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NSSCAS History 8234 study materials
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NSSCAS History 8234 practice questions

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Question 1Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A historian studying a 19th-century treaty has two versions: the original signed document and a translation published fifty years later. Which concept best describes the relationship between these two sources?

  1. The translation is a secondary source because it was produced after the event Correct answer.
  2. The translation is a primary source because it reproduces the treaty text
  3. Both are secondary sources because treaties are official records
  4. The original is a secondary source because it interprets the negotiations

Explanation

A source's status depends on its relationship to the event, not its subject matter. A translation made decades later by someone not present at the signing interprets and transmits the original, so it functions as a secondary source derived from a primary one.

Question 2Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

In source analysis, what does 'provenance' refer to?

  1. The origin, authorship and date of a source Correct answer.
  2. The bias shown by the language a source uses
  3. The reliability of the facts contained in a document
  4. The audience a historian writes for

Explanation

Provenance concerns where, when and by whom a source was produced, and for what purpose. Establishing provenance is a precondition for judging content, bias and usefulness, rather than being identical with any of them.

Question 3Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A historian argues that a wartime newspaper's account of a battle is unreliable. Which reasoning best supports that judgement?

  1. The newspaper was printed on cheap paper that has since decayed
  2. The report contains quotations from unnamed soldiers
  3. The report was censored and written within days of the fighting Correct answer.
  4. The newspaper was published in the capital rather than near the front

Explanation

Reliability is judged by factors such as censorship, proximity in time to events and the purpose of the producer. Wartime censorship plus rapid publication gives strong grounds to doubt accuracy, whereas the other options describe incidental features.

Question 4Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

Which statement correctly distinguishes 'bias' from 'reliability' in historical source work?

  1. Bias and reliability are synonyms used interchangeably by historians
  2. A source can be biased yet still reliable for what it reveals about its author's views Correct answer.
  3. Reliability concerns origin, while bias concerns the date of a source
  4. A biased source is always unreliable and should be discarded

Explanation

Bias describes a slant or partial perspective; reliability concerns whether a source can be trusted for a particular purpose. A partisan pamphlet may be unreliable for factual detail yet highly reliable as evidence of the author's attitudes.

Question 5Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A student compares a diary entry written during a famine with a history book about the famine published in 1990. Which comparison is most appropriate?

  1. The history is more useful because it was written later and therefore knows the outcome
  2. The diary offers immediacy and personal perspective, while the history offers synthesis and hindsight Correct answer.
  3. The diary is more useful because it was written by a witness, so the history can be ignored
  4. The two sources cannot be compared because they are different types

Explanation

Primary and secondary sources have different strengths rather than a fixed hierarchy. The diary gives immediacy and personal experience, while the later history can synthesise evidence and set events in a wider context.

Question 6Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

What is the main purpose of corroboration in historical method?

  1. To determine whether a source is primary or secondary
  2. To establish the exact date on which a source was written
  3. To summarise a source's argument in the historian's own words
  4. To check one source's claims against independent evidence from other sources Correct answer.

Explanation

Corroboration means testing a claim against other independent sources to see whether it holds up. Agreement across independent witnesses increases confidence; disagreement prompts further investigation.

Question 7Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A historian reads a government report that admits failures in a colonial administration. Why might such an admission increase the report's value as evidence?

  1. The admission runs against the author's likely interest, suggesting candour Correct answer.
  2. The report was probably written by an opponent of the government
  3. Governments never publish documents that criticise themselves
  4. Official reports are automatically more reliable than private letters

Explanation

Statements against the author's apparent interest are often treated as more credible, because there is less incentive to invent them. This is a recognised test of reliability in source evaluation.

Question 8Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

Which question is most useful for probing the purpose of a propaganda poster from the 1930s?

  1. Which artist designed the poster?
  2. How large was the poster when displayed?
  3. How many copies of the poster were printed?
  4. What response did the producer want from its audience? Correct answer.

Explanation

Purpose concerns the intended effect on an audience, such as persuading, recruiting or reassuring. Asking what response the producer sought gets directly at that intent.

Question 9Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A historian uses a collection of private letters to argue that a ruler was unpopular. Which limitation most seriously weakens that argument?

