praj-17/QA-MCQ-Open-ended huggingface dataset:
Title: British_Empire
Context: At the end of the 16th century, England and the Netherlands began to challenge Portugal's monopoly of trade with Asia, forming private joint-stock companies to finance the voyages—the English, later British, East India Company and the Dutch East India Company, chartered in 1600 and 1602 respectively. The primary aim of these companies was to tap into the lucrative spice trade, an effort focused mainly on two regions; the East Indies archipelago, and an important hub in the trade network, India. There, they competed for trade supremacy with Portugal and with each other. Although England ultimately eclipsed the Netherlands as a colonial power, in the short term the Netherlands' more advanced financial system and the three Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century left it with a stronger position in Asia. Hostilities ceased after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 when the Dutch William of Orange ascended the English throne, bringing peace between the Netherlands and England. A deal between the two nations left the spice trade of the East Indies archipelago to the Netherlands and the textiles industry of India to England, but textiles soon overtook spices in terms of profitability, and by 1720, in terms of sales, the British company had overtaken the Dutch.

question: When was the British East India Company chartered? 

answer: 1600

question: When was the Dutch East India Company chartered? 

answer: 1602

question: When had the British East India Company overtaken the Dutch East India Company in sales? 

answer: 1720

question: How many Anglo-Dutch Wars were there in the 17th century? 

answer: three

question: The Dutch East India Company focused on trade in which industry? 

answer: spice
Title: British_Empire
Context: Peace between England and the Netherlands in 1688 meant that the two countries entered the Nine Years' War as allies, but the conflict—waged in Europe and overseas between France, Spain and the Anglo-Dutch alliance—left the English a stronger colonial power than the Dutch, who were forced to devote a larger proportion of their military budget on the costly land war in Europe. The 18th century saw England (after 1707, Britain) rise to be the world's dominant colonial power, and France becoming its main rival on the imperial stage.

question: Which country became Britain's main rival in the 18th century? 

answer: France

question: When did England and the Netherlands make peace? 

answer: 1688

question: In which war were England and the Netherlands allies? 

answer: Nine Years' War

question: In which century did Britain become the world's dominant colonial power? 

answer: 18th
Title: British_Empire
Context: At the concluding Treaty of Utrecht, Philip renounced his and his descendants' right to the French throne and Spain lost its empire in Europe. The British Empire was territorially enlarged: from France, Britain gained Newfoundland and Acadia, and from Spain, Gibraltar and Minorca. Gibraltar became a critical naval base and allowed Britain to control the Atlantic entry and exit point to the Mediterranean. Spain also ceded the rights to the lucrative asiento (permission to sell slaves in Spanish America) to Britain.

question: King Philip renounced his right to the throne after what treaty? 

answer: Treaty of Utrecht

question: Which country did Britain acquire Newfoundland and Acadia from? 

answer: France

question: Which country did Britain acquire Gibraltar and Minorca from? 

answer: Spain

question: Which colony allowed Britain to control the Atlantic entry and exit point to the Mediterranean? 

answer: permission to sell slaves in Spanish America

question: What was the Spanish term for permission to sell slaves in Spanish America? 

answer: asiento
Title: British_Empire
Context: During the middle decades of the 18th century, there were several outbreaks of military conflict on the Indian subcontinent, the Carnatic Wars, as the English East India Company (the Company) and its French counterpart, the Compagnie française des Indes orientales, struggled alongside local rulers to fill the vacuum that had been left by the decline of the Mughal Empire. The Battle of Plassey in 1757, in which the British, led by Robert Clive, defeated the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies, left the Company in control of Bengal and as the major military and political power in India. France was left control of its enclaves but with military restrictions and an obligation to support British client states, ending French hopes of controlling India. In the following decades the Company gradually increased the size of the territories under its control, either ruling directly or via local rulers under the threat of force from the British Indian Army, the vast majority of which was composed of Indian sepoys.

