CBSE Class 6 History Notes Chapter 8 Vital Villages, Thriving Towns

Class 6 Notes Social Science History Chapter 8 Vital Villages, Thriving Towns and When help you in quick revision of the chapter. Reading these notes will help you to understand the lesson more easily. Once you have understood the chapter, you can easily write the answers of the questions that may come to your exams. Ultimately, our Class 6 NCERT Notes History Chapter 8 will help you to score good marks in the exam.

Vital Villages, Thriving Towns Class 6 Notes Social Science History Chapter 8

Iron Tools and Agriculture

Use of iron can be traced back 3000 years with growing use reflecting some 2500 years ago. These iron tools used included axes for clearing forests and the iron ploughshare, most useful for increasing agricultural production.

Rapid Increase in Agricultural Production:  

(i) The discovery of iron tools led to rapid rise in agricultural production.  

(ii) It made it easier to bring more land under cultivation by clearing forests.  

(iii) The use of iron ploughshare made it possible to dig deep in those areas where the soil was fertile.  

iv) It led to significant rise in agriculature production first in North India and then in South India.  

Growth of Crafts and Craftsmen:  

i) Art and crafts flourished in every village.  

ii) Each village had weavers, dyers, potters, blacksmiths, basket-weaver, goldsmiths, carpenters and other skilled craftsmen.  

iii) Silk weaving, dyeing, coin-minting, ivory-carving, cloth-making and bead-making became the popular occupations. 

iv) Archaeological sources show extremely fine pottery called the Northern Black Polished Ware.  

v) Most craftsmen organized themselves into organisations called Shrenis.  

Increase in Trade:  

i) The rapid rise in agricultural production and crafts led to surplus production. This surplus in villages was supplied to towns.  

ii) All this led to growth of trade.  

iii) Merchants and traders participated in both the internal and external trade.  

iv) All trading communities were organised into guilds.  

v) Use of money gave rise to punch marked coins.  

vi) Taxes collected from trade acted as an important source of revenue for the king,  

How did People Live:  

(i) Very little information is available about the life of the people.  

(ii) The main sources to know about them include stories from books, the accounts of sailors and travellers and sculptures which show scenes from the daily life.  

The Second Urbanisation: Town and Cities:  

i) Large-scale agricultural production, growth of crafts and increased trade and commerce led to emergence of new towns and cities.  

ii) It led to growth of urban centres and is called the Age of Second Urbanisation.  

iii) Some important towns of this period were Vaishali, Ujjayani, Hastinapur, Pataliputra, Mathura, Arikamedu, Bodh Gaya, Rajagriha and Kaveripattnam.  

Functions of Towns:  

i) Each town was famous for some particular activity.  

ii) Some towns were religious while others were administrative.  

iii) Several towns like Sopara were trading towns.  

iv) Two such famous towns were Mathura and Arikamedu.  

v) Mathura was the second capital of Kushanas and a centre of temples monasteries, arts and crafts. The Mathura School of Art grew here. 

vi) Arikamedu was an important coastal trading centre, a port and a centre for export and import. Traders from Rome came here.  

Life of People of Tamil Nadu: Under the Cholas and the Pandyas:  

(i) Most people lived in villages and were farmers.  

(ii) Towns were near the coast.  

(iii) Trade went as far as Rome and China.  

(iv) People like amusements, games and gambling.  

(v) The administration was headed by a king. There was even a general assembly known as the Sabha.  

(vi) The most popular God was Murugan (Kartikeya in North).  

(vii) The Chola Kingdom was situated between the Pennar and the Velur rivers and its centre of power was Uraiyar, a famous cotton centre.  

(viii) The Pandyha kingdom with its capital at Madurai was known for its pearls. It is mentioned by Megasthenes and the Sangam literature.

A closer look — Arikamedu

Arikamedu (in Puducherry)-a coastal settlement where ships unloaded goods from distant lands-massive brick structure (a warehouse found at the site)-pottery from the Mediterranean region, such as amphorae (tall double-handled jars that contained liquids such as wine or oil) -stamped red-glazed pottery, known as Arretine Ware, named after a city in Italy- made by pressing wet clay into a stamped mould-another kind of pottery made locally, though Roman designs were used-Roman lamps, glassware and gems found at the site. Small tanks found-were probably dyeing vats, used to dye cloth-plenty of evidence for the making of beads from semi-precious stones and glass.

Elsewhere

Rome-one of the oldest cities in Europe-developed around the same time as the cities in the Ganga valley-capital of one of the largest empires — spread across Europe, North Africa, and West Asia. Augustus- most important emperors-ruled about 2000 years ago-found Rome a city of brick-made it into a city of marble-He, and later rulers, built temples and palaces-also built huge amphitheatres— open arenas surrounded by tiers of seats — where citizens could watch all kinds of shows, and public baths (with separate timings for men and women), where people met and relaxed. Huge aqueducts — channels to supply water — were built to bring water to the city — for the baths, fountains and toilets.