What was cleared to expand cultivation in the colonial period?

Correct answer: Forests

The direct answer is B: forests were cleared to expand cultivation during the colonial period. Colonial authorities and commercial interests often wanted more land for settled farming, cash crops and revenue collection. Trees were cut and forest land was converted into fields, which caused deforestation and affected forest communities. Option B is correct because forests are the land cover that had to be removed to create new farmland. Option A is wrong because rivers are water channels, not areas normally cleared for cultivation. Option C is wrong because seas cannot be cleared like forests to make ordinary crop fields. Option D is wrong because clearing mountain peaks is not the general historical process described; cultivation expansion mainly involved cutting forests in suitable areas. The lesson is that colonial land policies valued taxable cultivation and commercial production, often ignoring local dependence on forests. Memory cue: more fields under colonial expansion often meant fewer forests.