The Making of a Global World Question Answers: NCERT Class 10 Social Science - India an the Contemporary World - II

Examples of the different types of global exchanges which took place before the seventeenth century:

→ Textiles, spices and Chinese pottery were exchanged by China, India and Southeast Asia in return for gold and silver from Europe.

→ Gold and foods such as potatoes, soya, groundnuts, tomatoes and chillies were first exported from the Americas to Europe.

The global transfer of disease in the pre- modern world helped in the colonisation of the Americas because the native American Indians were not immune to the diseases that the settlers and colonisers brought with them. The Europeans were more or less immune to small pox, but the native Americans, having been cut off from the rest of the world for millions of years, had no defence against it. These germs killed and wiped out whole communities, paving the way for foreign domination. Weapons and soldiers could be destroyed or captured, but diseases could not be fought against.

(a) The British government's decision to abolish the Corn Laws was the inflow of cheaper agricultural crops from America and Australia. Many English farmers left their profession and migrated to towns and cities. Some went overseas. This indirectly led to global agriculture and rapid urbanisation, a prerequisite of industrial growth.

(b) The coming of rinderpest to Africa caused a loss of livelihood for countless Africans. Using this
situation to their advantage, colonising nations conquered and subdued Africa by monopolising scarce cattle resources to force Africans into the labour market.

(c) Most of the victims of world war belonged to young generations of working men. As a result, it reduced the workforce in Europe, thereby reducing household income. The role of women increased and led to demand for more equality of status. It made the feminist movement stronger. Women started working alongside men in every field. Women and youngsters became more independent and free with long-term effects.

(d) The impact of the Great Depression in India was felt especially in the agricultural sector. It was
evident that Indian economy was closely becoming bintegrated to global economy. India was a British colony and exported agricultural goods and imported manufactured goods. The fall in
agricultural price led to reduction of farmers’ income and agricultural export. The government did
not decrease their tax and so, many farmers and landlords became more indebted to moneylenders and corrupt officials. It led to a great rural unrest in India.

Two examples from history to show the impact of technology on food availability were:

→ Faster railways, lighter wagons and larger ships helped transport food more cheaply and quickly from production units to even faraway markets.

→ Refrigerated ships helped transport perishable foods such as meat, butter and eggs over long distances.

The Bretton Woods Agreement was finalised in July 1944 at Bretton Woods in New Hampshire, USA. It established the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to preserve global economic stability and full employment in the industrial world. These institutions also dealt with external surpluses and deficits of member nations, and financed post-war reconstructions.

1. It was a world of faster economic growth as well as greater misery higher income for some and poverty for others technological advance in some areas and new forms 0f exploitation in others. In india indentured labourers were hired under contracts which promised the return travel to india after they had worked for five years on their employer’s plantation.

2. most of the indentured workers migrated in hope for a bright future but they were exploited by the recruiting agent and by the employer. They had to pay a commission to the recruiting agent. The agents used to provides false information to the workers regarding their final destination modes of travel the nature of work and living and working conditions. Sometimes agents even forcibly abducted less willing migrants.

The three types of movements or flows within the international economic exchange are trade flows, human capital flows and capital flows or investments. These can be explained as—the trade in agricultural products, migration of labour, and financial loans to and from other nations. India was a hub of trade in the pre-modern world, and it exported textiles and spices in return for gold and silver from Europe. Many different foods such as potatoes, soya, groundnuts, maize, tomatoes, chillies and sweet potatoes came to India from the Americas after Columbus discovered it. In the field of labour, indentured labour was provided for mines, plantations and factories abroad, in huge numbers, in the nineteenth century. This was an instrument of colonial domination by the British. Lastly, Britain took generous loans from USA to finance the World War. Since India was an English colony, the impact of these loan debts was felt in India too. The British government increased taxes, interest rates, and lowered the prices of products it bought from the colony. Indirectly, but strongly, this affected the Indian economy and people.

The Great Depression was a result of many factors:

→ Prosperity in the USA during the 1920s created a cycle of higher employment and incomes. It led to rise in consumption and demands. More investment and more employment created tendencies of speculations which led to the Great Depression of 1929 upto the mid-1930s.

→ Stock market crashed in 1929. It created panic among investors and depositors who stopped investing and depositing. As a result, it created a cycle of depreciation.

→ Failure of the banks. Some of the banks closed down when people withdrew all their assets, leaving them unable to invest. Some banks called back loans taken from them at the same dollar rate inspite of the falling value of dollar. It was worsened by British change in policy to value pound at the pre-war value.

By establishing G-77, they could. Get real control over their natural resources. More assistance in their development. Fairer price for raw materials. Better access for their manufactured goods.