5.9 Practice MCQs
Answer the following MCQs using the sources and your knowledge of world history.
Group 1
Questions 1-3 refer to the chart below
Source 1.1
Percentages of Workers Employed in Textile Factories in England by Age and Gender, 1835–1867
Question 1a
The high proportion of women and children among the workers reflected in the table is best seen in the context of the
Question 1b
The data in the table best provide historical context to understand which of the following developments in mid-nineteenth-century Great Britain?
Question 1c
The labor patterns shown in the table are most directly relevant in understanding which broader process in nineteenth-century Europe?
Group 2
Questions 4-7 refer to the images below
Source 2.1
Image 1: Coal Mine in the English Midlands, circa 1750
Source 2.2
Image 2: Coal-Sifting Room at a Mine, Western France, circa 1850
Question 2a
Image 1 best illustrates which of the following broad economic transformations in the period circa 1750 ?
Question 2b
Which of the following was the most immediate effect of the processes illustrated in the images?
Question 2c
The gender and age makeup of the workforce shown in Image 2 best illustrates which of the following phenomena in mid-nineteenth-century European society?
Question 2d
In the second half of the nineteenth century, the working conditions depicted in Image 2 served as an inspiration for those arguing that
Group 3
Questions 8-10 refer to the passage below
Source 3.1
“There is no town in the world where the distance between the rich and the poor is so great, or the barrier between them so difficult to be crossed. The separation between the different classes, and the consequent ignorance of each other’s habits and condition, are far more complete in this place than in any other country in Europe, or even in the rural areas of Britain. There is far less personal communication between the master cotton spinner and his workmen and between the master tailor and his apprentices than there is between the Duke of Wellington and the humblest laborer of his estate, or than there was between King George III and the lowliest errand boy in his palace. I mean this not as a matter of blame, but I state it simply as a fact.”
Richard Parkinson, English clergyman of the Anglican Church, “On the Present Condition of the Laboring Poor in Manchester,” paper published in London, 1841.
Question 3a
The class relationships in Manchester described by Parkinson are best explained in the context of the
Question 3b
The disparities of wealth mentioned by Parkinson in the passage are best explained in the context of the
Question 3c
The rapid growth of nineteenth-century industrial cities such as Manchester is best understood in the context of which of the following economic developments?
Group 4
Questions 11-13 refer to the image below
Source 4.1
Map of the South Wales Coalfield, a Major Mining Center in Great Britain, circa 1820
Question 4a
Together with access to coal deposits, which environmental factor most directly contributed to Great Britain’s early industrialization?
Question 4b
Waterways such as canals and rivers were important in the process of early industrialization because they provided
Question 4c
Which of the following best summarizes the way in which the development of the factory system and the development of new transportation infrastructure such as railways worked together as factors facilitating British industrialization?
Group 6
Questions 14-15 refer to the passage below
Source 6.1
“The fourth annual meeting of the shareholders of the British South Africa Company was held yesterday at the Cannon-street Hotel. The company’s chairman, in his opening address, said, ‘Twice during the past year we met when fighting with Africans was taking place in the company’s territory, when financial arrangements of a complicated character were pending, and when the outlook of the enterprise seemed full of doubt and difficulty. Today, however, we are in a position far superior to any we had previously occupied and ever had hoped to attain. In founding the British South Africa Company, the shareholders undertook the occupation and development of a considerable extent of valuable territory in South Africa. Thus, because of the far-seeing action of a few men connected with the company, this enormous territory was secured for Great Britain. The perfectly legitimate objections of some people to chartered companies like ours were answered by the certainty that this vast territory—equal in extent to Central Europe—could not have been brought under British sway in any other way.
Turning now to the development of railway communication in our territory, it is being pursued by building lines from the Cape Colony and joining them to other lines that will provide a route over Portuguese Mozambique and to the sea. Postal and telegraphic communications will closely follow, and in some cases already precede, the completion of the railroad. In addition, even before our mines have reached a stage of development great enough to cause a large inflow of population, the shareholders may congratulate themselves on the satisfactory outlook of our finances in Mashonaland*.’”
*a region in northern Zimbabwe that contained extensive deposits of gold and other minerals and metals
Report of Alexander Duff, chairman of the British South Africa Company, to company shareholders in London, recorded in the Mining Journal, Railway and Commercial Gazette, published in London, 1895
Question 6a
As described in the passage, the economic model of the British South Africa Company most directly differed from which of the following economic trends in the late nineteenth century?
Question 6b
The “objections” that the chairman refers to in the first paragraph can most directly be explained in relation to which of the following arguments commonly made by laissez-faire economists in the period 1750–1900?
Group 7
Questions 16-18 refer to the image below
Source 7.1
Question 7a
The high proportion of women and children among the workers reflected in the table is best seen in the context of the
Question 7b
The data in the table best provide historical context to understand which of the following developments in mid-nineteenth-century Great Britain?
Question 7c
The labor patterns shown in the table are most directly relevant in understanding which broader process in nineteenth-century Europe?
Group 8
Questions 19-20 refer to the image below
Source 8.1
Question 8a
Which of the following best describes an accurate comparison of the relationship between sailing vessels and steamships in the late nineteenth century that is supported by the data in the table?
Question 8b
Which of the following describes a conclusion about Asia that is best supported by the data in the table?
Teach with AI superpowers
Why teachers love Class Companion
Import assignments to get started in no time.
Create your own rubric to customize the AI feedback to your liking.
Overrule the AI feedback if a student disputes.