Students must start practicing the questions from CBSE Sample Papers for Class 11 History with Solutions Set 2 are designed as per the revised syllabus.
CBSE Sample Papers for Class 11 History Set 2 with Solutions
Time Allowed: 3 Hours
Maximum Marks: 80
General Instructions:
- The Question paper is divided into five sections: Section A: MCQs 10 marks, Section B: Short Answer Type Questions 9 marks, Section C: Source-based questions 15 marks, Section D: Long Answer Type Questions 32 marks, Section E: Map based 4 marks.
- All questions are compulsory.
- You may attempt any section at a time.
- All questions of that particular section must be attempted in the correct order.
Section – A (20 Marks)
Question 1.
Multiple Choice Questions
(i) Which of these sources help us to know about early human history? [1]
(A) Cave paintings
(B) Stories from ancestors
(C) Time Machine
(D) None of these
Answer:
(A) Cave paintings
(ii) Which was the first known language of Mesopotamia? [1]
(A) Japanese
(B) Sumerian
(C) Urdu
(D) German
Answer:
(B) Sumerian
(iii) What form of government was established by the Meiji Constitution? [1]
(A) Monarchy
(B) Communalism
(C) Parliamentary form of government
(D) Dictatorship
Answer:
(C) Parliamentary form of government
(iv) Who were Plebeians? [1]
(A) Plebeians were the royal people of the Roman empire.
(B) Plebeians were the slaves of the Roman empire.
(C) Plebeians were the nomads of the Roman empire.
(D) Plebeians were the common people of the Roman empire.
Answer:
(D) Plebeians were the common people of the Roman empire.
(v) Which religion was promoted by the Byzantines? [1]
(A) Hinduism
(B) Christianity
(C) Islam
(D) They did not promote any religion in particular.
Answer:
(B) Christianity
(vi) Name the world-famous paintings made by Leonardo da Vina? [1]
(A) Mona Lisa
(B) The Last Supper
(C) The Pieta
(D) Both (A) and (B)
Answer:
(D) Both (A) and (B)
(vii) What do you understand by “The Great Australian Silence”? [1]
(A) The electrifying lecture was given by the anthropologist W.E.H Stanner in 1968
(B) A mourning ceremony
(C) A battle between Australia and France
(D) Both (B) and (C)
Answer:
(A) The electrifying lecture was given by the anthropologist W.E.H Stanner in 1968
(viii) Who used the term ‘Expel Asia’? [1]
(A) Fukazawa Zurich
(B) Fukazawa Yokkaichi
(C) Fukuva Yukichi
(D) Fukazawa Lukichi
Answer:
(B) Fukazawa Yokkaichi
(ix) What term was used for the native people of Australia? [1]
(A) Aboriginal
(B) Indigenous people
(C) Aborigine
(D) Red Indian
Answer:
(C) Aborigine
(x) Copernicus asserted that the planets including the earth revolve around the Sun. [1]
(A) The statement is True
(B) The statement is False
(C) The statement is partially True
(D) None of these
Answer:
(A) The statement is True
Question 2.
Fill in the blanks.
(i) Ptolemy’s Almagest is about_______. [1]
Answer:
astronomy
(ii) Australia is_______populated. [1]
Answer:
sparsely
(iii) The_______could did not leave the estate without the permission of their masters/lords. [1]
Answer:
serfs
(iv) _______dynasty ruled over South China. [1]
Answer:
Sung
(v) The earliest cities developed in Mesopotamia around_______. [1]
Answer:
5000 BCE
(vi) The prospect of_______drove imperialist countries to establish colonies. [1]
Answer:
profit
(vii) The first Railway line connected the cities of_______and_______. [1]
Answer:
Stockton, Darlington
Question 3.
State whether true or false.
(i) The Mesopotamians taught the art of writing to human civilization. [1]
Answer:
True
(ii) Spanish in South America was overcome by the abundance of gold in the country. [1]
Answer:
True
(iii) Gilgamesh was the greatest epic of the Mesopotamians. [1]
Answer:
True
Section – B (9 Marks)
Question 4.
