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'Most powerful… (Class 10 Social Science SQP 2026-27, Q5)

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Social ScienceCBSE Class 10 · Sample paper, session 2026-27 · 2 marks · Very short answer

CBSE Class 10 Social Science sample paper 2026-27: question 5

From the official CBSE sample question paper for 2026-27, section A, question 5, for 2 marks. Try it first; the hints and our step-by-step solution are below.

Q5 · 2 marks · Very short answerPrint Culture and the Modern World

'Most powerful weapon of the Spanish conqueror was not a conventional military weapon at all.' Justify the statement by giving two reasons.

Source: official sample paper from cbseacademic.nic.in (PDF). See it in the full Sample paper 2026-27.

Hints

Open one hint at a time and try again before the next.

Hint 1

Think of a weapon that is invisible and not made of metal.

Hint 2

What did Europeans carry with them that the native Americans had never met before?

Step-by-step solution

Each step shows the marks it earns, as an examiner would award them. Checked by an independent re-solve from the question paper.

  1. The Spanish conquerors' most powerful weapon was disease, not guns. They carried germs such as smallpox, which spread deep into the continent even before any European reached those areas.

    1 mark

  2. The original inhabitants of America had no immunity against these diseases from Europe. Whole communities were wiped out, which made conquest easy. This 'biological warfare' of the mid-sixteenth century let the Spanish overpower the Americans.

    1 mark

Answer: Germs (especially smallpox) spread ahead of the conquerors, and Americans had no immunity, so disease wiped out communities and made conquest easy.

Where the marks are

  • Germs like smallpox spread deep into the continent before Europeans arrived (1 mark)
  • No immunity among the native population, so communities were destroyed and conquest was easy (1 mark)

Revise the chapter

Practise this chapterBoard-style questions from Print Culture and the Modern World, one at a time, marked against the answer key and marking points.Back to the full paperSample paper 2026-27: every question, by section.

The question is transcribed from the official paper; figures are described in words. The solution, hints and chapter tag are ours. Spotted an error? Write tosupport@questionbuddy.in.