Q60. In 1498 Vasco da Gama found a maritime route from Europe to which destination?
[SSC CGL, 12 Dec 2022, Shift 2]
(a) India
(b) Australia
(c) China
(d) Japan
Answer: (a) India
Explanation: Portugal’s Vasco da Gama reached India’s Malabar coast in 1498 after sailing around Africa. The route allowed direct Portuguese access to Indian Ocean markets and encouraged the establishment of fortified trading stations on the western coast.
Q59. Robert Clive’s East India Company army confronted which Nawab at Plassey?
[SSC CGL Tier I, 9 Dec 2022, Shift 3]
(a) Shuja-ud-Daula
(b) Siraj-ud-Daulah
(c) Mir Qasim
(d) Asaf Jah I
Answer: (b) Siraj-ud-Daulah
Explanation: Siraj-ud-Daulah, Nawab of Bengal, fought the Company at Plassey in June 1757. Mir Jafar’s defection and English diplomatic manoeuvres helped Clive prevail, allowing the Company to determine political succession in Bengal to its advantage.
Q58. Which English monarch issued the Company’s original commercial charter?
[SSC CGL, 5 Dec 2022, Shift 2]
(a) George I
(b) Elizabeth I
(c) Victoria
(d) James I
Answer: (b) Elizabeth I
Explanation: Queen Elizabeth I granted the East India Company’s charter on 31 December 1600. The charter authorized English merchants to trade eastwards and gave them an English monopoly, while foreign trading companies remained independent competitors in Asian markets.
Q57. Which battle was fought in 1764?
[SSC JE Electrical, 15 Nov 2022, Shift 2]
(a) Third Battle of Panipat
(b) Battle of Buxar
(c) Battle of Plassey
(d) Battle of Wandiwash
Answer: (b) Battle of Buxar
Explanation: The Company won the Battle of Buxar in 1764, defeating an alliance of Mughal and regional powers. Plassey occurred in 1757, Wandiwash in 1760, and the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761.
Q56. Which battle saw the British defeat French forces during the Third Carnatic War in 1760?
[SSC CPO Tier I, 10 Nov 2022, Shift 3]
(a) Siege of Arcot
(b) Battle of Adyar
(c) Battle of Ambur
(d) Battle of Wandiwash
Answer: (d) Battle of Wandiwash
Explanation: The Battle of Wandiwash, fought in January 1760, was the decisive Anglo-French encounter in the Third Carnatic War. Eyre Coote defeated the French under Count de Lally, hastening the loss of Pondicherry in 1761.
Q55. Where did Carey, Marshman and Ward undertake their missionary work?
[Delhi Police Head Constable, 20 Oct 2022, Shift 1]
(a) French Chandernagore
(b) Danish Serampore
(c) Dutch Chinsurah
(d) Portuguese Bandel
Answer: (b) Danish Serampore
Explanation: William Carey, Joshua Marshman and William Ward formed the Serampore Mission in a Danish enclave near Calcutta. Danish colonial jurisdiction permitted important printing, translation and educational projects which shaped the region’s nineteenth-century intellectual history.
Q54. The Serampore Mission was founded principally by whom?
[RRB Group D, 1 Sep 2022, Shift 1]
(a) Matteo Ricci
(b) Mother Teresa
(c) Hudson Taylor
(d) William Carey
Answer: (d) William Carey
Explanation: William Carey and his associates Joshua Marshman and William Ward developed the Serampore Mission in 1800. It operated in a Danish settlement and became known for vernacular printing, translation, schools and wider missionary activities.
Q53. Which governor abolished the system of Dual Government in Bengal?
[SSC MTS, 11 Jul 2022, Shift 3]
(a) Robert Clive
(b) Warren Hastings
(c) John Shore
(d) William Bentinck
Answer: (b) Warren Hastings
Explanation: Warren Hastings ended Bengal’s Dual Government in 1772. The arrangement, created under Robert Clive in 1765, split effective fiscal and administrative responsibility, with the Company controlling Diwani and the Nawab nominally handling Nizamat.
Q52. Place in order: Battle of Mudki, Battle of Porto Novo, Battle of Shakarkheda, Battle of Bedara.
[UPPSC PCS GS I, 12 Jun 2022]
(a) Porto Novo–Shakarkheda–Bedara–Mudki
(b) Shakarkheda–Bedara–Porto Novo–Mudki
(c) Bedara–Shakarkheda–Porto Novo–Mudki
(d) Mudki–Porto Novo–Shakarkheda–Bedara
Answer: (b) Shakarkheda–Bedara–Porto Novo–Mudki
Explanation: Shakarkheda dates to 1724, the Anglo-Dutch Battle of Bedara to 1759, Porto Novo to 1781 and Mudki to 1845. Chronological ordering thus requires the sequence Shakarkheda, Bedara, Porto Novo and Mudki.
Q51. In which year did India liberate Goa from Portuguese administration?
[SSC CGL, 20 Apr 2022, Shift 1]
(a) 1961
(b) 1959
(c) 1967
(d) 1956
Answer: (a) 1961
Explanation: Goa remained under Portuguese rule after Indian independence in 1947. Indian armed forces took control in December 1961 during Operation Vijay, ending several centuries of Portuguese colonial governance along the western coast.
