THABO MOFUTSANYANA EDUCATION DISTRICT

GRADE 8

SOCIAL SCIENCES
HISTORY
TERM 1 TEST
MARCH 2025

MARKS: 50

Duration: 1H30

INSTRUCTIONS AND INFORMATION:

1. Answer ALL questions.

2. Use numbering system used in this
question paper.
3. Follow instructions for each question correctly.
4. Write neatly and legibly.

THIS QUESTION PAPER CONSISTS OF 4 PAGES INCLUDING THE COVER PAGE.

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Social Sciences Grade 8 March 2025

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN BRITAIN AND SOUTH AFRICA FROM 1860.

QUESTION 1

Read Source A bellow and answer quest that follow.

The Industrial Revolution in Britain saw the development of towns and cities. Families
no longer worked in and around their homes. People moved to the cities to be nearer to
large factories where they could find work.

Men, women and children as the young as five years of Age, worked in factories for
long hours. Children were employed because they could reach places that adults
couldn’t. They could crawl on and under machines and could climb on top of the
machines to clean them. Children were cruelly punished for mistakes. The children’s
safety was neglected. One common punishment for being late was to tie a heavy weight
to a child’s neck. The child had to walk up and down the factory so the other children
could see them and could see them and would not be late themselves.

Adapted from Platinum: Social Science Learner’s book: pages 111 and 122

1.1. Why, according to the source did people move to the cities? 1x2 (2)

1.2. Who was responsible for cleaning machines in factories? 1x1 (1)

1.3. Why, according to the source did factory owners use child labor in their factories? 1x3 (3)

1.4. Define the concept Industrial Revolution in your own words. 1x2 (2)

1.5. What according to the source, was neglected by the factory owners? 1x1(1)

1.6. What according to the source was a common punishment for children who arrive late at work?

1x1 (1)

1.7. Explain why did children have to walk up and down factory during the punishment? 1x2 (2)

(12)

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Social Sciences Grade 8 March 2025

QUESTION 2

Read Source B below and answer the questions that follow.

The source explains how the industrial revolution brought changes in Britain and South Africa.

Before the Industrial Revolution, nearly half of the population in Britain lived in small farming
villages. They used simple farming tools to produce only enough to feed themselves. Famers
grazed their livestock on common land that is shared and can be used by everyone.

Instead of farmers sharing the fields, there was a movement to enclose and fence land that
would belong to one person. The enclosure movement was part of the agricultural revolution.
The enclosure system was regulated by government laws through acts of parliament.

Industrial Revolution was a period from 1750 to 1850 where changes in agriculture,
manufacturing, mining, transportation and technology had a far reaching effect on the social and
economic conditions of that time. The industrial revolution started in Britain and spread through
Western Europe and eventually to the rest of the world.

Adapted from platinum: Social Science Leaner’s book: pages 115 and 117

2.1. Where, according to the source did farmers graze their livestock? (1x1) (1)

2.2. Define the following concepts:

a) Subsistence Farming (1x2) (2)

b) Trans- Atlantic slave trade (1x2) (2)
c) Common land (1x2) (2)

2.3. Explain how government regulated the enclosure system. (1x2) (2)

2.3. List FIVE sectors which experienced changes during the industrial Revolution. (5x1) (5)

2.4. Where according to the source, was the industrial revolution started? (1x2) (2)

(16)

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Social Sciences Grade 8 March 2025

QUESTION 3

Source C

The first diamond was found in 1868, at Hopetown along the banks of the Orange river.
Between 1870 and 1871 a wealth of diamonds were found in dry areas away from the river in
Boer farms. When diamond were discovered in Northern Cape a dispute began about who
owned the land. About two thirds of the people who came to the diamond field were black. Black
miners were restricted to closed compounds. Workers were locked up in new compounds
without their families, for between three and six months, surrounded by metal and wired fencing.
Rhodes De Beers Consolidated mines now control diamond mining at Kimberly. It has a
monopoly.

Adapted from Platinum: Social Sciences: Learner’s book: page137

3.1. According to the source, in which year was the first diamond found? 1x2 (2)

3.2. In which province was the diamond discovered? 1x2 (2)

3.3. Provide evidence from the source to support that black miners were supposed to be

mine owners in Kimberly. 1x2 (2)

3.4. Use the source and your knowledge to explain how black miners were treated in the compounds.
(2x1) (2)

3.4. How according to source, were black miners restricted in the closed compounds? 1x2

3.4. Define the term monopoly in your own words. 1x2 (2)

3.5. Give the name of the company which controlled the diamond mining in Kimberly. 1x2 (2)

(14)

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Social Sciences Grade 8 March 2025

QUESTION 4

4.1. Using the information in the relevant sources and your own knowledge, write a paragraph of not

more than 8 lines explaining why factory owners used child labor in their factories. (8)

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