question: What was the French equivalent of the English East India Company? 

answer: Compagnie française des Indes orientales

question: When was the Battle of Plassey? 

answer: 1757

question: Who led the British in the Battle of Plassey? 

answer: Robert Clive

question: Where were the Carnatic Wars? 

answer: British Indian Army

question: What was the British Indian Army mostly composed of? 

answer: Indian sepoys
Title: British_Empire
Context: The British and French struggles in India became but one theatre of the global Seven Years' War (1756–1763) involving France, Britain and the other major European powers. The signing of the Treaty of Paris (1763) had important consequences for the future of the British Empire. In North America, France's future as a colonial power there was effectively ended with the recognition of British claims to Rupert's Land, and the ceding of New France to Britain (leaving a sizeable French-speaking population under British control) and Louisiana to Spain. Spain ceded Florida to Britain. Along with its victory over France in India, the Seven Years' War therefore left Britain as the world's most powerful maritime power.

question: When was the Seven Years' War? 

answer: 1756–1763

question: When was the Treaty of Paris? 

answer: 1763

question: Which country acquired New France from France? 

answer: Britain

question: Which country acquired Louisiana from France? 

answer: Spain

question: Which country acquired Florida from Spain? 

answer: Britain
Title: British_Empire
Context: During the 1760s and early 1770s, relations between the Thirteen Colonies and Britain became increasingly strained, primarily because of resentment of the British Parliament's attempts to govern and tax American colonists without their consent. This was summarised at the time by the slogan "No taxation without representation", a perceived violation of the guaranteed Rights of Englishmen. The American Revolution began with rejection of Parliamentary authority and moves towards self-government. In response Britain sent troops to reimpose direct rule, leading to the outbreak of war in 1775. The following year, in 1776, the United States declared independence. The entry of France to the war in 1778 tipped the military balance in the Americans' favour and after a decisive defeat at Yorktown in 1781, Britain began negotiating peace terms. American independence was acknowledged at the Peace of Paris in 1783.

question: British relations with which area became strained in the 1760s-1770s? 

answer: the Thirteen Colonies

question: What was the American colonists' anti-tax slogan? 

answer: "No taxation without representation"

question: When did the US declare independence? 

answer: 1776

question: When did France enter the American Revolution war? 

answer: 1778

question: When did Britain recognize American independence? 

answer: 1783
Title: British_Empire
Context: The loss of such a large portion of British America, at the time Britain's most populous overseas possession, is seen by some historians as the event defining the transition between the "first" and "second" empires, in which Britain shifted its attention away from the Americas to Asia, the Pacific and later Africa. Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, had argued that colonies were redundant, and that free trade should replace the old mercantilist policies that had characterised the first period of colonial expansion, dating back to the protectionism of Spain and Portugal. The growth of trade between the newly independent United States and Britain after 1783 seemed to confirm Smith's view that political control was not necessary for economic success.

question: What book by Adam Smith was published in 1776? 

answer: Wealth of Nations

question: The growth of trade between the US and Britain after 1783 seemed to confirm whose views? 

answer: Smith

question: In the 'second' British Empire period, Britain refocused on which areas? 

answer: Asia, the Pacific and later Africa

question: What had been Britain's most populous overseas possession? 

answer: British America

question: Who argued that colonies were redundant? 

answer: Adam Smith
Title: British_Empire
Context: Events in America influenced British policy in Canada, where between 40,000 and 100,000 defeated Loyalists had migrated from America following independence. The 14,000 Loyalists who went to the Saint John and Saint Croix river valleys, then part of Nova Scotia, felt too far removed from the provincial government in Halifax, so London split off New Brunswick as a separate colony in 1784. The Constitutional Act of 1791 created the provinces of Upper Canada (mainly English-speaking) and Lower Canada (mainly French-speaking) to defuse tensions between the French and British communities, and implemented governmental systems similar to those employed in Britain, with the intention of asserting imperial authority and not allowing the sort of popular control of government that was perceived to have led to the American Revolution.

