Class Notes NCERT Solutions for CBSE Students
Question: What are the main features of the second urbanization?
Answer: The main features of this period are: Iron tools and implements were used extensively. This helped in the expansion of agriculture. The iron plough and iron axe helped in clearing large tracts of forest land which were used for cultivation. This led to an agricultural surplus.
Question: Write a note on the guilds of craftspeople and merchants.
Answer: Craft Guilds: During this period the trading classes grew and prospered. People belonging to a particular trade or craft were organized in the form of guilds or shrenis and framed their own rules. The guilds were of two types-merchants guilds and craft guilds. The merchant guilds were guilds of traders or merchants. The craft guilds of weavers, goldsmiths, carpenters, leather workers and ivory workers. Both the merchants and the craftspeople lived in fixed areas of the towns. The guilds helped their members in several ways. They provided technical training, organized trade activities, helped in procuring raw materials, helped in selling goods and also served as banks where rich people could deposit their money. The guilds also provided loans to its members for their trading activities.
Question: Write a note on the ancient towns that flourished during this period.
Answer: The towns and cities mostly grew because of the patronage by the kings and traders. An unique feature of these urban centres was that each of them had a specific function. Some towns developed as capital cities, such as Madurai, Pataliputra, Ujjain and Shravasti. Vaishali in Bihar and Varansi in Uttar Pradesh were centers of arts and crafts. Some centers such as Kodumanal in Tamil Nadu were rich in minerals resources. This site developed as an industrial centre.There were towns that lay on important trade routes like Mathura in Uttar Pradesh and Nagarjunakonda, Amaravati and Kondapur in Andhra Pradesh. Tamluk in the east was a port town providing an outlet to the Ganga. Gujarat, Muziris in Kerala, Arikamedu near Puducherry, Kaveripattinam, Alagankulam and Korkai in Tamil Nadu.