  1. Letters are often undated
  2. Private letters are rarely preserved in archives
  3. Letter writers may not represent the wider population Correct answer.
  4. Letters are usually written in informal language

Explanation

A sample of letter writers is a narrow, self-selected group, so generalising to the whole population is risky. Representativeness is a key test of the evidential value of any source set.

Question 10Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

What does 'historiography' mean in the study of history?

  1. The study of how history has been written and interpreted over time Correct answer.
  2. The collection of primary documents held in an archive
  3. The technique of authenticating handwriting in manuscripts
  4. The chronology of events in a fixed sequence

Explanation

Historiography examines the changing interpretations, methods and assumptions of historians. It is a second-order study of how history is produced rather than of past events themselves.

Question 11Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A historian argues that a rebellion should be understood through the economic grievances of participants, while another stresses their religious ideas. What does this disagreement best illustrate?

  1. That one historian must be factually mistaken
  2. That historical interpretation involves competing explanatory frameworks Correct answer.
  3. That the rebellion has no reliable sources
  4. That economic explanations are always preferred

Explanation

Historians can agree on the facts yet differ over which causes carry most weight, reflecting different interpretive frameworks. Such debate is central to historiography rather than evidence of error.

Question 12Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

Which of these is an example of a primary source for a study of a 1960s independence movement?

  1. A speech delivered by a movement leader in 1963 Correct answer.
  2. A 2005 textbook chapter on decolonisation
  3. A documentary film made in 2010
  4. A journal article reviewing recent scholarship

Explanation

A speech given during the movement is a source produced contemporaneously by a participant. Textbooks, later documentaries and review articles all interpret the period after the fact.

Question 13Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A photograph shows a crowd cheering a political leader. Which interpretive caution is most important before using it as evidence of genuine popular support?

  1. The image may have been staged or cropped to exclude dissent Correct answer.
  2. Photographs are always more objective than written accounts
  3. Photographs cannot be used as historical evidence at all
  4. The photographer's nationality determines the meaning of the image

Explanation

Photographs are constructed images: framing, timing and staging can shape what they appear to show. Historians must ask who took the image, why, and what was excluded from the frame.

Question 14Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

In evaluating a source, what does it mean to consider its 'audience'?

  1. The number of copies that survive today
  2. The people for whom the source was produced and who shape its content Correct answer.
  3. The archive in which the source is currently stored
  4. The historians who later cite the source in their work

Explanation

Audience refers to the intended recipients of a source, whose expectations and interests influence what is said and how. A private diary and a public proclamation address very different readers.

Question 15Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

Two eyewitnesses to the same riot give conflicting accounts a week later. Which factor would a historian most reasonably investigate first?

  1. The witnesses' positions during the event and their affiliations Correct answer.
  2. The length of each account
  3. Whether the accounts were handwritten or typed
  4. Whether the witnesses wrote in the same language

Explanation

Differences in vantage point and group affiliation help explain divergent testimony. Establishing where each witness stood and whom they identified with is a standard first step in reconciling accounts.

Question 16Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

Which statement best describes the role of empathy in historical enquiry?

  1. Empathy means judging the past by present-day moral standards
  2. Empathy means relying on imagination instead of evidence
  3. Empathy means understanding past beliefs and motives in their own context Correct answer.
  4. Empathy means approving of the actions of people in the past

Explanation

Historical empathy is the disciplined attempt to understand how people in the past made sense of their world, using evidence. It is not moral approval, presentism or unfounded imagination.

Question 17Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A historian claims a medieval chronicler's account is unreliable because the chronicler reports miracles. What is the strongest counter-argument?

  1. The chronicle remains valuable for what it reveals about contemporary beliefs and literary conventions Correct answer.
  2. Miracles were common in the medieval period, so the account must be true
  3. Religious writers never recorded political events
  4. Chroniclers were always accurate about political events

Explanation

Even where a source's factual claims are doubtful, it can be reliable evidence of the author's worldview, genre and audience. Reliability is always relative to the question being asked.

Question 18Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A historian selects only documents that support a pre-existing conclusion. Which methodological error does this describe?

