The Making of a Global World – PYQs – Answers

Ans. Because:

(i) Until the 19th century poverty and hunger was common in Europe.

(ii) Cities were overcrowded and deadly diseases were widespread.

(iii) Religious conflicts were common and religious dissenters were persecuted. Thousands fled Europe for America to work in plantations to grow cotton and sugar for European markets.

Ans. Europeans were attracted towards Africa due to the following reasons. Three examples are as follows:

(i) Many common foods, e.g., potatoes, soya, tomatoes, maize, etc., were introduced to Europe from America. These crops made a difference between life and death. The poor began to eat better and live longer in England with the introduction of potatoes.

(ii) Religious dissenters from Europe fled due to the fear of persecution in Europe and migrated to America.

(iii) Slave trade was started. European traders captured where they worked on plantations. Europe became the centre of the world trade.

(iv) Precious metals, e.g., silver from mines located in present day Peru and Mexico also enhanced Europe’s wealth and financed its trade.

Ans. (i) Africa had abundant land and a relatively small population. For centuries, land and livestock sustained African livelihoods and people rarely worked for a wage.

(ii) In the late-nineteenth century Africa there were a few consumer goods that wages could buy. Europeans got attracted to Africa due to its vast resources of land and minerals.

(iii) They came to Africa hoping to establish plantations and mines to produce crops and minerals for export to Europe. But there was an unexpected problem—a shortage of labour. Africans had no reason to work for wages and this posed a problem to Europeans.

Ans. (i) It was an ancient network of trade routes through regions of the Asian continent connecting the East and West and the stretching from the Korean Peninsula and Japan to the Mediterranean Sea.

(ii) Chinese pottery, textiles and spices from India were exported to South East Asia and precious metals like gold and silver, flowed from Europe to Asia.

(iii) Christian missionaries travelled through these routes to Asia. Muslim preachers also used these routes. Buddhism too spread to other Asian countries through intersecting points on the silk routes.

Ans. In 1885 the big European powers met in Berlin to complete the carving up of Africa between them.

Ans. (i) Food could be imported into Britain at much cheaper rate than it would be produced within the country.

(ii) British agriculture was unable to compete with imports. Vast areas of land were left uncultivated and people started migrating to cities or other countries.

(iii) As food prices fell, consumption in Britain rose. Faster industrial growth in Britain also led to higher incomes and therefore more food imports.

(iv) Around the world in Eastern Europe, Russia, America and Australia–lands were cleared and food production expanded to meet the British demand.

Ans. (i) Rinderpest is a fast spreading disease of cattle plague spread in Africa. It killed 90 percent of the cattle and destroyed African livelihoods.

(ii) Planters, mine owners and colonial governments now successfully monopolised to strengthen their power and to force Africans into the labour market.

(iii) Control over the scarce resource of cattle enabled European colonisers to conquer and subdue Africa.

Ans. (i) Increase the demand for food grains.

(ii) Under the pressure from landed groups, the government also restricted the import of corn.

(iii) Unhappy with high food prices, industrialist and urban dwellers forced the abolition of the Corn Laws.

Ans. Three reasons:

(i) With the industrialisation, British cotton manufacture began to expand and industrialists pressurised the government to restrict cotton imports and protect local industries.

(ii) Tariffs were imposed on cloth imports into Britain.

(iii) British manufactures also began to seek overseas markets for their cloth They were excluded from the tariff barriers.

Ans. (i) Flow of Trade: Trade in goods, e.g., cloth or wheat, giving shape to a global agricultural economy where food no longer came from a nearby village or town, but from thousands of miles away.

(ii) Flow of Labour: The migration of people in search of employment is called ‘Flow of Labour’. Nearly 50 million people emigrated from Europe to America and Australia in the 19th century. All over the world some 150 million are estimated to have left their homes, crossed oceans and vast distances over land in search of a better future.

(iii) Flow of Capital Investment: Long-term or short-term Investments over long distances is called flow of capital investment. Capital flowed from financial centres such as London to build railways and other buildings.

Ans. (i) Britain began to import food grains from rest of the world. British agriculture was unable to compete with imports.

(ii) Vast areas of land were now left uncultivated.

(iii) Thousands of men and women were thrown out of work. They started migrating of cities.

(iv) Food prices fell and consumption in Britain rose.

(v) Other countries: Russia, America and Australia sent food grains to meet the British demand.

(vi) They required railways to link the ports.

Ans. Indentured labourers were hired under contracts which promised return travel to India after they had worked for five years on their employer’s plantations.

(i) Agents also attracted the migrants by providing false information like their final destinations, mode of travel, nature of work, living and working conditions.

(ii) Often the migrants were not even told that they were to travel on a long sea voyage.

(iii) Sometimes agents forcibly employed less willing migrants.

(iv) On arrival at the plantations, labourers found conditions to be different from what they had imagined.

(v) Living and working conditions were harsh and there were a few legal rights.

Ans. The condition of indentured labour that migrated from India during the nineteenth century:

(i) Nineteenth-century indenture has been described as a ‘new system of slavery’. Recruitment was done by agents engaged by employers and paid a small commission.

(ii) Many migrants agreed to take up work hoping to escape poverty or oppression in their home villages. Agents also tempted the prospective migrants by providing false information about final destinations, modes of travel, the nature of the work, and living and working conditions.

(iii) Often migrants were not even told that they were to embark on a long sea voyage. Sometimes agents even forcibly abducted less willing migrants.

(iv) On arrival at the plantations, labourers found conditions to be different from what they had imagined. Living and working conditions were harsh, and there were few legal rights.

(v) But workers discovered their own ways of surviving. Many of them escaped into the wilds, though if caught they faced severe punishment. Others developed new forms of individual and collective self-expression, blending different cultural forms, old and new.

Ans. Great Depression began in 1929 and lasted till mid-1930s. During this period, most parts of the world experienced declines in production, employment, incomes and trade.

The impact of Great Depression on Indian Economy:

(i) India’s exports and imports nearly halved between 1928 and1934.

(ii) As agricultural prices fell sharply internationally as a result of this prices plunged in India.

(iii) Despite of this, the colonial government refused to reduce revenue demands.

(iv) Peasants’ indebtedness increased. They used up their savings, mortgaged lands and sold their jewellery and precious metals.

(v) India became exporter of metal

(vi) Town dwellers found themselves better off

(vii) Industrial investment grew

Ans. The First World War created a dramatically new situation for the Indian industries.

(i) With the British mills busy with war production to meet the needs of the army, Manchester imports into India declined.

(ii) Indian mills had a vast home market to supply.

(iii) As the war prolonged Indian industries were called upon to supply war needs like, jute bags, cloth for army uniforms, etc.

(iv) New factories were set up and old ones ran multiple shifts.

(v) Many new workers were employed and everyone worked for longer hours.

(vi) Over the war years industrial production boomed.

(vii) Manchester could never recapture its old position in the Indian market.

(viii) Cotton production collapsed and exports of cotton cloth from Britain fell dramatically. Local industries consolidated their position capturing the home market.

Ans. The rising costs of its overseas involvements weakened the finances of US and competitive strength.

(i) The US dollar now no longer commanded confidence as the world’s Principal currency.

(ii) It eventually led to the collapse of the system of fixed exchange rates and the introduction of a system of floating exchange rates.

(iii) International financial system changed and developing countries were forced to borrow from western commercial banks and private leading institutions.

(iv) Unemployment in industrial countries.

(v) Changes in China.