What, Where, How and When?

History tells us what life was like in the past: what people ate and wore, and how they lived and worked. In this chapter you will learn where some of the earliest people lived in the subcontinent. Hunter-gatherers lived along the banks of the Narmada for several hundred thousand years. About 8000 years ago, people in the Sulaiman and Kirthar hills began growing wheat and barley, and people in the Garo hills and the Vindhyas also took up farming. About 4700 years ago, some of the earliest cities grew along the Indus and its tributaries, and about 2500 years ago Magadha rose as a powerful kingdom along the Ganga and the Son. You will learn how the names India, from the Sindhu or Indus, and Bharata, the name of a group in the Rigveda, came to be used. The chapter explains the sources historians use: manuscripts written on palm leaves or birch bark, inscriptions carved on stone or metal, and objects studied by archaeologists. Finally, it explains dates written as BCE and CE.

Detailed Worksheet: What, Where, How and When? Section A - Definitions (10 marks) 1. What are manuscripts? On what materials were they written? (2 marks) 2. What are inscriptions? Give one example of where they were made. (2 marks) 3. Who is an archaeologist? What kind of objects does an archaeologist study? (2 marks) 4. What do the abbreviations BCE and CE stand for? (2 marks) 5. How did India get its name? What is the origin of the name Bharata? (2 marks) Section B - Calculations and Applications (15 marks) 6. Taking the present year as 2000 CE, find how many years ago these events took place: (i) a manuscript written in 1200 CE (ii) an inscription made in 300 BCE (iii) a city built in 2700 BCE. (3 marks) 7. Arrange in chronological order (earliest first): growth of cities along the Indus, hunter-gatherers along the Narmada, beginning of farming in the Sulaiman and Kirthar hills, rise of the kingdom of Magadha. (3 marks) 8. Express in BCE or CE: (i) 2500 years before 2000 CE (ii) 4700 years before 2000 CE (iii) 8000 years before 2000 CE. (3 marks) 9. An inscription is dated 250 BCE and a coin is dated 150 CE. (i) Which is older? (ii) How many years apart are they, counting simply by adding? (iii) Why do historians compare dates of different sources? (3 marks) 10. Name the source category for each: (i) a palm-leaf book (ii) a copper plate with a king's order (iii) remains of a pot (iv) a coin (v) a birch-bark text (vi) a stone pillar with writing. Classify them as manuscripts, inscriptions or archaeological objects. (3 marks) Section C - Diagrams (10 marks) 11. On an outline map of the Indian subcontinent, mark and label the rivers Narmada, Indus, Ganga and Son, and the Sulaiman and Kirthar hills, Garo hills and Vindhyas. (4 marks) 12. Draw a timeline from 8000 years ago to the present and mark: beginning of farming, earliest cities, rise of Magadha and the present year. (3 marks) 13. Draw a labelled sketch of a palm-leaf manuscript showing how the leaves are tied together. (3 marks) Section D - Analysis and Higher-order Thinking (15 marks) 14. Rasheeda wondered how historians know about the lives of people who lived thousands of years ago. (i) Name three types of sources historians use. (ii) Why are manuscripts often damaged? (iii) Why are inscriptions more durable? (iv) Why must historians use several sources together? (5 marks) 15. Most of what we know about the past comes from kings and important people. (i) Why were records usually kept about kings? (ii) Whose lives are less recorded? (iii) How can archaeology help us learn about ordinary people? (iv) Why is it important to know about ordinary people's lives? (5 marks) 16. People in the past moved from one place to another. (i) Give three reasons why people travelled in the past. (ii) How did travel lead to the sharing of ideas? (iii) Why were rivers important for early settlements? (iv) Name two natural barriers that people crossed. (5 marks) Instructions: Time allowed 2 hours. Attempt all sections. Show all steps when calculating dates, and draw maps and timelines neatly.