  1. Contextualisation
  2. Triangulation
  3. Corroboration
  4. Confirmation bias Correct answer.

Explanation

Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek and weight evidence that fits an existing view while ignoring contrary material. Good practice requires actively testing conclusions against disconfirming evidence.

Question 19Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

Which feature of a source most directly helps a historian assess whether it was intended for public or private consumption?

  1. Its current market value
  2. Its use of footnotes
  3. Its physical size
  4. Its intended readership and mode of circulation Correct answer.

Explanation

Intended readership and how a text circulated reveal whether it addressed a public or a private audience. That distinction shapes candour, self-censorship and rhetorical style.

Question 20Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

What is the key difference between 'source' and 'evidence' in historical practice?

  1. Sources are always written, whereas evidence can be physical
  2. Evidence is more reliable than any source
  3. A source becomes evidence when a historian uses it to answer a specific question Correct answer.
  4. Sources are primary and evidence is secondary

Explanation

A source is any surviving trace of the past; it becomes evidence when deployed to support or test a particular historical claim. The same source can be evidence for one question and irrelevant to another.

Question 21Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A historian studying everyday life in a 19th-century city has a tax register and a novel set in that city. How should these be used?

  1. The novel is primary because it was written in the period
  2. The novel should be discarded because it is fiction
  3. Both are equally reliable for statistical facts
  4. The tax register gives quantitative data, while the novel may illuminate contemporary perceptions if used cautiously Correct answer.

Explanation

Different source types answer different questions: registers supply data, while fiction can reveal assumptions and sensibilities of its era. Fiction must be handled cautiously as evidence of attitudes rather than of fact.

Question 22Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

Which best explains why historians distinguish between 'fact' and 'interpretation' in their work?

  1. Facts are agreed data, while interpretations are explanations that can be revised Correct answer.
  2. Facts are always more important than interpretations
  3. Interpretations are simply guesses without evidence
  4. Facts change over time while interpretations remain fixed

Explanation

Facts are established through evidence, whereas interpretations are explanatory accounts that new evidence or new questions may revise. The distinction allows historians to debate explanations without denying the evidence.

Question 23Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A historian's argument rests on a single memoir written decades after the events it describes. Which criticism is most appropriate?

  1. Memoirs are secondary sources and therefore worthless
  2. The memoir must be accurate because the author was present
  3. Memoirs are never useful to historians
  4. Memory may have faded or been reshaped, so independent corroboration is needed Correct answer.

Explanation

Retrospective accounts are vulnerable to memory decay and later reinterpretation of events. Historians therefore corroborate memoir claims against contemporaneous and independent evidence.

Question 24Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

Which approach best reflects the principle of contextualisation when analysing a political pamphlet?

  1. Comparing its font with that of other pamphlets
  2. Counting the number of pages it contains
  3. Judging its arguments by today's political standards
  4. Reading it in light of the debates, censorship and readership of its time Correct answer.

Explanation

Contextualisation situates a source within the conditions in which it was produced, including contemporary debates, constraints and audiences. This guards against presentism and misreading its purpose.

Question 25Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

Two historians agree on all the evidence about an event but reach opposite conclusions. What does this most strongly suggest?

  1. They weight the same evidence differently according to distinct interpretive assumptions Correct answer.
  2. The evidence is too weak to support any conclusion
  3. Historical conclusions are purely arbitrary
  4. One historian has fabricated the evidence

Explanation

Shared evidence can support different explanations when historians prioritise different factors or apply different frameworks. This is a normal feature of historiographical debate, not proof of fabrication or arbitrariness.

Question 26Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

In source analysis, what is the most appropriate meaning of 'provenance'?

  1. The place and circumstances of a source's origin, including its author and date Correct answer.
  2. The physical condition of a source, such as damage or legibility
  3. The language in which a source was written
  4. The archive or library where a source is currently held

Explanation

Provenance refers to the origin of a source: who created it, when, where, and in what circumstances. This information is essential for assessing reliability and bias. Physical condition, language, and current location are separate attributes that do not define provenance.

