With reference to Pondicherry (now Puducherry), consider the following statements :      1. The first European power to occupy Pondicherry were the Portuguese. 2. The second European power to occupy Pondicherry was the French. 3. The English never occupied Pondicherry. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

With reference to Pondicherry (now Puducherry), consider the following statements :      1. The first European power to occupy Pondicherry were the Portuguese. 2. The second European power to occupy Pondicherry was the French. 3. The English never occupied Pondicherry. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? Correct Answer 1 only

The correct answer is 1 only.

Key Points

  •  History of Pondicherry (now Puducherry):
    • Portuguese were the first European power to set up a factory in the Pondicherry region during the 16th century. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
    • After the Portuguese, the second European power to capture Pondicherry was the Dutch. Hence, statement 2 is Not correct.
    • The French East India Company set up a trading center at Pondicherry in the year 1674, and this later became the most prominent French settlement in India.
    • But the French continuously faced opposition from the Dutch and the English.
    • In the year 1693, Pondicherry was again captured by the Dutch as the French Governor Francois Martin surrendered to the Dutch Governor.
    • Later, in the year 1699, the French regained Pondicherry from the Dutch.
    • In the year 1761, the British captured Pondicherry from the French but later had to return it back to the French under the Treaty of Paris (1763). Hence, statement 3 is Not correct.
    • Pondicherry was occupied several times by the British, but it was ultimately the French who ruled the territory.
    • The de facto transfer of Pondicherry from the French government to the Indian union took place in 1954. But the treaty affecting the de jure transfer of Pondicherry got finally ratified in the year 1962.

Additional Information

  • After Independence incorporation of Pondicherry into the Union of India was done by the 14th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1962.
  • The 70th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1991 Includes the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union Territory of Pondicherry in the Electoral College for the Presidential election.

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Read the passage carefully and select the best answer to each question out of the given four alternatives.
The Amazon basin has been continuously inhabited for at least 10, 000 years, possibly more. Its earliest inhabitants were stone-age peoples, living in hundreds of far-flung tribes, some tiny, others numbering in the tens of thousands. It was from the west that Europeans explorers first arrived. In 1541 a Spanish expedition from Quito, led by Gonzalo Pizarro, ran short of supplies while exploring east of the Andes in what is today Peru. Pizarros cousin Francisco de Orellana offered to take 60 men along with the boats from the expedition and forage for supplies. De Orellana floated down the Rio Napo to its confluence with the Amazon, near Iquitos (Peru), and then to the mouth of the Amazon. Along the way his expedition suffered numerous attacks by Indians; some of the Indian warriors, they reported, were female, like the Amazons of Greek mythology, and thus the worlds greatest river got its name. No one made a serious effort to claim this sweaty territory, however, until the Portuguese built a fort near the mouth of the river at Belém in 1616, and sent Pedro Teixeira up the river to Quito and back between 1637 and 1639. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Portuguese bandeirantes (groups of roaming adventurers) penetrated ever further into the rain forest in pursuit of gold and Indian slaves, exploring as far as present-day Rondônia, and the Guaporé and Madeira river valleys. Amazonian Indians had long used the sap from rubber trees to make waterproof bags and other items. European explorers recognized the potential value of natural latex, but were unable to market it because it tended to grow soft in the heat, or brittle in the cold, and thus had limited appeal outside the rain forest. However, in 1842 American Charles Goodyear developed vulcanization (made natural rubber durable) and in 1890 Irelands John Dunlop patented pneumatic rubber tires. Soon there was an unquenchable demand for rubber in the recently industrialized USA and Europe, and the price of rubber on international markets soared. As profits skyrocketed, so did exploitation of the seringueiros, or rubber tappers, who were lured into the Amazon, mostly from the drought-stricken northeast, by the promise of prosperity only to be locked into a cruel system of virtual slavery dominated by seringalistas (owners of rubber-bearing forests). Rigged scales, hired guns, widespread illiteracy among the rubber tappers, and monopoly of sales and purchases all combined to perpetuate the workers debt and misery. In addition, seringueiros had to contend with jungle fevers, Indian attacks and all manner of deprivation.
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Read the passage carefully and select the best answer to each question out of the given four alternatives.
The Amazon basin has been continuously inhabited for at least 10, 000 years, possibly more. Its earliest inhabitants were stone-age peoples, living in hundreds of far-flung tribes, some tiny, others numbering in the tens of thousands. It was from the west that Europeans explorers first arrived. In 1541 a Spanish expedition from Quito, led by Gonzalo Pizarro, ran short of supplies while exploring east of the Andes in what is today Peru. Pizarros cousin Francisco de Orellana offered to take 60 men along with the boats from the expedition and forage for supplies. De Orellana floated down the Rio Napo to its confluence with the Amazon, near Iquitos (Peru), and then to the mouth of the Amazon. Along the way his expedition suffered numerous attacks by Indians; some of the Indian warriors, they reported, were female, like the Amazons of Greek mythology, and thus the worlds greatest river got its name. No one made a serious effort to claim this sweaty territory, however, until the Portuguese built a fort near the mouth of the river at Belém in 1616, and sent Pedro Teixeira up the river to Quito and back between 1637 and 1639. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Portuguese bandeirantes (groups of roaming adventurers) penetrated ever further into the rain forest in pursuit of gold and Indian slaves, exploring as far as present-day Rondônia, and the Guaporé and Madeira river valleys. Amazonian Indians had long used the sap from rubber trees to make waterproof bags and other items. European explorers recognized the potential value of natural latex, but were unable to market it because it tended to grow soft in the heat, or brittle in the cold, and thus had limited appeal outside the rain forest. However, in 1842 American Charles Goodyear developed vulcanization (made natural rubber durable) and in 1890 Irelands John Dunlop patented pneumatic rubber tires. Soon there was an unquenchable demand for rubber in the recently industrialized USA and Europe, and the price of rubber on international markets soared. As profits skyrocketed, so did exploitation of the seringueiros, or rubber tappers, who were lured into the Amazon, mostly from the drought-stricken northeast, by the promise of prosperity only to be locked into a cruel system of virtual slavery dominated by seringalistas (owners of rubber-bearing forests). Rigged scales, hired guns, widespread illiteracy among the rubber tappers, and monopoly of sales and purchases all combined to perpetuate the workers debt and misery. In addition, seringueiros had to contend with jungle fevers, Indian attacks and all manner of deprivation.
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