question: How many British loyalists moved from the US to Canada? 

answer: between 40,000 and 100,000

question: New Brunswick was split off from which province? 

answer: Nova Scotia

question: Which act created the Upper Canada provinces? 

answer: The Constitutional Act of 1791

question: What language did most of Upper Canada speak? 

answer: English

question: What language did most of Lower Canada speak? 

answer: French
Title: British_Empire
Context: Since 1718, transportation to the American colonies had been a penalty for various criminal offences in Britain, with approximately one thousand convicts transported per year across the Atlantic. Forced to find an alternative location after the loss of the 13 Colonies in 1783, the British government turned to the newly discovered lands of Australia. The western coast of Australia had been discovered for Europeans by the Dutch explorer Willem Jansz in 1606 and was later named New Holland by the Dutch East India Company, but there was no attempt to colonise it. In 1770 James Cook discovered the eastern coast of Australia while on a scientific voyage to the South Pacific Ocean, claimed the continent for Britain, and named it New South Wales. In 1778, Joseph Banks, Cook's botanist on the voyage, presented evidence to the government on the suitability of Botany Bay for the establishment of a penal settlement, and in 1787 the first shipment of convicts set sail, arriving in 1788. Britain continued to transport convicts to New South Wales until 1840. The Australian colonies became profitable exporters of wool and gold, mainly because of gold rushes in the colony of Victoria, making its capital Melbourne the richest city in the world and the largest city after London in the British Empire.

question: How many convicts per year had Britain been sending to the American colonies? 

answer: one thousand

question: Where did Britain switch to sending their convicts after the loss of the American colonies? 

answer: Australia

question: Who discovered Australia in 1606? 

answer: Willem Jansz

question: What had the Dutch East India Company initially named Australia? 

answer: New Holland

question: When did the first shipment of British convicts leave for Australia? 

answer: 1787
Title: British_Empire
Context: During his voyage, Cook also visited New Zealand, first discovered by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642, and claimed the North and South islands for the British crown in 1769 and 1770 respectively. Initially, interaction between the indigenous Māori population and Europeans was limited to the trading of goods. European settlement increased through the early decades of the 19th century, with numerous trading stations established, especially in the North. In 1839, the New Zealand Company announced plans to buy large tracts of land and establish colonies in New Zealand. On 6 February 1840, Captain William Hobson and around 40 Maori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi. This treaty is considered by many to be New Zealand's founding document, but differing interpretations of the Maori and English versions of the text have meant that it continues to be a source of dispute.

question: When was New Zealand discovered by the Dutch? 

answer: 1642

question: Who discovered New Zealand for the Dutch? 

answer: Abel Tasman

question: When did Cook visit New Zealand and claim the North Island? 

answer: 1769

question: What is New Zealand's native population called? 

answer: Māori

question: Who signed a treaty with the Maori? 

answer: Captain William Hobson
Title: British_Empire
Context: The Napoleonic Wars were therefore ones in which Britain invested large amounts of capital and resources to win. French ports were blockaded by the Royal Navy, which won a decisive victory over a Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar in 1805. Overseas colonies were attacked and occupied, including those of the Netherlands, which was annexed by Napoleon in 1810. France was finally defeated by a coalition of European armies in 1815. Britain was again the beneficiary of peace treaties: France ceded the Ionian Islands, Malta (which it had occupied in 1797 and 1798 respectively), Mauritius, St Lucia, and Tobago; Spain ceded Trinidad; the Netherlands Guyana, and the Cape Colony. Britain returned Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, and Réunion to France, and Java and Suriname to the Netherlands, while gaining control of Ceylon (1795–1815).

question: The British Royal Navy blockaded which ports? 

answer: French

question: Where did the British Royal Navy defeat the French and Spanish in 1805? 

