NCERT Solutions Class 7 Social Science Chapter 7 Tribes Nomads and Settled Communities

NCERT Solutions for Class 7 for Social Science History for Chapter 7 Tribes Nomads and Settled Communities

Let’s recall 

1. Match the following: 

Garh -  khel 

Tanda - chaurasi 

Labourer- caravan 

Clan - Garha Katanga 

Sib Singh -  Ahom state 

Durgawati- paik 

 

Answer: 

Garh - Garha Katanga 

Tanda - caravan 

Labourer- paik 

Clan - chaurasi 

Sib Singh – khel 

 

2. Fill in the blanks: 

(a) The new castes emerging within varnas were called jatis. 

(b)Buranjis were historical works written by the Ahoms. 

(c) The Akbar Nama mentions that Garha Katanga had 70,000 villages. 

(d) As tribal states became bigger and stronger, they gave land grants to poets and scholars. 

 

 

3. State whether true or false: 

(a) Tribal societies had rich oral traditions. 

(b) There were no tribal communities in the northwestern part of the subcontinent. 

(c) The chaurasi in Gond states contained several cities. 

(d) The Bhils lived in the north-eastern part of the subcontinent. 

 

Answer:  

(a)True 

(b) False 

(c) False 

(d) False 

 

4. What kinds of exchanges took place between nomadic pastoralists and settled agriculturists? 

 

Answer: 

Nomadic pastoralists exchanged wool, ghee, etc., with settled agriculturists for grain, cloth, utensils and other products. 

 

Let’s understand 

5. How was the administration of the Ahom state organised? 

Answer: 

(i)The Ahom state depended upon forced labour called paiks.  

(ii)Total number of population was calculated through a census. Each village had to send a number of paiks by rotation.  

(iii)People from heavily populated areas were shifted to less populated places.  

(iv) Ahom clans were thus broken up. By the first half of the seventeenth century the administration became quite centralised. 

(v) Almost all adult males served in the army during war.  At other times, they were engaged in building dams, irrigation systems and other public works. 

 

 

6. What changes took place in varna-based society? 

 

Answer: 

(i)Varna-based society and tribal people constantly interacted with each other.  

(ii)This interaction caused both kinds of societies to adapt and change.  

(iii)There were many different tribes and they took up diverse livelihoods. 

(iv)Over a period of time, many of them merged with caste-based society.  

(v)Others, however, rejected both the caste system and orthodox Hinduism.  

(vi)Some tribes established extensive states with well-organised systems of administration. 

(vii)They thus became politically powerful. This brought them into conflict with larger and more complex kingdoms and empires. 

 

7. How did tribal societies change after being organised into a state? 

 

Answer: 

The following changes happened in the tribal societies after being organised into a state:   

(i) With the support of the Brahmanas, many tribes became part of the caste system.  

(ii) Leading tribal families joined ruling classes and a large majority joined the lower jatis of caste society.  

(iii) Dominant tribes of Punjab, Sindh and the North-West Frontier had embraced Islam.  

(iv) Some tribes became politically powerful and conflicted with larger and more complex kingdoms and empires. 

Let’s discuss 

 8. Were the Banjaras important for the economy? 

 Answer: 

 (i)Yes. The Banjaras were the most important for the economy. They were the most important trader-nomads. 

Their caravan was called tanda.  

 (ii)Sultan Alauddin Khalji used the Banjaras to transport grain to the city markets.  

 (iii)Emperor Jahangir wrote in his memoirs that the Banjaras carried grain on their bullocks from different areas and sold it in towns.  

 (iv)They transported food grain for the Mughal army during military campaigns. With a large army there could be 100,000 bullocks carrying grain. 

 

9. In what ways was the history of the Gonds different from that of the Ahoms? Were there any similarities? 

 Answer: 

 Difference:  

(i) Gonds lived in a vast forested region called Gondwana while the Ahoms migrated to the Brahmaputra valley from present-day Myanmar in the thirteenth century.  

(ii) Gonds practiced shifting cultivation while the Ahoms introduced new methods of rice cultivation.  

(iii) Gonds were completely annexed by Mughal Empire while the Ahoms were defeated by the Mughals; however, the direct control over the region could not last long.

Similarties:  

(i) Gonds and Ahoms had a centralized-administration.  

(ii) Both were smaller tribes who emerged as powerful kingdoms by annexing neighbouring small societies and got power.   

(iii) Ahom society was divided into clans or khels while the large Gond tribe was further divided into many smaller clans.