Colonization and Decolonization

Answer: A. Divide and rule means encouraging or exploiting differences among communities, regions, classes, or groups so that they do not unite against the colonial government. A ruler facing one united movement may find it difficult to maintain control, but divided groups have less common bargaining power. Therefore, colonial authorities could present themselves as protectors of one group against another while preserving their own power. A is correct because it describes the central political purpose of the policy. B is wrong: giving genuinely equal power would reduce, not strengthen, colonial control. C is wrong because the policy aimed to preserve colonial rule, not end it. D is wrong because full local democracy would transfer authority to the people. Memory cue: divide the people, weaken resistance, preserve rule.

Answer: A. Oral history collects memories, stories, testimonies, and experiences communicated by people, families, and communities. Colonial records were often produced by officials or institutions concerned with administration, taxation, law, and control. Such records can contain valuable information, but they may give limited space to workers, women, local communities, and subordinated groups. Oral accounts can therefore broaden the evidence and question whose viewpoint became dominant. A is correct because it explains this corrective role. B is wrong: oral testimony does not automatically disprove every written source; it must also be compared and evaluated. C is wrong because memory and testimony are historical sources. D is wrong because oral history includes much more than music. Memory cue: history becomes richer when more voices are heard.

Answer: A. A boycott is a deliberate refusal to buy selected goods. In the Swadeshi movement, refusing foreign products reduced, or aimed to reduce, the market for imported goods while encouraging people to use and produce indigenous goods. This challenged the economic benefit colonial trade brought to foreign manufacturers and merchants. It also made everyday shopping a public political statement: choosing local goods expressed support for self-reliance and opposition to colonial authority. A is correct because it includes both the material challenge to profit and the symbolic challenge to domination. B is the opposite of a boycott. C is wrong because Swadeshi encouraged local production. D is wrong because the movement had economic and political aims, not merely ritual ones. Memory cue: boycott foreign goods, build local production, express national resistance.

Answer: A. Ghana, formerly the British Gold Coast, became independent in 1957 under Kwame Nkrumah. Its success gave African nationalists a powerful practical example: colonial rule could be challenged and a self-governing African state could be created. The phrase “mental barrier” refers to the weakening of the belief that European rule was permanent or that independence was impossible. A is correct because Ghana’s independence demonstrated a realistic path for other movements and encouraged wider decolonization. B is wrong because independence reduced British colonial authority in Ghana. C is wrong because the Gold Coast had been under British colonial rule. D is wrong because the partition of Africa occurred earlier, mainly during nineteenth-century imperial expansion. Memory cue: Ghana, 1957, Nkrumah, example for African independence.

Answer: A. Consumption means the choices people make when they buy, use, or refuse goods. Swadeshi gave those ordinary choices a political meaning. People were encouraged to buy indigenous products and reject foreign goods associated with colonial economic power. A purchase could support local producers, while a boycott could reduce the market for imported goods and publicly express opposition to colonial rule. A is correct because it connects both positive choice—buying local—and refusal—boycotting foreign goods—with nationalist action. B is wrong because the idea is not limited to armed conflict. C is wrong because the market is central to the strategy. D is wrong because boycott aimed to reduce, not increase, demand for foreign goods. Memory cue: what people buy can communicate what political cause they support.