‘Britain was the first country to experience modem Industrialisation’. Examine the factors responsible for it. [3]
Answer:
The five important factors responsible for the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Britain are as under:
(1) Britain had accumulated large amounts of money through foreign trade. The British merchants were very rich and could invest their capital in industries.
(2) Raw materials for factories were easily available in the colonies.
(3) The agricultural revolution greatly increased the number of landless peasants in Britain and these became the workforce for the factories.
(4) Britain had sufficient reserves of coal and iron that helped in establishing industries.
(5) There were many technological inventions in Britain that accelerated the pace of Industrialisation. When the Industrial Revolution began, Britain was in the middle of the Age of Imperialism, which saw European nations explore and dominate vast areas of land around the world.
Question 5.
Who was Charles Darwin and what do you understand by his theory of evolution? [3]
Answer:
Charles Darwin was a naturalist and a biologist and is well known for his theory of evolution. Darwin’s theory of evolution declared that species survived through a process called “natural selection,” where those that successfully adapted, or evolved, to meet the changing requirements of their natural habitat thrived, while those that failed to evolve and reproduce died off.
Question 6.
Why did Genghis Khan feel the need to fragment the Mongol tribes into new social and military groupings? [3]
Answer:
Genghis Khan felt the need to fragment the Mongol tribes into new social and military groupings because:
(1) He wanted to control and discipline his nomadic hordes as many new members had entered his army and it had become a heterogeneous mass of people.
(2) Many Mongol tribes lived in the Steppe region. They had their own different identities. Genghis Khan wanted to unify them by raising their different identities and creating a large community with different social groups and tribes.
(3) Mongols were very brave, and taking advantage of their bravery Genghis Khan organized them into military groups and establish a formidable empire.
Section – C (15 Marks)
Question 7.
Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. [5]
Apart from the Church, devout Christians had another kind of organization. Some deeply religious people chose to live isolated lives, in contrast to clerics who lived amongst people in towns and villages. They lived in religious communities called abbeys or monasteries, often in places very far from human habitation. Two of the more well-known monasteries were those established by St Benedict in Italy in 529 and of Cluny in Burgundy in 910.
Monks took vows to remain in the abbey for the rest of their lives and to spend their time in prayer, study, and manual labor; like farming. Unlike priesthood, this life was open to both men and women- men became monks and women nuns. Except in a few cases, all abbeys were single-sex communities, that is, there were separate abbeys for men and women. Like priests, monks and nuns did not marry. From small communities of 10 or 20 men/ women, monasteries grew to communities often of several hundred, with large buildings and landed estates, with attached schools or colleges and hospitals.
They contributed to the development of the arts. Abbess Hildegard was a gifted musician and did much to develop the practice of community singing of prayers in church. From the thirteenth century, some groups of monks- called friars- chose not to be based in a monastery but to move from place to place, preaching to the people and living on charity.
(i) Who was Abbes Hildegard?
(ii) Was he in favor of the Three Orders?
(iii) What examples does he give to prove it?
Answer:
(i) Abbes Hildegard was a clergy.
(ii) Yes, he was in favor of the three orders.
(iii) In support of the division of three orders, Hildegard gave the following examples:
- How a herder never herds his entire cattle in one stable but differentiates between cows, donkeys, sheep, and goats.
- Though God is the creator of all, he does not make all equal. There are distinctions among his creations.
- God loves all human beings but he does not treat all equally on earth or in heaven.
Question 8.
Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow: [5]
It is interesting to note that another writer, Washington Irving, much younger than Wordsworth and who had actually met native people, described them quite differently. ‘The Indians I have had an opportunity of seeing in real life are quite different from those described in poetry. Taciturn they are, it is true, when in company with white men, whose goodwill they distrust and whose language they do not understand; but the white man is equally taciturn under like circumstances.
When the Indians are among themselves, they are great mimics and entertain themselves excessively at the expense of the whites. who have supposed them impressed with “profound respect for their grandeur and dignity? The white men (as1 have witnessed) are prone to treat the poor Indians as little better than animals.
