Question 4 - Past Year Questions - 5 Marks - Chapter 4 Class 9 History - Forest Society and Colonialism - History

Write any three features of Shifting Cultivation. Why was this process considered harmful for the forests by the Europeans?

Answer:

Answer to be written in the exam:

1. In shifting cultivation, parts of the forest are cut and burnt in rotation. Seeds are sown in the ashes after the first monsoon rains , and the crop is harvested by October-November.
   
   
2. Shifting Agriculture or Swidden Agriculture is a traditional agricultural practice in many parts of  Asia, Africa, and South America . It has many local names such as ‘lading’ in South-East Asia, ‘milpa’  in Central America, ‘chimenea’ or ‘tavy’ in Africa,  ‘chena’ in Sri Lanka, dhya, Penda, bewar, nevad,  jhum, podu, khandad and kumri in India.

Colonial impacts on Shifting Agriculture:

1.  The forests were considered to be harmed by this practice in Europe. They believed that clearing wood would ruin wood and cause dangerous flames to spread, burning priceless wood.
   
   
2. Shifting Cultivation made it harder for the government to calculate taxe s, so the British  Government decided to ban Shifting Cultivation.
   
   
3. Many Communities were compelled to leave their homes i n the forest as a result.
   
   
4. While some were forced to change their professions, others rebelled on both great and little scales.