Class 10 - History – CH 6 – Work, life and leisure

In 1880, Durgacharan Ray wrote a novel, Debganer Martye  Aagaman  (The Gods Visit Earth). Brahma along with rain god Varuna visit  the capital of British India- Calcutta.

1. There were opportunities for trade & commerce.
2. Caste, religious and gender identities were changing. 
3. Trains and ships
4. Factories and bridges
5. Monuments
6. Shops with  wide range of commodities
7. Centre of education and jobs.
8. Cheats and thieves
9. Grinding poverty
10. Poor housing
11. Pollution and sanitation hazards.

1. Historical processes which shaped the modern cities
2.  The rise of industrial capitalism (Industrial capitalism refers to an economic and social system in which trade, industry and capital are privately controlled and operated for a profit.)
3. The establishment of colonial rule over large parts of the world
4.   Urbanization: (An increase in a population in cities and towns versus rural areas. Urbanization began during the industrial revolution, when workers moved towards manufacturing hubs in cities to obtain jobs in factories as agricultural jobs became less common.)
5.  The development of democratic ideals.

          

Ancient cities

* Ur, Nippur (Mesopotamia i.e modern Iraq) – along river Tigris and EuphratesMohenjodaro, Harappa (Indus Valley Civilization) – along river Indus

*Towns and cities first appeared along river valleys. Why????

* Ancient cities could develop:

Reason
1.An increase in food supplies made it possible to support a wide range of non-food producers of cities.

Earliest industrial cities of Britain :                                       Leeds and Manchester – textile centres

Modern city of London London was the largest city in the world, and an imperial centre in the nineteenth century situated at the banks of river Thames.

1. 750 – population of London - 675,000
2. 1880 ­- population of London – 4 million

Reasons for development of these cities:

1. Employment on dockyard, 
2. clothing and footwear, 
3. wood and furniture, 
4. metals and engineering, 
5. printing and stationery, 
6. and precision products such as surgical instruments, watches.

Problem of crime in London

1. As London grew, crime flourished. Around 20,000 criminals were living in London in the 1870s.
2. Henry Mayhew compiled long lists of those who made a living from crime.
3. The police were worried about law and order, philanthropists (Someone who works for social upliftment and charity) were anxious about public morality.
4. Andrew Mearns, a clergyman who wrote The Bitter Cry of Outcast London in the 1880s, showed why crime was more profitable than labouring in small underpaid factories.

Steps taken:)

1. authorities imposed high penalties for crime.
2. offered work to those who were considered the ‘deserving poor’.
3. To take out children from criminal activities Compulsory Elementary Education Act was introduced in 1870.

Problem of Housing

1. After Industrial Revolution in England, London became a magnet for rural people who search for job. Landowners constructed Tenements for new arrival.
2. Tenement – Run-down and often overcrowded apartment house, especially in a poor section of a large city
3. In 1887,Charles Booth, a Liverpool ship-owner, conducted the first social survey of low skilled London workers in the East End of London.

Report:

*1 million Londoners were very poor and were expected to live only up to an average age of 29 .Life expectancy among the gentry and the middle class was 55.

*London, he concluded ‘needed the rebuilding of at least 400,000 rooms to house its poorest citizens’.



Need of Housing : The better-off city dwellers continued to demand that slums simply be cleared away.
Reasons:
(1) First the poor were seen as a serious threat to public health: they were overcrowded, badly ventilated, and lacked sanitation. There was a fear of epidemic.
(2) Second, there were worries about fire hazards created by poor housing.
(3) Third, there was a widespread fear of social disorder, especially after the Russian Revolution in 1917. The poor can rebel.

Steps to clear London:

(1) Green the open space

(2) Attempts made to reduce pollution

(3) Large blocks of apartments were built

(4) Rent control was introduced in Britain during the First World War
Garden city

* Architect and planner Ebenezer Howard developed the principle of the Garden City, a pleasant space full of plants and trees

* Following Howard’s ideas Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker designed the garden city ofNew Earswick.
Transport in London

1. To persuade people to live in garden suburbs of London a transport network needed. The London underground railway partially solved the housing crisis by carrying large masses of people to and from the city.
2. The very first section of the Underground in the world opened on 10 January 1863 betweenPaddington and Farrington Street in London.
3. By 1880 the expanded train service was carrying 40 million passengers a year.