NCERT Solutions for Class 6 History Chapter 1 What, Where, How and When

NCERT Solutions for Class 6 Social Science History Chapter 1 What, Where, How and When contains the answers to the exercise questions. These solutions are easy and accurate that helps with the questions asked in the examinations. The Class 6 History Chapter 1 solution covers all the questions of the chapter in detail. These solutions are prepared by our subject experts in very easy language. All our Class 6 NCERT solutions are updated as per the latest CBSE Syllabus and Guidelines.

NCERT Solutions for Class 6 Social Science History Chapter 1

Let’s recall

Question 1: Match the following:

Narmada ValleyThe first big kingdom
MagadhaHunting and gathering
Garo HillsCities about 2500 years ago
Indus and its tributariesEarly agriculture
Ganga valleyThe first cities

Answer:

Narmada ValleyHunting and gathering
MagadhaThe first big kingdom
Garo HillsEarly agriculture
Indus and its tributariesThe first cities
Ganga valleyCities about 2500 years ago

Question 2: List one major difference between manuscripts and inscriptions.

Answer:  One major difference between manuscripts and inscriptions is that manuscripts are written on leaves or barks of trees whereas inscriptions are written on hard surfaces such as stone or metal.

Let’s discuss

Question 3: Return to Rasheeda’s question. Can you think of some answers to it?

Answer:  Rasheeda’s Question: How anyone can know what has happened One Hundred Years Ago.

We can get the answers by:

  • Reading the books written in past.
  • By manuscripts
  • By inscriptions
  • By tools & weapons

Question 4: Make a list of all the objects that archaeologists may find. Which of these could be made of stone?

Answer: A list of all objects that archaeologists may find is as follows:

  • Remains of buildings
  • Paintings
  • Sculpture
  • Tools
  • Weapons
  • Pots
  • Pans
  • Ornaments
  • Bones of animals
  • Coins

The objects that could be made up of stones are:

  • Remains of buildings
  • Sculpture
  • Tools
  • Weapons
  • Ornaments

Question 5: Why do you think ordinary men and women did not generally keep records of what they did?

Answer: Ordinary men and women did not keep a record of what they did because they did not find the events of their daily lives to be of such significance that they had to be recorded. Moreover, hiring a person to keep a record of daily events was an expensive proposition. On the other hand, it was not too difficult for kings and rulers to hire chroniclers to record what they did or what was happening in or around their territories. Moreover, they thought that the recording of events was an important way of recording history and letting in pass on to succeeding generations.

Question 6: Describe at least two ways in which you think the lives of kings would have been different from those of farmers.

Answer: Lives of kings would have been different from those of farmers in the following ways:

(i) Kings were the head and had absolute power over all his subjects. Farmers, on the other hand,  led an ordinary life without having any of such powers.

(ii) Kings lived in palaces while the farmers lived in huts.

(iii) Kings fought battles to protect his kingdom and people from enemies whereas the farmers produced foods for their kings and other people of the kingdom.

Extra Questions

Very Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1: What do you know about the location of the Sulaiman and Kirthar hills?
Or
Where are the Sulaiman and Kirthar hills located?

Answer: The Sulaiman and Kirthar hills are located In the modem day Pakistan.

Question 2: Name any two animals which the people of the Sulaiman and Kirthar hills reared.
Answer: Sheep and goat.

Question 3: Where are the Garo hills located?
Answer: The Garo hills are in the north-east of India.

Question 4: What are tributaries? [V. Imp.]
Answer: Tributaries are smaller rivers that flow into a bigger river.

Question 5: Name the tributary of the river Ganga.
Answer: Son.

Question 6: Where was Magadha located?
Answer: Magadha was located in the south of the Ganga.

Question 7: Why was Magadha famous? [V. Imp.]
Answer: Magadha was famous because its mlers were very powerful who established a big kingdom.