answer: Trafalgar

question: When were the Netherlands' colonies annexed by Napoleon? 

answer: 1810

question: When was Napoleon finally defeated? 

answer: 1815

question: The Napoleonic peace treaty had Ceylon given to which country? 

answer: Britain
Title: British_Empire
Context: With support from the British abolitionist movement, Parliament enacted the Slave Trade Act in 1807, which abolished the slave trade in the empire. In 1808, Sierra Leone was designated an official British colony for freed slaves. The Slavery Abolition Act passed in 1833 abolished slavery in the British Empire on 1 August 1834 (with the exception of St. Helena, Ceylon and the territories administered by the East India Company, though these exclusions were later repealed). Under the Act, slaves were granted full emancipation after a period of 4 to 6 years of "apprenticeship".

question: When was the Slave Trade Act enacted? 

answer: 1807

question: What abolished the British slave trade? 

answer: the Slave Trade Act

question: Which colony was the official British colony for freed slaves? 

answer: Sierra Leone

question: What abolished slavery throughout the British Empire? 

answer: The Slavery Abolition Act

question: How long of an 'apprenticeship' did slaves need to have before being fully freed? 

answer: 4 to 6 years
Title: British_Empire
Context: Between 1815 and 1914, a period referred to as Britain's "imperial century" by some historians, around 10,000,000 square miles (26,000,000 km2) of territory and roughly 400 million people were added to the British Empire. Victory over Napoleon left Britain without any serious international rival, other than Russia in central Asia. Unchallenged at sea, Britain adopted the role of global policeman, a state of affairs later known as the Pax Britannica, and a foreign policy of "splendid isolation". Alongside the formal control it exerted over its own colonies, Britain's dominant position in world trade meant that it effectively controlled the economies of many countries, such as China, Argentina and Siam, which has been characterised by some historians as "Informal Empire".

question: How many square miles of territory were added to the British Empire between 1815 and 1914? 

answer: 10,000,000

question: How many people were added to the British Empire between 1815 and 1914? 

answer: 400 million

question: Who was Britain's last serious rival after Napoleon? 

answer: Russia

question: What was the period of Britain acting as the world's police called? 

answer: Britain's dominant position in world trade

question: Britain's dominant position in world trade over some countries' economies has been called what? 

answer: Informal Empire
Title: British_Empire
Context: From its base in India, the Company had also been engaged in an increasingly profitable opium export trade to China since the 1730s. This trade, illegal since it was outlawed by the Qing dynasty in 1729, helped reverse the trade imbalances resulting from the British imports of tea, which saw large outflows of silver from Britain to China. In 1839, the confiscation by the Chinese authorities at Canton of 20,000 chests of opium led Britain to attack China in the First Opium War, and resulted in the seizure by Britain of Hong Kong Island, at that time a minor settlement.

question: What illegal trade was the British East India Company involved in? 

answer: opium

question: How many chests of opium did China confiscate in 1839? 

answer: 20,000

question: The First Opium War led to Britain seizing what island? 

answer: Hong Kong

question: Which dynasty outlawed opium trade? 

answer: Qing

question: When did China outlaw opium trade? 

answer: 1729
Title: British_Empire
Context: During the late 18th and early 19th centuries the British Crown began to assume an increasingly large role in the affairs of the Company. A series of Acts of Parliament were passed, including the Regulating Act of 1773, Pitt's India Act of 1784 and the Charter Act of 1813 which regulated the Company's affairs and established the sovereignty of the Crown over the territories that it had acquired. The Company's eventual end was precipitated by the Indian Rebellion, a conflict that had begun with the mutiny of sepoys, Indian troops under British officers and discipline. The rebellion took six months to suppress, with heavy loss of life on both sides. The following year the British government dissolved the Company and assumed direct control over India through the Government of India Act 1858, establishing the British Raj, where an appointed governor-general administered India and Queen Victoria was crowned the Empress of India. India became the empire's most valuable possession, "the Jewel in the Crown", and was the most important source of Britain's strength.

