Page 7 - Lessonnote_Structural Change

Urbanisation and Industrialisation are linked processes.

➢ British industrialization led to deindustrialization in some sectors.
➢ Old urban centres like Surat, Masulipatnam, Dhaka, Murshidabad
declined.

➢ Coastal cities like Bombay, Calcutta and Madras were developed for
exporting new materials-cotton, jute, indigo, coffee-and importing
machine made goods from Britain

• Urbanisation in the colonial period saw the decline of some earlier
urban centres and the emergence of new colonial cities.

• Kolkata was one of the first of such cities. In 1690, an English merchant
named Job Charnock arranged to lease three villages (named Kolkata,
Gobindapur, and Sutanuti) by the river Hugli in order to set up a trading
post.

• In 1698, Fort William was established by the river for defensive
purposes, and a large open area was cleared around the fort for military

engagements. The fort and the open area (called Maidan) formed the
core of the city that emerged rather rapidly.

The Tea Plantations:

• Undemocratic measures were used to get work done by the workers,
for the benefit of the 'British planters.
• The planters enjoyed lavish lifestyles.

• The workers worked under unjust contract and unfavourable
conditions.

• The planter and his family lived in huge bungalows surrounded by an
army of liveried servants.
• The workers were recruited from far off places and many were injected

with strange fevers.