Lesson Y8-U02-L04

Y8-U02-L04 Living in the Empire Winners and Losers Quiz: KS3 History, Unit 8

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y8-U02-L04, Living in the Empire Winners and Losers: 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. Roughly what fraction of the world's land did Britain rule by 1900?

    • About nine-tenths
    • About a quarter
    • About a tenth
    • About half

  2. What replaced enslaved labour on plantations after slavery was abolished?

    • Machine work
    • Indentured labour
    • Free trade
    • Royal soldiers

  3. What does it mean to 'exploit' a place or people?

    • To build a railway line across a region to speed up trade and the movement of goods
    • To protect a colony from attack by rival powers and their navies at sea
    • To write a letter of thanks to the local ruler for his kind hospitality
    • To use a person or place unfairly for your own profit

  4. What was indentured labour?

    • Work done by children in factories only, in the cotton mills of northern England
    • Work paid in gold by the Company to its clerks and senior officers each month
    • Work done by a king's servants in the royal palaces of London and Windsor
    • Work bound by contract for years, often for low pay and far from home

  5. Where did British settlers take fertile land from local peoples, in areas such as the 'White Highlands'?

    • Malta
    • Iceland
    • Ireland
    • Kenya

  6. Which group gained most from cheap cotton and captive colonial markets?

    • Colonial soldiers in the army
    • Indian farmers who grew the raw cotton
    • Indian weavers in Bengal who lost work
    • British manufacturers and traders

  7. What happened to India's handloom weavers under British rule?

    • They were given land in Kenya by the government in return for their work
    • They became rich as British cloth sellers in the markets of London and Bristol
    • They were ruined as cheap machine-made British cloth flooded the market
    • They moved to London to make cloth in the factories of Lancashire and Yorkshire

  8. What was India often called because of its wealth in the empire?

    • The silver island, a name used for the wealthy trading towns along the coast
    • The Golden Gate, a name given to the port that linked India to the Atlantic
    • The land of ice, a name given to the frozen northern lands of the Empire
    • The jewel in the crown

  9. Which 1857 event was a large uprising in which Indian soldiers and others rose against British rule?

    • The Peasants' Revolt
    • The Boston Tea Party
    • The Battle of Naseby
    • The Indian Rebellion

  10. Which type of resistance involved refusing to buy British goods?

    • Everyday resistance
    • Protest and boycotts
    • Armed uprising
    • Leaders and writers

  11. What was 'everyday resistance' in the empire?

    • Taking up weapons against the army and fighting the colonial forces in the hills
    • Writing newspapers in London to persuade the government to change its policy
    • Trading with other empires and smuggling goods across the frontier at night
    • Refusing to cooperate, working slowly and keeping one's own culture

  12. Indian farmers were taxed heavily and famine struck. Why were they counted as losers?

    • They received free railway tickets to travel to the markets in the big cities
    • They were not affected by famine, because their crops were always protected
    • They were given free land by the British, and their farms grew richer each year
    • They paid for British rule and grain was still sometimes exported during famines

  13. Source A says British rule brought 'progress for the good of all'. Why might a British official write this?

    • He was a weaver ruined by British cloth in the markets of his home village
    • He was a famine victim who had survived the hunger but lost his family and land
    • He benefited from the empire and wanted to justify British rule
    • He was an Indian farmer who lost his land to the government and its tax collectors

  14. Why was Dadabhai Naoroji's 'drain of wealth' argument important?

    • It argued that British rule took India's wealth away and made India poorer
    • It argued that railways should be banned because they only carried British soldiers
    • It argued that India had no wealth at all and needed to be supported by Britain
    • It argued that India should be ruled by Germany instead of by the British Empire

  15. Why might railways be described as both a benefit and a tool of control?

    • They never carried anyone, because the lines were never finished and the trains were never run
    • They were built only for tourists visiting the hill stations in the cool mountains
    • They were built by Indians alone for their own profit and their own private gain
    • They helped some people travel but were built to move troops and goods for British control

  16. Why was the 1857 Rebellion called a 'Mutiny' by the British but a 'War of Independence' by Indians?

    • The British used the word only in Scotland, where the army's officers came from
    • The Indians called it a mutiny in their own books and newspapers at the time
    • Both sides agreed on the name, and it was recorded the same way in every book
    • The name depends on viewpoint, and winners often shape the words used

  17. Which example shows resistance by 'leaders and writers'?

    • Enslaved people kept their languages secret in fields
    • Educated colonial subjects demanded rights and fairer treatment
    • Farmers refused to pay taxes at night
    • Soldiers rose with muskets

  18. Which fact is the best evidence that some British people and settlers were winners from the empire?

    • Indentured workers were shipped abroad to labour on plantations far from home
    • Millions died in famines while grain was exported from the country by ship
    • Indian weavers lost their work when cheap British cloth flooded the markets
    • Settlers took fertile land in Kenya and Australia

  19. Why do historians say 'winners and losers' is a balanced-judgement frame rather than a simple good or bad story?

    • The empire had no effects on anyone
    • Effects differed by group and place, so different people gained or lost
    • Historians agree the empire was entirely good
    • Historians agree the empire was entirely bad for everyone

  20. Why was indentured labour a loss for the workers shipped across the empire?

    • They could return home whenever they liked, once their short contract had ended
    • They were made managers of plantations and given the right to hire their own workers
    • They were given free land and high wages in the colonies they had come to work in
    • They were bound by harsh contracts for years, often for low pay and far from home

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