Lesson Y8-U02-L01

Y8-U02-L01 What Is an Empire Quiz: KS3 History, Unit 8

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y8-U02-L01, What Is an Empire: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 History (National Curriculum), Unit 8: Year 8: Empire, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. In what year was the East India Company founded by royal charter?

    • 1757
    • 1858
    • 1600
    • 1607

  2. Which queen granted the East India Company its royal charter?

    • Queen Anne
    • Queen Elizabeth I
    • Queen Mary I
    • Queen Victoria

  3. What does 'monopoly' mean?

    • When one company has total control of a trade, with no rivals allowed
    • When a king taxes all trade through a single royal tax collector in London
    • When a merchant sells goods door to door in villages and small market towns
    • When many companies compete hard for every customer in the same local market

  4. What is a colony?

    • A land controlled and settled by people from another, more powerful country
    • A royal palace built in India for the Mughal emperor and his court
    • A town ruled by its own elected mayor and a local council of merchants
    • A company ship that carries tea and spices from Asia back to the London docks

  5. Which battle in 1757 let the East India Company begin ruling Bengal?

    • Battle of Plassey
    • Battle of Trafalgar
    • Battle of Culloden
    • Battle of Hastings

  6. Who led the Company's army at the Battle of Plassey?

    • Matthew Hopkins
    • Thomas Cromwell
    • Robert Clive
    • Francis Drake

  7. Which two goods were not grown in Britain and sold for high prices?

    • Wool and cheese
    • Coal and iron
    • Potatoes and wheat
    • Tea and spices

  8. What was the Royal Navy's main job in building the empire?

    • To farm the land in India and grow crops for the Company's warehouses
    • To carry letters and official documents to Parliament in London each week
    • To build London's bridges and to repair the docks along the Thames
    • To protect British trade ships and attack rivals' ships

  9. Why was being an island useful for building an empire?

    • It meant Britain had no coastline at all, so ships could not reach the land
    • It stopped all trade with Europe and kept the island cut off from its neighbours
    • It made the island rich in gold and silver that lay beneath the hills
    • The sea was a highway to the world and made invasion harder

  10. Where was the first permanent English colony founded in 1607?

    • Surat, the Company's trading post on the west coast of India
    • Calcutta, the great port city on the Hooghly river in eastern India
    • Jamestown, Virginia
    • Plassey, the battlefield in Bengal where Robert Clive won in 1757

  11. For how long did the Queen's charter give the East India Company its monopoly?

    • Forever
    • 150 years
    • 15 years
    • 1 year

  12. What does the phrase 'Britannia rules the waves' refer to?

    • A treaty with Spain
    • Britain's navy ruling the seas
    • A trade route to China
    • A famous ship built in Scotland

  13. A merchant sells tea for a high price because few people can get it at home. Which idea explains this?

    • Tea was grown in every English village
    • Tea was free to all in Britain
    • Parliament set tea prices at zero
    • Rare, valuable goods brought high profits

  14. Why was the East India Company dangerous as a private company?

    • It had its own large private army and could make war and take land
    • It was owned by the Pope, who appointed its governors and its army officers
    • It had no ships at all and relied on Dutch vessels to carry its goods
    • It could not make any profit, so it was always in debt to the King

  15. Why was it significant that the Company was a trade business rather than a royal government?

    • It had no interest in money at all and existed only to spread Christianity among the peoples of Asia
    • It only sold goods inside Britain and never traded with any country outside Europe at all
    • It was a company seeking profit, which could expand through forts and armies with the state's blessing
    • It was run by the people of India, who elected its directors from among the local rulers

  16. Source B suggests a merchant could grow 'wealthy beyond his dreams' in India. Why should we be careful?

    • The writer was a Royalist spy who was sending secret reports back to the King in Oxford
    • The writer had never left England and was repeating rumours from London taverns
    • The writer worked for the Company and had a reason to make India sound rich
    • The writer was a king of India who wanted to attract more English traders to his court

  17. Why did British traders need the favour of local Indian rulers?

    • India was wealthy and well-governed, so traders needed the rulers' favour
    • Local rulers were Scottish merchants who had settled in India during the 1500s
    • Indian rulers had banned all trade with the English and closed every port to them
    • India had no rulers at all, so the English could simply take whatever land they wanted

  18. Which pattern did British empire-building typically follow?

    • Colony first, then a trade post, then a royal marriage to a local princess and an alliance
    • Navy, then Parliament, then the monarchy, with the bishops giving their blessing at each stage
    • Church, then school, then trade, with missionaries arriving long before the merchants arrived
    • Trade post, then fort, then control of surrounding land, then colony

  19. Why does the lesson say the empire was not planned from the top by the king?

    • It often grew piecemeal, pushed by companies and merchants chasing profit
    • Only soldiers chose the colonies and marched into each new land without merchants
    • The Pope planned every step of the expansion from his palace in Rome
    • It was planned entirely by Parliament in one year, after a long debate in London

  20. Why was the sea called Britain's 'greatest weapon' in building an empire?

    • Because the sea connected Britain to the world and the navy protected trade and attacked rivals
    • Because Britain had no army at all and relied only on its navy to defend the country
    • Because the sea hid Britain from all enemies and stopped trade with the continent
    • Because the sea was full of gold and silver that could be collected by any ship

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