 1891.

● It was the first Indian-owned English daily to go into investigative journalism.