(i) Who wrote the excerpt?
(ii) How does he view the native people?
(iii) Natives and Europeans viewed each other differently. Explain.
Answer:
(i) This excerpt is written by writer Washington Irving, who had actually met the native people.
(ii) Irving views natives differently than the poet Wordsworth. He regards them as great mimics who entertain themselves excessively at the expense of the whites. The natives were impressed by the grandeur and dignity of whites.
(iii) (a) Europeans: They considered the natives uncivilized and goods they exchanged with natives as commodities
(b) The Natives were puzzled and saddened by the greed of Europeans for native goods. They viewed their exchange with Europeans as ‘gifts’ given in friendship.
Question 9.
Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. [5]
‘Each of the great houses of Rome contained within itself everything which a medium-sized city could hold, a hippodrome, fora, temples, fountains, and different kinds of baths. Many of the Roman households received an income of four thousand pounds of gold per year from their properties, not including grain, wine, and other produce which, if sold, would have amounted to one-third of the income in gold. The income of the households in Rome of the second class was one thousand or fifteen hundred pounds of gold.’
(i) Why do you think households received income in gold?
(ii) Describe the social structure of late antiquity.
(iii) Give three features of the Late Roman aristocracy.
Answer:
(i) Households received income in gold because the monetary system based on silver was exhausted and a new monetary system based on gold was established by Constantine.
(ii) By the time of late antiquity, the senators and “equities” had merged into a unified expanded aristocracy. The middle class now consisted of many people connected with the imperial bureaucracy, army, and prosperous merchants. While the labor workforce ‘humiliates’ now also comprised of migrant workers, rural labor force, workers in industrial mining establishments, etc.
(iii) The Three features of Late Roman aristocracy are:
- It was enormously wealthy with a lavish lifestyle.
- It was however less powerful than the new military elites who came from non-aristocratic backgrounds.
- The landed aristocracy attempted to increase the volume of surplus through debt bondage.
Section – D (32 Marks)
Question 10.
How did Japan escape colonization? [8]
Answer:
After the news of China’s defeat, fear gripped Japan that it too might be made into a colony. To escape a similar fate as China and India, the government launched a policy with a slogan, “Fokoku Kyohei” (rich country, strong army). They realized that they needed to develop their economy and build a strong army. To do this, they needed to create a sense of nationhood among the people and to transform subjects into citizens. To achieve these ideals the government took the following measures:
(1) It built the ’emperor system’.
(2) New system of education was introduced based on the European model with special emphasis on ‘moral culture’ and an attitude of extreme nationalism and chauvinism. By 1910, schooling was almost universal.
(3) To integrate the nation, a new administrative structure altering the old village boundaries were imposed.
(4) A modern military force was developed. Conscription was introduced for all young men over 20 years.
(5) Civil liberties and open political struggles were curbed and a legal system was set up to regulate the formation of political groups, control the holding of meetings, and imposed strict censorship.
(6) The Diet and the military were put under the direct command of the emperor. The state was controlled by an oligarchy and the military and the police were given wide powers.
(7) The economy was modernized in less than four decades. State capitalism was undertaken with the help of Daimyos and big merchant houses. State industries were sold to ‘Zaibatsu’. Companies like Mitsubishi and Sumitomo were helped by subsidies and tax benefits.
(8) Initially, the stress was on strategic industries but was soon followed by others like textiles and cement.
Question 11.
Mongolia had projected Genghis Khan as an iconic figure for forging a national identity, along with carrying the nation into the future. Justify this statement with suitable arguments. [8]
Answer:
For the Mongols, Genghis Khan was the greatest leader of all time. He united the Mongol people and freed them from interminable tribal wars and Chinese exploitation. He brought them prosperity, fashioned a grand transcontinental empire, and restored trade routes and markets that attracted distant travelers. Although the Mongols themselves belonged to a variety of different faiths-Shaman, Buddhist, Christian, and eventually Islam, they never let their personal beliefs dictate public policy.
