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and development, in both thought and action. The
They ruined our ancient handicrafts and trade, and
people began to realize the values of freedom, made us suffer politically, socially and
liberty and unity as they came into the contact of economically. However, this period is also a period
newly found western ideas. The Indians stood up
of awakening as the railways were laid, military
against the atrocities of the foreign rule and modernised and administration streamlined.
attained freedom. The modern period continues to
this date, but our India, with our independence in SOURCES OF INFORMATION
1947, has ushered in a new era, the fruits of
which we taste now. Presently, India has attained History is a period gone by. We can know about it
many accomplishments in diverse fields, with only through some sources of information. How
many more to come. correctly we know about the past, depends upon
the correctness of the sources. You have studied
Info Bits in the previous classes that the sources of
Info Bits
information can be classified into two broad
classes—literary sources and archaeological
The modern period in Europe saw the advent of the
Industrial Revolution, capitalism and imperialism sources. On the basis of these sources of
which affected the entire world. information, the historians try to reconstruct
history. In fact, interpretation of these sources is
CHANGING NOMENCLATURES very vital, because different historians interpret
them differently, and this is the reason that we can
An important development of the period is a find differing views about the past.
change in the names of places. India was called
Literary Sources
Bharatvarsha in the ancient period, Hindustan in
the medieval period and India in the modern The literary sources include different types of
period. At present, all these three names continue printed and other hand-written material which
to be used. Similarly, the names of other places was composed during the period under
have undergone a change with time while new consideration. The important literary sources
towns and cities came to be established, such as include books (both fact and fiction), newspapers,
Dehradun was established by the British as their magazines, laws, government documents etc.
summer resort; before it, it was only a small
Books
village. In the same way, the Madras Presidency
signified the whole of present day Tamil Nadu, With the spread of education,
while Madras (now Chennai) is only its capital. many people wrote texts, both
The state of Mysore became the state of Karnataka fact and fiction, in both
while Mysore is only a city in this state. There are forms—verse and prose. Books
many such examples of this type. are quite authentic sources of
information about this period
AN OUTLINE OF THE TIME FRAME which help to reconstruct Premchand
history of this period. The available books are on
In India, the modern period began in the eighteenth
different subjects, such as medicine, technology,
century and continues to the present twenty-first engineering, mathematics, literature, history,
century. The eighteenth century period was a
music, dance, drama etc. The important books of
period of turmoil as the Mughal power waned and this period include fiction (such as stories and
was replaced by several regional powers, and then novels by Premchand), fact (such as Gandhiji’s
came the foreigners, such as the Dutch, the
autobiography), travelogues etc.
Portuguese, the British etc. The British, in
particular, gained vast territories and ruled us for a Newspapers, Magazines etc.
long period until 1947. This period was a period of As the printed press developed, newspapers and
turmoil as they exploited us in every possible way. magazines became an important source of history,
Contemporary Social Science-8
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