What, Where, How and When - Full Chapter Explanation and NCERT Solutions | Class 6 History Chapter 1

Main ideas & lessons (Class 6 History, Chapter 1: What, Where, How and When)

1) Why history is studied (and how we know the past)

• History is about what happened in the past—what we call “yesterday” becomes history, and so does something that happened 1 year ago, 100 years ago, or 1000 years ago.
• A key question is: How can we know what happened so long ago when we weren’t there?
• The answer is: we study historical evidence—such as records, materials, and physical remains.

2) What this chapter aims to teach

The chapter helps students understand the past by focusing on:

• Where people lived
• How they lived (life ways, agriculture, etc.)
• When changes happened
• Why people moved and how movement affected societies

It also includes NCERT solutions and practice questions.

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3) Where people lived: rivers, forests, and later agriculture

A) People preferred river banks

• Water was essential for survival.
• Rivers supported daily needs and made life easier for early humans.
• Example referenced:
  • Narmada (Central India; mentions locating it on a map)

B) Hunter-gatherer lifestyle in forests

• People lived near forests because their main activities were:
  • Hunting (getting animals)
  • Gathering (collecting fruits and other food)
• They moved/roamed to find food because they depended on what nature provided.

C) Shift to settled agriculture (learning farming)

• Later, people began cultivating crops, learning agriculture.
• Agriculture helped people settle for longer periods.
• Regions/mountain ranges mentioned as areas linked to early farming evidence:
  • Sulaiman (Suliman) Hills / range
  • Kirthar (Kirdar) Hills
  • Garo Hills (and Meghalaya)
  • Vindhyas (as a mountain range; rice cultivation linked with areas north of Vindhyas in the narration)

D) Archaeological evidence for early agriculture and animal rearing

• Archaeologists rely on evidence like:
  • tools
  • animal bones
  • plant remains
  • settlement sites (places where people lived)
• The narration mentions that evidence of agriculture and animal rearing goes back to very old times (for example, around 8000 years ago).
• Animal rearing means raising animals, and bones/animal remains act as proof.

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4) Rivers and how river systems shaped early cities

A) Understanding tributaries

• A tributary is a smaller river that joins a larger river.
• Examples mentioned:
  • Tributaries of Indus: Jhelum, Ravi, Chenab, Beas, Sutlej
  • Tributaries under Ganga: Kosi, Chambal, Betwa, Ken

B) Indus and Ganga: earliest cities

• The lecture links early urban growth to river banks:
  • ~4700 years ago: earliest cities on banks of Indus
  • ~2500 years ago: cities developing on banks of Ganga
• It connects this growth to later kingdoms and rulers, mentioning:
  • Magadha
  • rulers such as Chandragupta Maurya and Dhanananda / Chanakya

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5) Movement of people: why people relocate

The lecture lists multiple causes for movement (migration):

• Search of livelihood
  • People move where food is available or survival is easier.
• To escape natural disasters
  • Droughts and floods can force people to move.
• Armed conflicts / armies
  • War and attacks by kings can displace people.
• Trade
  • Merchants travel, creating contact between regions.
• Religious teaching / spread of ideas
  • Religious teachers/spiritual leaders travel to spread messages (including examples like Sufi saints).
• Adventure / exploration
  • People travel for discovery or adventurous journeys.
• British expeditions (example)
  • Europeans/“Britishers” are mentioned as traveling for exploration and trade.

Important lesson about movement

• Movement leads to sharing of ideas and culture.
• Over time, societies gain new skills and traditions, such as changes in:
  • food
  • art (e.g., stone carving)
  • music
  • idol-making methods

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6) Names of the land/country: India and Bharat

• The lecture explains that “India” is linked to the Indus/Sindhu region.
• It narrates that foreigners (Iranians/Greeks) couldn’t pronounce “Indus” correctly, and it became “India.”
• “Bharat” is presented as an older name:
  • Mentioned in the Rig Veda, associated with a tribe/territory in the north-west.
• Lesson: place-names often have historical stories behind them.