They recruited administrators and armed contingents from people of all ethnic groups and religions. Historians are now researching the ways the Mongols provided ideological models for later regimes like the Mughals to follow. The nature of documentation on the Mongols makes it virtually impossible to understand the inspiration that led to the establishment of a confederation of the fragmented groups.
At the end of the 14th century, Timur, another monarch who aspired to universal dominion, hesitated to declare himself monarch because he was not of Genghis Khan descent. Today after years of Soviet control, Mongolia is recreating its identity as an independent nation. It has honored Genghis Khan as a great national hero whose achievements are recounted with pride, forging a national identity that can carry the nation into the future.
Question 12.
Was there a European Renaissance in the 14th century? Discuss. [8]
Answer:
The term ‘Renaissance’ means ‘rebirth’. Renaissance undermined the domination of the church and focused on cultural achievements, art, architecture, literature and philosophy, and science and was defined by a new system of thought called ‘Humanism’ and rationalism. Though the above changes made the 14th century the turning point in history, according to some historians the concept of the Renaissance does not truly define this.
Recent scholars like Peter Burke have argued that the ‘rebirth’ of Greek and Roman culture and the end of the church’s domination are an exaggeration. There was no sudden revival of Greek and Roman culture but there was continuity as a religion remained an important and integral part of human life. It is argued that to contrast the Renaissance period as a period of dynamism and the Middle ages as a period of gloom is an oversimplification. Many elements associated with the Renaissance in Italy can be traced back to the 12th and 13th centuries.
Also, the changes in Europe were not just shaped by the classical civilizations of Greek and Roman times. The new techniques of navigation, Mongol conquests, and expansion of Islam brought Europe and Asia into close contact leading to cultural contact, learning, and transmission of technologies. The Europeans, therefore, learned not just from the Greeks and the Romans but also from India, Arabia, Iran, Central Asia, and China.
These were not acknowledged as earlier history was ‘euro-centric’. The period witnessed important changes in the spheres of ‘individualism’ e.g. separation of ‘public’ and ‘private’ spheres of life. The public sphere meant the area of government and formal religion and the private sphere included the family and personal religion. An individual was not simply a member of the ‘three orders’, he was also a person in his own right. An individual was not just a member of a guild, he was known for himself.
Another development was the growth of nation-states. The different regions of Europe started to have their separate sense of identity based on language and cultural ethos. Europe earlier united partly by Latin and Christianity was now dissolving into states, each united by a common language.
Question 13.
What are the advantages or disadvantages of using ethnographic accounts to reconstruct the life of early man? [8]
Answer:
Ethnography is the study of contemporary ethnic groups. It includes a study of their mode of living, gender roles, rituals, political institutions, social customs, and the level of technological advancement. While some scholars are of the view that ethnographic accounts are advantageous for data on the present-day hunter-gatherer society, others argue against it.
Advantages:
(1) It can help interpret the archaeological remains of the past. For instance, by observing the migratory practices among the Hadza and Kung San, some archaeologists have suggested that the Hominid sites dated 4 Mya along the margins of Lake Turkana, could have been dry season camps of early humans.
(2) Similarly, they can help understand the important role of women and their contribution to the food supply and thereby their importance in hunter-g
Disadvantages:
(1) The conditions in which the present-day hunter-gatherer societies live are totally different from earlier times both environmentally and ecologically.
(2) Unlike the earlier groups, these societies today are totally marginalized both geographically and socially. Also, they pursue several other activities along with hunting and gathering.
(3) There is no set pattern amongst them regarding the division of labor in food procurement. While in most societies, men hunt and women gather, there are societies in which both men and women hunt together and also make tools. A study of these societies, therefore, presents conflicting data on many issues such as group sizes, or their movement from place to place.
Section – E (4 Marks)
Question 14.
(i) On the outline map of Asia, write the name of A and B.
(ii) On the outline map of Asia, locate the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. [4]
Answer:
(i) China & Japan
