Class 10 History Chapter 3 Extra Question Answers - The Making of Global World

Short Answer Questions

Q1: Explain the three types of flows within the international economic exchanges during 1815-1914.
                                                              OR
 Mention the three types of movements of flows within the international economic exchange in the 19th century. 
Ans: (i) The first involves the exchange of goods, like cloth or wheat. After Britain eliminated the corn laws, it began importing food, prompting increased food productivity in Eastern European countries, Russia, and America to meet Britain's demands. This fueled industrial growth in Britain and the expansion of cultivation globally, necessitating capital and labor for building homes and settlements.
(ii) The demand for labor in places like America and Australia triggered significant migration, with nearly 50 million people leaving Europe for these destinations in the 19th century. Worldwide, around 150 million individuals crossed oceans in search of a better future.
(iii) This resulted in the third aspect — the movement of capital for both short-term and long-term investments. By 1890, a global agricultural economy had emerged, accompanied by intricate changes in labor patterns.

Q2: Define the term ‘trade surplus’. How was the income received from the trade surplus with India used by Britain?
                                                                OR
 What is meant by, ‘Trade Surplus’? Why did Britain have a trade surplus with India?
                                                                OR
 How did Britain’s trade surplus from India help her to balance its trade deficits?
Ans: Over the 19th century, British manufacturers flooded the Indian market. Food grain and raw material exports from India to Britain increased. But the value of British exports to India was much higher than the value of British imports from India. Thus, Britain had a trade surplus with India.
(i) Britain used this surplus to balance its trade deficits with other countries, that is, with countries from which Britain was importing more than it was selling to them.
(ii) Britain’s trade surplus in India also helped pay the so-called “home charges” that included private remittances sent home by British officials and traders, interest payments on India’s external debt, and pensions of British officials in India.

Q3: How did the First World War change the economic life of the people in Britain? Explain. 
Ans:

(i) The American industry had got a great boost during the First World War of 1914-1918. They continued producing different articles even after the war, which created a glut in the market. As a result, exports fell and the home market could not absorb all the products. It led to a catastrophic decline in production, employment, income, and trade. There was unemployment as factories were closed, workers were laid off, and production went down by half.
(ii) The greatest sufferer was the agricultural region. During the war, America had become the greatest supplier of wheat along with Canada and Australia. However, after the war, the Eastern European countries revived their wheat production. There was a slump in industries, prices fell steeply. Farm produce rotted due to a lack of buyers.

Q5: What is Group 77? Why did Group 77 countries demand a New International Economic Order? Explain.
                                                                     OR
 Explain what is referred to as the G-77. In what ways can G-77 be seen as a reaction to the activities of the Bretton Woods twins?
Ans: The IMF and the World Bank or the Bretton Woods Twins served in the reconstruction of these nations. In the process, large corporations of powerful nations like the USA often managed to secure economic and other extra-territorial rights over weaker nations. The economic advances made by the West and Japan in the 1950s and 1960s did not benefit most of the developing countries.

As a reaction to the activities of the Bretton Woods twins, they organized themselves into a group known as the Group of 77 or G-77 to demand a new international economic order (NIEO). The NIEO stood for a system that would give these nations real control over their natural resources, more development assistance, fairer prices for raw materials, and better access to manufactured goods in their markets.

Q6: Give two examples from history to show the impact of technology on food availability.
                                                               OR
 Explain with examples how technology helped in solving problems of food availability throughout the world in the 19th century. 
Ans: The nineteenth century witnessed a high rate of growth in industrial and agricultural products.
(i) The technological development was accelerated by industrial growth and increasing world trade. Colonies also provided the resources and markets which sustained the industrial growth. Thus, railways were needed to link agricultural regions to the ports from where the goods were transported to more destinations, thereby increasing food availability.
(ii) Shipbuilding also became an important industry and countries competed to control the trade routes on seas. Technology helped in the larger social, political and economic factors. For example, steamships and railways helped in carrying large volumes of trading materials between long and inaccessible distances.
(iii) A fine example of the interdependence of technology and economy was the meat trade. The invention of refrigerated ships and the use of chemicals that preserved perishable items for longer periods lowered shipping costs and meat prices in Europe.