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7) Sources of history: how historians reconstruct the past

The lecture shifts to Finding Out About the Past.

Major type 1: Manuscripts (written records)

• Manuscripts are handwritten.
• They were written when paper was not available.
• Materials mentioned:
  • Palm leaves
  • Bhojpatra (tree bark; tied to Himalayan regions)
• Why some manuscripts are lost:
  • insects and decay destroyed palm-leaf manuscripts
• Where some survived:
  • preserved in temples/monasteries (kept as sacred texts, like the Vedas)

Languages mentioned:

• Sanskrit
• Prakrit
• Tamil (connected with South India/Chola region)

Types of content found in manuscripts:

• Religious beliefs and practices
• Kings’ lives/achievements
• Science/medicine (Ayurveda)
• Epics (Ramayana, Mahabharata)

Major type 2: Inscriptions

• Inscriptions are written by engraving on hard surfaces like:
  • stones
  • metals
• Why inscriptions survive:
  • hard surfaces protect them for thousands of years
• Typical content:
  • orders and messages of kings
  • victories and administration
  • sometimes details about common life (where relevant)

Example mentioned:

• An inscription in Kandahar (Afghanistan) attributed to Ashoka
• The narration mentions that two languages appear (Greek and Arabic are stated).

Archaeological sources (objects/material remains)

History is broader than manuscripts and inscriptions. Archaeologists study:

• tools
• weapons
• pots/utensils
• ornaments
• coins
• building remains/ruins
• paintings and sculptures
• animal and plant remains (bones, seeds/plant parts)

How archaeological study works:

• Excavation / exploration: digging and careful recovery of items.
• Dating (including carbon dating): helps estimate the age of objects/remains.
• Bones help infer:
  • what people ate
  • whether animals were domesticated
  • lifestyle clues

Analogy used:

• Archaeologists work like detectives (Sherlock Holmes)—piecing together clues to reconstruct history.

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8) “Past is plural”: different people experienced the past differently

• While the chapter theme is What/Where/How/When, it also emphasizes that history depends on whose perspective we consider.
• Example contrast:
  • Kings/queens often had records (inscriptions, manuscripts)
  • Farmers/ordinary people had fewer recorded sources

Lesson: the past is not one uniform story—different groups experienced it differently.

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9) How to read dates in history

The lecture explains the time system based on reference points:

• AD: years after the birth of Jesus Christ
• BC: years before the birth of Jesus Christ

Example idea:

• Year 2019 means 2019 years after the reference year.

It also mentions:

• calendars widely accepted worldwide due to historical influence (British-era calendar use referenced)
• other calendars (briefly), such as:
  • Vikram Samvat
  • Islamic calendar

Alternate notation introduced:

• CE (Common Era) instead of AD
• BCE (Before Common Era) instead of BC

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10) NCERT solution-style teaching in the lecture

The lecture includes question-answer practice such as:

• Matching topics, for example:
  • rivers and regions
  • hunter-gatherers and forests
  • early kingdoms (e.g., Magadha)
  • cities near rivers
• Concept questions like:
  • difference between manuscripts and inscriptions
  • example-based questions about knowing what happened 100 years ago (answered using historical evidence)
  • what archaeologists can find and which objects are made of stone
  • why ordinary people didn’t keep written records (illiteracy/limited writing skills)
• A comparison question:
  • differences between the lives of kings vs farmers

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Speakers / sources featured

• Speaker: Digras Singh Rajput (host/teacher; “Magnet Brains” channel)
• Course/source material mentioned:
  • NCERT (Class 6 History, Chapter 1)
  • “NCERT solutions”

Named historical/religious/epic sources referenced:

• Rig Veda
• Ramayana, Mahabharata
• Ayurveda

Calendar reference figure:

• Jesus Christ

Named historical figures/rulers referenced:

• Ashoka
• Chandragupta Maurya
• Dhanananda
• Chanakya

Modern film reference used for illustration:

• Mohenjo Daro