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Colonialism and the City The Story of an Imperial Capital
Read the following extract (Source 1) taken from NCERT textbook (page 67) and answer the questions that follow.
“Dilli jo ek shahr tha alam mein intikhab...”
By 1739, Delhi had been sacked by Nadir Shah and plundered many times. Expressing the sorrow of those who witnessed the decline of the city, the eighteenth-century Urdu poet Mir Taqi Mir, said:
Dilli jo ek shahr tha alam mein intikhab,
Ham rahne wale hain usi ujre dayar ke
(I belong to the same ruined territory of Delhi, which was once a supreme city in the world)
Questions:
(i) Who had sacked and plundered Delhi and when?
(ii) Who was Mir Taqi Mir? How does he lament over the ruins of Delhi?
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More money was spent on cleaning Old Delhi than New Delhi.
The first structure to successfully use the dome was called the _______________.
The two architects who designed New Delhi and Shahjahanabad were ______________ and _______________.
The British saw overcrowded spaces as ______________ .
In 1888 an extension scheme called the ________________________ was devised.
Identify three differences in the city design of New Delhi and Shahjahanabad.
Who lived in the ‘white’ areas in cities such as Madras?
What is meant by de-urbanisation?
Why did the British choose to hold a grand Durbar in Delhi although it was not the capital?
How did the Old City of Delhi change under British rule?
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