Question 27Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A historian is analysing a diary entry written by a soldier during a war. Which question is most directly concerned with the source's purpose?

  1. What is the literacy rate in the soldier's home region?
  2. Which other soldiers kept diaries during the same war?
  3. How many casualties occurred in the battle described?
  4. Was the diary intended for private reflection or later publication? Correct answer.

Explanation

Purpose concerns the reason a source was created and its intended use. Asking whether the diary was for private reflection or publication directly addresses that. The other questions concern factual accuracy, background context, or comparative prevalence, not the author's intent.

Question 28Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

Which statement best describes the relationship between a source and evidence in historical practice?

  1. A source is always evidence, regardless of the question the historian is asking
  2. Evidence is a term reserved for written documents, while sources include artefacts
  3. A source becomes evidence when a historian uses it to support or test a specific historical claim Correct answer.
  4. A source and evidence are identical concepts and the terms can be used interchangeably

Explanation

A source is any surviving trace of the past, but it functions as evidence only when a historian deploys it to answer a particular question. The same source may be evidence for one inquiry and irrelevant to another. Therefore the terms are not interchangeable, and evidence is not limited to written documents.

Question 29Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A historian is examining a royal proclamation issued in 1700 that praises the king's justice. Which feature of the source most directly suggests it should be treated with caution as evidence of the king's actual popularity?

  1. It was produced by the royal court and intended to shape public opinion Correct answer.
  2. It survives only in a single manuscript copy
  3. It was written in an ornate and formal style
  4. It was issued in a year of poor harvests

Explanation

The proclamation's origin within the royal court and its persuasive intent mean it is likely to present the king favourably, regardless of actual public sentiment. This is a question of purpose and authorship. Style, survival, and economic context do not directly indicate bias in claims about popularity.

Question 30Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A historian is comparing two newspaper reports of the same political speech. One report was published the day after the speech; the other appeared a month later. Which factor is most relevant when assessing the likely reliability of the reports?

  1. The number of words in each report
  2. The political affiliation of the newspaper's owner
  3. The font and layout used by each newspaper
  4. The length of time between the event and the report, which may affect memory and accuracy Correct answer.

Explanation

The interval between an event and its recording is a key factor in reliability because memory and second-hand transmission can introduce error. A report written closer to the event is generally, though not always, more accurate. Ownership, length, and presentation may be relevant but are less directly tied to the timing effect.

Question 31Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A historian argues that a medieval chronicle's account of a battle is unreliable because the chronicler was not present and relied on hearsay. Which criticism is most directly supported by this reasoning?

  1. The chronicler lacked direct access to the events, so the account is second-hand Correct answer.
  2. The chronicler exaggerated the number of troops for dramatic effect
  3. The chronicler was biased against the opposing side
  4. The chronicler wrote in Latin rather than the vernacular

Explanation

The criticism is about the chronicler's lack of eyewitness access, making the account second-hand and potentially distorted by transmission. Bias, exaggeration, and language are separate issues that are not implied by the stated reasoning. The key problem is distance from the event.

Question 32Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

When assessing the usefulness of a source for a study of peasant life in the 18th century, which criterion is most important?

  1. Whether the source was written by a peasant
  2. Whether the source is preserved in a national archive
  3. Whether the source is frequently cited by other historians
  4. Whether the source provides information about the experiences or conditions of peasants Correct answer.

Explanation

Usefulness depends on relevance to the research question. A source is useful if it yields information about peasant life, even if written by an outsider such as a tax official or landlord. Authorship, location, and citation frequency may affect reliability or accessibility but do not determine relevance.

Question 33Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A historian is analysing a propaganda poster from the 1930s that depicts a strong leader and a united people. Which question is most useful for probing the poster's purpose?

  1. What response did the poster's creators hope to evoke in viewers? Correct answer.
  2. Which artist designed the poster?
  3. What was the literacy rate of the intended audience?
  4. How many copies of the poster were printed?

Explanation

Purpose concerns the intended effect on the audience. Asking what response the creators sought directly addresses that. Print run, artist identity, and literacy rates may inform context but do not by themselves reveal the persuasive aim.