question: When did Britain pass the Regulating Act? 

answer: 1773

question: When did Britain pass Pitt's India Act? 

answer: 1784

question: When did Britain pass the Charter Act? 

answer: 1813

question: The British East India Company was dissolved by which act? 

answer: Government of India Act

question: Who was crowned the Empress of India? 

answer: Queen Victoria
Title: British_Empire
Context: During the 19th century, Britain and the Russian Empire vied to fill the power vacuums that had been left by the declining Ottoman Empire, Qajar dynasty and Qing Dynasty. This rivalry in Eurasia came to be known as the "Great Game". As far as Britain was concerned, defeats inflicted by Russia on Persia and Turkey demonstrated its imperial ambitions and capabilities and stoked fears in Britain of an overland invasion of India. In 1839, Britain moved to pre-empt this by invading Afghanistan, but the First Anglo-Afghan War was a disaster for Britain.

question: Britain competed with which country to fill the Asian power vacuum in the 19th century? 

answer: Russian

question: When did Britain first invade Afghanistan? 

answer: 1839

question: What was the British-Russian rivalry called? 

answer: the "Great Game"

question: Britain feared Russia would invade what country/territory? 

answer: India

question: Russian victories against which countries increased British fears? 

answer: Persia and Turkey
Title: British_Empire
Context: When Russia invaded the Turkish Balkans in 1853, fears of Russian dominance in the Mediterranean and Middle East led Britain and France to invade the Crimean Peninsula to destroy Russian naval capabilities. The ensuing Crimean War (1854–56), which involved new techniques of modern warfare, and was the only global war fought between Britain and another imperial power during the Pax Britannica, was a resounding defeat for Russia. The situation remained unresolved in Central Asia for two more decades, with Britain annexing Baluchistan in 1876 and Russia annexing Kirghizia, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan. For a while it appeared that another war would be inevitable, but the two countries reached an agreement on their respective spheres of influence in the region in 1878 and on all outstanding matters in 1907 with the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente. The destruction of the Russian Navy by the Japanese at the Battle of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05 also limited its threat to the British.

question: When did Russia invade the Turkish Balkans? 

answer: 1853

question: What was took place in 1854-1856? 

answer: Crimean War

question: Who lost the Crimean War? 

answer: Russia

question: When did Britain take over Baluchistan? 

answer: 1876

question: Which country took over Kazakhstan? 

answer: Russia
Title: British_Empire
Context: The Dutch East India Company had founded the Cape Colony on the southern tip of Africa in 1652 as a way station for its ships travelling to and from its colonies in the East Indies. Britain formally acquired the colony, and its large Afrikaner (or Boer) population in 1806, having occupied it in 1795 to prevent its falling into French hands, following the invasion of the Netherlands by France. British immigration began to rise after 1820, and pushed thousands of Boers, resentful of British rule, northwards to found their own—mostly short-lived—independent republics, during the Great Trek of the late 1830s and early 1840s. In the process the Voortrekkers clashed repeatedly with the British, who had their own agenda with regard to colonial expansion in South Africa and with several African polities, including those of the Sotho and the Zulu nations. Eventually the Boers established two republics which had a longer lifespan: the South African Republic or Transvaal Republic (1852–77; 1881–1902) and the Orange Free State (1854–1902). In 1902 Britain occupied both republics, concluding a treaty with the two Boer Republics following the Second Boer War (1899–1902).

question: When was the southern tip of Africa colonized? 

answer: 1652

question: Which entity founded the Cape Colony? 

answer: The Dutch East India Company

question: When did Britain formally acquire the Cape Colony? 

answer: 1806

question: What African people moved northwards to escape British rule? 

answer: Boers

question: When did the Second Boer War end? 

answer: 1902