Why did cultivation expand when population increased?

Correct answer: More food was needed

The direct answer is B: more food was needed. Population means the number of people living in an area. When population increases, the demand for food generally increases as well. To feed more people, societies may bring additional land under cultivation, clear some forests, improve irrigation or grow more crops on existing land. In this question, the simple cause is increased food demand, so option B is correct. Option A says less food was needed, which is the opposite of the usual effect of population growth. Option C says trees had to be decorated; decoration does not require clearing large areas for crops and is unrelated to cultivation expansion. Option D says railways had to be stopped; stopping railways is not a reason to grow more food, and railway expansion historically often required land rather than stopping it. The reasoning is: more people → greater food requirement → pressure to expand cultivation. This does not mean every population increase automatically causes deforestation, because technology, trade and better yields can change the result, but it is the basic historical explanation expected here. Memory cue: “More mouths mean greater food demand.”