Question 34Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A historian is using a collection of private letters to argue that a ruler was unpopular. Which limitation most seriously weakens this use of the letters?

  1. The letters were sent through the public postal system
  2. The letters contain personal gossip about the ruler's family
  3. The letter-writers may not be representative of the wider population Correct answer.
  4. The letters were written in a cursive script that is hard to read

Explanation

Private letters reflect the views of a small, often elite group and may not represent broader public opinion. This limits the generalization from the letters to the ruler's popularity among the population. Legibility, postal transmission, and gossip are not direct threats to representativeness.

Question 35Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A historian is evaluating a source that was produced by a government agency about its own policies. Which factor is most important to consider when assessing potential bias?

  1. The agency's interest in presenting its policies favourably Correct answer.
  2. The number of pages in the document
  3. The type of paper used for the document
  4. The date of publication relative to the agency's founding

Explanation

Bias is most likely when the producer has an interest in shaping how its actions are perceived. A government agency reporting on its own policies may seek to justify or glorify them. Length, founding date, and material form do not directly indicate bias.

Question 36Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A historian is interpreting a cartoon that satirizes a political leader. Which approach best reflects contextualisation?

  1. Counting the number of times the leader appears in the cartoon
  2. Relating the cartoon's symbols and humour to the political debates of its time Correct answer.
  3. Focusing only on the artistic technique used by the cartoonist
  4. Judging the cartoon by whether it is funny to a modern reader

Explanation

Contextualisation means placing a source in its historical setting to understand its meaning. For a satirical cartoon, this involves identifying contemporary references and debates. Modern humour, technique, and frequency counts do not situate the source in its original context.

Question 37Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

Two historians examine the same set of documents about a treaty and agree on all the evidence, yet one concludes the treaty was a success and the other that it was a failure. What does this most strongly suggest about historical interpretation?

  1. One of them must have misread the documents
  2. Historical interpretation is purely arbitrary and cannot be evaluated
  3. They are applying different criteria or perspectives to judge success Correct answer.
  4. The documents are unreliable and should be discarded

Explanation

When evidence is shared but conclusions differ, the divergence usually lies in the interpretive framework: different criteria for success, different timeframes, or different priorities. This does not mean the evidence is misread or worthless, nor that interpretation is arbitrary, since it can be reasoned about and debated.

Question 38Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A historian's argument relies heavily on a single memoir written fifty years after the events it describes. Which criticism is most appropriate?

  1. Memoirs are always biased in favour of the author
  2. The memoir should be ignored because it was not written by a professional historian
  3. The memoir is worthless because it is not a primary source
  4. The long delay may distort memory and allow later events to shape the account Correct answer.

Explanation

The main problem with a memoir written decades later is the potential for memory decay and retrospective reinterpretation. This does not make it worthless or automatically biased. Memoirs are primary sources for the author's experiences, and professional training is not a requirement for a valid source.

Question 39Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

A historian claims that a medieval chronicler's account is unreliable because the chronicler reports miracles. What is the strongest response to this claim?

  1. The chronicler's worldview may include miracles, but the account can still contain useful information if used critically Correct answer.
  2. Miracles are impossible, so the whole chronicle is fiction
  3. The chronicle should be used only for its literary style
  4. The chronicler must have been lying about everything

Explanation

A chronicler's inclusion of miracles reflects the beliefs of the time and does not automatically invalidate all other content. Historians can use such sources critically, distinguishing plausible details from supernatural claims. Dismissing the entire chronicle or treating it as pure fiction overstates the case.

Question 40Historical skills, source analysis and historiography

Which statement best explains why historians distinguish between 'fact' and 'interpretation'?

  1. Facts are agreed data, while interpretations are explanations that can be debated and revised Correct answer.
  2. Facts are subjective and interpretations are objective
  3. Facts are always more important than interpretations
  4. Interpretations are simply opinions with no basis in evidence

Explanation

Facts are established through evidence and are generally agreed upon, whereas interpretations are the explanations or meanings historians construct from those facts. Interpretations are not mere opinions; they are argued from evidence and can change with new research. The distinction helps clarify what is being debated.

Question 41African history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Which conference of 1884–1885 set rules for European claims to African territory and recognised the Congo Free State?

