Question

Which Indian city is famously known as the 'Manchester of India' because of its textile manufacturing industry during the colonial period?

• A. Odisha
• B. Ahmedabad
• C. Bombay
• D. Calcutta

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Concept:

• During the colonial period, several Indian cities earned nicknames based on their dominant industry, similar to how English industrial cities were nicknamed.
• Ahmedabad grew into a major cotton textile mill hub from the 1860s onward, with dozens of large cotton mills, which is why it earned the nickname 'Manchester of India', after England's own cotton-mill city, Manchester.
• Calcutta was the hub for jute, not cotton, and Bombay, though also a cotton mill city, is more commonly linked with trade and the port rather than this specific nickname.

Step 1: Understand the basis of the nickname.
The nickname compares an Indian city's textile industry to Manchester, England's famous cotton mill town, so we need India's biggest cotton-mill city of that era.

Step 2: Recall which Indian city fits that description.
Ahmedabad built up a huge cluster of cotton textile mills starting in the 1860s and kept that identity through the colonial period.

Step 3: Eliminate the other options.
Calcutta's industrial identity was jute, not cotton, Odisha is not even a single city, and Bombay, while a major mill town too, is not the city carrying this specific historical nickname.

Final Answer: Ahmedabad