Maharashtra Board Class 10 History Chapter 8 Tourism and History PDF Download

8. Tourism and History

8.1 Tourism in the Past

The tradition of travelling is quite old in India. People used to travel for various reasons like pilgrimage, going to local fairs and festivals, in search of a renowned teacher and good education, for trade, etc. In brief, from ancient times people took to travelling for various reasons.

The Buddhist literature tells us that Gautam Buddha travelled to several cities in ancient India for preaching. Buddhist monks were ordained not to stay at one place but keep travelling continuously to various places. Jain monks, sadhus also used to travel constantly.

Yuan Shwang, the Chinese monk travelled to India in 630 C.E. In the medieval period Saint Namdev, Saint Eknath, Guru Nanak, Ramdas Swami travelled extensively in India.

Benjamin of Tudela is known as the first European traveller/discoverer. He was born in Spain. During the period of 1159-1173 C.E. he travelled to France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Syria, Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Persia, India and China. He maintained diaries of the accounts of his travels. His diaries are viewed as important historical documents.

Marco Polo, the Italian traveller of the 13th century introduced Asia, especially China to Europe. He stayed in china for 17 years. He wrote about the flora and fauna, social life, culture and trade systems of Asia.

Ibn Batuta, the traveller of the 14th century took the world on a virtual travel of the Islamic world with his travel accounts. He was travelling for 30 years. He had resolved not to travel twice on the same route. His accounts are helpful in understanding the medieval history and social life.

Gerardus Mercator, of 16th century was a cartographer. He is known for creating a world map and globe of the earth. His work proved to be very useful for navigation around the world.

Tourism: Tourism can be defined as travelling to visit places in distant regions for a specific purpose.

In the latter half of the 19th century C.E. the name of Thomas Cook is noteworthy in the context of tourism history. He organised a trip by railway from Leicester to Loughborough for about 600 people. Later he was successful in organising a round trip of Europe. Eventually he established a travel agency selling tourist tickets. This early venture of Thomas cook opened doors for the development of modern tourism.

Teacher's Note

Tourism is travelling to see new places and learn about them. Like when your family visits the Taj Mahal or goes to a beach, that is tourism.

Exam Trick

Remember: Thomas Cook organized the first railway trip in 1800s. He is the father of modern tourism. Just remember "Cook = Tourism Father".

Points to Remember

People travelled in ancient India for pilgrimage, education, and trade.
Buddhist and Jain monks travelled to spread their teachings.
Benjamin of Tudela was the first European world traveller.
Thomas Cook started the first organized group travel by railway.
Tourism means visiting distant places for a specific purpose.

8.2 Types of Tourism

These days tourism has become an independent field of local, interstate, national and international business. The desire to visit national and international monuments, places of historical importance and natural beauty, ancient centres known for handicrafts, pilgrim centres, industrial centres and sites of various developmental projects, etc. promotes tourism. Tourists from all over the world wish to visit natural and manmade sites, which offer a delightful and awe inspiring experience. The places like snow-capped peaks, beaches, pristine jungles, which were neglected previously, became important locations of tourist interests. Mass media began to make special audio-visual presentations highlighting places of tourist interest. Tourism can be broadly typified into local tourism, interstate tourism, international tourism, religious tourism, historical tourism, health tourism, science tourism, agro-tourism, sports tourism, tourism based on special events, etc.

Local and Interstate Tourism: This kind of tourism is not very overwhelming because it is within one's own country. It does not cause difficulties of language, procuring currency and documents. More so, we can plan it at the time suitable to us.

International Tourism: Nowadays, it has become easier to travel because of the easy availability of a number of options of railway, marine and air transport. Marine transport has linked the coastal regions. There is a trans-European railway route. Aviation has brought the entire world closer. Because of the economic liberalisation policy of the Indian government the number of people travelling back and forth from India has increased considerably. They include people travelling for studies, relaxation, sightseeing, and professional assignments (meetings, agreements, etc.), also for shooting of films, etc. One needs to procure various official documents for travelling abroad.

Historical Tourism: This type of tourism is popular all over the world. Tours to historical places are arranged to satisfy people's interest in history. It can be noted in this context that Gopal Neelkanth Dandekar, a renowned Marathi writer used to arrange hiking tours to forts in Maharashtra, to explore the sights closely linked to Chhatrapti Shivaji Maharaj and his achievements. Tours are also arranged to important historical sites in India such as forts in Rajasthan, Ashrams of Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinoba Bhave, important places related to the Indian war of independence in 1857, etc.

The tradition of travelling from corner to corner was prevalent in India from ancient times. Vishnubhat Godase wrote down the accounts of his journey from Maharashtra to Ayodhya and back to Maharashtra. It is published as a book entitled, 'Maza Pravas'. Vishnubhat travelled during times of the Indian war of independence in 1857. He was the eye witness for many events related to this historical event. His accounts are full of detailed descriptions about various incidences during this period, especially those about the life of Lakshmibai, the queen of Jhansi. We also get to know the nature of Marathi language of the 18th century. This book is one of the important sources of history of that period.

Teacher's Note

There are many types of tourism. When you visit your grandpa's village, that is local tourism. When you go to another state to see a monument, that is interstate tourism.

Exam Trick

Remember: Tourism = Local + Interstate + International + Historical + Health + Sports. Just think of different reasons why people travel and you will remember all types.

Points to Remember

Local tourism is within your own country and is easy to plan.
International tourism needs passports and official documents.
Historical tourism means visiting old monuments and forts.
Vishnubhat Godase wrote about his travels in a book called 'Maza Pravas'.
Tourism can be for study, relaxation, sightseeing, or professional work.

8.3 Development of Tourism

The crucial issue in the development of tourism is providing proper guidance to national and international tourists about various aspects of the actual travel, proper social conduct during the tour and during their stay at the destination places.

Giving priority to ensure safe transport and security facilities for the tourists, amenities of reasonably good standard, availability of good accommodation, good washroom facilities on the travel routes is of great significance in promoting tourism. It is also very important to pay special attention to the special needs of handicapped tourists.

It is important to take a few primary precautions in order to preserve the historical heritage sites. It is essential that few things should be avoided at any instance, for example: vandalising or defacing the heritage monuments and sites. In order to avoid it everybody should refrain from activities like writing on walls or carving on trees, paint ancient monuments in garish colours, etc. Lack of good amenities in the precincts of the heritage sites causes filthiness.

It is very essential for the tourists that pamphlets, guides and history books about a tourist site be available in their own language. Hence, such literature should be made available in various languages. It would be helpful if the taxi drivers are trained to converse in more than one languages. They may also be trained as tourist guides.

Teacher's Note

To develop tourism, we need good hotels, clean roads, and good guides. In India, many cities are building better facilities for tourists to visit.

Exam Trick

Remember: Good Tourism = Safe Transport + Good Hotels + Clean Places + Good Guides. Think of what makes a nice trip for you and you will remember this.

Points to Remember

Safe transport and security are very important for tourists.
Hotels and accommodation must be of good standard.
Do not write on walls or carve on trees at monuments.
Guides should know multiple languages to help tourists.
Pamphlets and information books should be available in many languages.

This is a preview of the first 3 pages. To get the complete book, click below.