  1. The Algeciras Conference
  2. The Vienna Congress
  3. The Versailles Conference
  4. The Berlin Conference Correct answer.

Explanation

The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 was convened by Bismarck to regulate European competition in Africa. It established the principle of effective occupation for new claims and recognised the Congo Free State under Leopold II.

Question 42African history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

The Maji Maji uprising of 1905–1907 took place in which colonial territory?

  1. Belgian Congo
  2. French Equatorial Africa
  3. Portuguese Mozambique
  4. German East Africa Correct answer.

Explanation

Maji Maji was a rebellion against German rule in German East Africa, driven by forced cotton cultivation and harsh taxation. The movement drew on spiritual power believed to protect fighters from bullets.

Question 43African history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Which Ethiopian ruler defeated an Italian army at the Battle of Adwa in 1896?

  1. Haile Selassie
  2. Menelik II Correct answer.
  3. Yohannes IV
  4. Tewodros II

Explanation

Menelik II commanded Ethiopian forces at Adwa in March 1896, where Italy suffered a decisive defeat. The victory secured recognition of Ethiopian independence in the Treaty of Addis Ababa.

Question 44African history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

The policy of 'indirect rule' in British Africa is most closely associated with which colonial administrator?

  1. Cecil Rhodes
  2. Frederick Lugard Correct answer.
  3. Evelyn Baring
  4. Joseph Chamberlain

Explanation

Lugard set out indirect rule in his work on tropical dependencies, drawing on his experience in Northern Nigeria. The system governed through existing chiefs and institutions under British supervision.

Question 45African history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Which organisation, founded in 1912, campaigned against racial discrimination and later became a leading anti-apartheid movement?

  1. The United Gold Coast Convention
  2. The African National Congress Correct answer.
  3. The Pan-African Congress
  4. The Mau Mau Central Committee

Explanation

The African National Congress was founded in 1912 as the South African Native National Congress. It petitioned against discriminatory legislation and later led mass resistance to apartheid.

Question 46African history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

The Suez Canal, opened in 1869, most directly affected African history by doing which of the following?

  1. It increased European strategic interest in Egypt and the Red Sea route. Correct answer.
  2. It ended the trans-Saharan caravan trade overnight.
  3. It created a customs union among African coastal states.
  4. It removed the need for European coaling stations along the African coast.

Explanation

The canal shortened the sea route to Asia and made Egypt strategically vital to Britain and France. This strategic importance contributed to the British occupation of Egypt in 1882.

Question 47African history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Apartheid as a formal system of racial segregation in South Africa was introduced after which election?

  1. The 1910 general election
  2. The 1948 general election Correct answer.
  3. The 1961 republic referendum
  4. The 1994 general election

Explanation

The National Party won the 1948 election and implemented apartheid through laws such as the Population Registration Act and Group Areas Act. Earlier segregation existed, but 1948 marks the start of the systematic policy.

Question 48African history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Which commodity dominated the economy of the Asante kingdom's trade with Europeans on the Gold Coast before the nineteenth century?

  1. Rubber
  2. Gold Correct answer.
  3. Copper
  4. Palm oil

Explanation

Asante power rested heavily on gold production and trade, along with kola and slaves. Gold gave the region its European name, the Gold Coast.

Question 49African history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

The 'dual mandate' idea, that colonial powers held territory in trust for Africans, was formulated by which British figure?

  1. Frederick Lugard Correct answer.
  2. Jan Smuts
  3. Harry Johnston
  4. Cecil Rhodes

Explanation

Lugard argued in The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa that imperial rule should serve both African welfare and wider economic development. The doctrine justified colonial rule as trusteeship.

Question 50African history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

The 1922 Rand Revolt in South Africa was primarily a response to which policy?

  1. The introduction of apartheid pass laws
  2. The imposition of a poll tax on Africans
  3. The nationalisation of the gold mines
  4. The removal of the colour bar in certain mining jobs Correct answer.

Explanation

White miners struck against employers' plans to replace some white workers with cheaper black labour. The state crushed the revolt and then legislated to protect white employment.