Q68. The staple commodities of export by the English East India Company from Bengal in the middle of the 18th century were:
(a) Raw cotton, oil seeds, and opium (b) Sugar, salt, zinc, and lead (c) Copper, silver, gold, spices and tea (d) Cotton, silk, saltpetre and opium
Answer: D
Crucial to the emergence of a powerful capitalist economy, British-Indian territory was developed as a source of food and materials for Britain. In fact, it ended upgrading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China, where the main items of trade were cotton, silk, tea, opium, and saltpeter (potassium nitrate).