Question 8: What was the job of religious teachers?  [V. Imp.]
Answer: Religious teachers moved from one place to another to offer instruction and advice to the people who met on the way.

Question 9: From where does the word India come?
Answer: The word India comes from the Indus, known as Sindhu in Sanskrit.

Question 10: What is meant by the manuscript?
Answer: Manuscript is a hand-written matter.

Question 11: What was used in ancient times to write manuscripts?
Answer: Palm leaf or the bark of the birch tree was used in ancient times to write manuscripts.

Question 12: What are inscriptions?
Answer: Inscriptions are writings on relatively hard surfaces like stone or metal.

Question 14: Why do archaeologists look for bones of animals, birds, and fish?
Answer: They do so in order to find out what people ate in the past.

Question 15: What are the occupations of the people of the Andaman Islands?
Answer: The people of the Andaman Islands are engaged in fishing, hunting, and collecting forest produce.

Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1: What do you know about the earliest people who lived along the banks of river Narmada for several hundred thousand years?

Answer: Those people were skilled gatherers. They gathered their food. They also collected roots, fruits and other forest produce for their food. They also hunted animals for this purpose.

Question 2: People in the earliest times used to travel from one place to another. But their journeys were full of dangers. What type of dangers did they face?

Answer: It is true that people in the earliest times used to travel from this place to that. But their journeys were dangerous. The hills, and high mountains including the Himalayas, deserts, rivers and seas created dangers for them. But they never got afraid of them. Instead they overcame them and continued to travel.

Question 3: Who are archaeologist? What do they do? [V. Imp.]

Answer: Archaeologists are persons who study the objects of the past. They study the remains of the buildings made of stone and brick, paintings and sculpture. They also explore and dig the earth in order to find out tools, weapons, pots, pans, ornaments and coins.

Question 4: How are city people different from the people living in the Andaman Islands?

Answer: People living in the Andaman Islands manage their own food by fishing, hunting and collecting forest produce. On the other hand, city people depend on others for supplies of food.

Question 5: How can you say that historians and archaeologists are like detectives?

Answer: Historians often use the word source to refer to the information found from manuscripts, inscriptions and archaeology. Once sources are found, learning about the past becomes an adventure, as we reconstruct it bit by bit. So, historians and archaeologists are like detectives who use all these sources like clues to discover the past.

Long Answer Type Questions

Question 1: How was traveling an important part of the life of the people in the past

Answer: People in the past were very fond of travelling from one place to another. Although the hills and high mountains like the Himalayas, deserts, rivers, and seas posed great problems, people kept on travelling. They moved in search of livelihood. They had also in their mind to escape from natural disasters such as floods and droughts. Sometimes, men marched in armies and conquered others’ lands.

Merchants travelled with caravans or ships. They carried valuable goods from place to place. There were religious teachers who used to walk from village to village, town to town. They offered instruction and advice to the people who met them on the way. There were also people who travelled because they were adventurous by nature. They enjoyed discovering new and exciting places.

Question 2: What are the different ways to find out about the past? Describe briefly.

Answer: The different ways to find out about the past are the following:

(i) Manuscripts. These were the hand-written matters. They were usually written on palm leaf or the bark of the birch tree. While many of these manuscripts got destroyed, many have survived in temples and monasteries. These books dealt with all kinds of subjects such as religious beliefs and practices, the lives of kings, medicines, and science. These manuscripts also included epics, poems, plays.

(ii) Inscriptions are writings on relatively hard surfaces such as stone or metal. Sometimes, kings got their orders inscribed in order to make common people aware of them. Some inscriptions kept records of victories in battle.

(iii) Archaeological excavations or evidence. Archaeology means the study of cultures of the past and of periods of history by examining the remains of buildings and objects found in the earth. Archaeologists explore and dig earth to find tools, weapons, pots, pans, ornaments, and coins. These things provide us valuable information about the past.

Class 6 History Chapter 1 NCERT Questions and Answers

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