"The synthetic production of indigo by German chemical laboratories in the late nineteenth century represents a triumph of modern science. By utilizing coal tar, a byproduct of coke production, chemists have created a dye that is cheaper, purer, and more consistent than the natural plant extract. As a result, the vast indigo plantations of Bengal and Bihar, which for decades supplied the textile mills of Great Britain, are facing rapid collapse. Landowners are shifting to other crops, and thousands of peasant cultivators are displaced. This transition demonstrates that the laboratory has replaced the soil as the primary source of industrial color."
—Consular Report on the Trade of Germany, British Foreign Office, 1901
Based on the passage, the economic transition described most directly reflects which of the following shifts between the First and Second Industrial Revolutions?
- The rising dominance of Western synthetic chemical industries over traditional agricultural producers of raw materials in colonized regions.Cevap
- BThe initial adoption of coal-fired steam engines in colonial Bengal to mechanize the extraction of natural indigo dye.
- CThe revival of early modern mercantilist policies by European states to restrict chemical manufacturing to state-chartered monopoly companies.
- DThe British government's decision to directly annex German industrial territories in order to secure control of the synthetic dye factories.