Q7: Describe briefly the effects of Rinderpest in Africa in the 1980s. 
Ans: The loss of cattle affected African livelihoods. Haunters, mine owners and colonial powers now bad monopoly over what scarce cattle resources remained. After control over the scarce cattle resources, European colonisers could conquer and subdue Africa.

Q8: How was the food problem solved in Britain after the scrapping of the Corn Laws? Explain. 
Ans: The immediate effect of the British government’s decision to abolish the Corn Laws was the inflow of cheaper crops from the Americas 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 urbanization, a prerequisite of industrial growth.

Q9: Explain how the First World War was so horrible a war like none other before.
                                                                           OR
 Explain the effect of the death of men of working age in Europe because of the First World War.
Ans: The First World War was a war, like no other before. The war involved the world’s leading industrial nations which now harnessed the vast powers of modern industry to inflict the greatest possible destruction on their enemies.
It was the first modern industrial war of saw the use of machine guns, tanks, aircraft, chemical weapons, etc. on a massive scale. Millions of soldiers were recruited from around the world and moved to the frontlines of large ships and trains. The scale of death — 9 million dead, 20 million injured — was unthinkable before the industrial age. These deaths and injuries reduced the able-bodied workforce in Europe. Household incomes declined after the war. Entire societies were reorganized for war — men went to battle, and women stepped in to take up jobs that earlier only men were expected to do.

Q10: What were the main reasons for the attraction of Europeans to Africa? 
Ans: (i) The Europeans were attracted to Africa due to its vast resources of land and minerals.
(ii) Europeans came to Africa to establish plantations and mines to produce crops and minerals for export to Europe.
(iii) The Europeans conquered Africa carved up the continent among themselves and became colonial powers.

Q11: What was the impact of technology on food availability? Explain with the help of examples. 
Ans: Technological advances like faster railways, lighter wagons and larger ships helped more food, more cheaply and quickly from far away farms to final markets. The trade-in meat is an example. Refrigerated ships carried frozen meats from America, and Australia to Europe at a lower cost and reduced the price of meat in Europe. The poor in Europe could now eat meat. Better living conditions were promoted.

Q12: Explain the effects of the British government’s decision to abolish the Corn Laws. 
Ans: (i) The abolishing of corn laws in England led to the import of food more cheaply in Britain.
(ii) British agriculture was unable to compete with cheap imports and vast lands were left uncultivated, rendering thousands of men and women jobless. They flocked to cities or migrated overseas.

Abolition of Corn Laws (iii) Higher incomes due to industrialisation in England led to more food imports and greater food production in Eastern Europe, Russia, America and Australia.

Q13: Give three examples to show that the world changed with the discovery of new sea routes to America. 
Ans: The discovery of new sea routes to America led to its vast lands and abundant crops and minerals attracting Europeans to it. Legends spread in 17th Century Europe about South America’s fabled wealth in gold and an expedition set off in search of El Dorado, the city of gold. The Portuguese and the Spanish conquered America and precious metals, (especially silver) from silver and Mexico increased their wealth. Many victims of religious conflicts in Europe fled to America. Slaves began to be imported from Africa to help grow cotton and sugar for European markets. Europe became the centre of the world trade.

Q14: Why did European employers find it difficult to recruit labor in Africa? Give two methods they used to recruit and retain labor. 
Ans: (1) European employers found it difficult to recruit labor in Africa because Africa had
(i) abundant land and;
(ii) a small population. For centuries land and livestock sustained African livelihoods. People rarely worked for a wage.
(2) (i) Europeans to attract labour, imposed heavy taxes which could only be paid by working for wages on plantations and mines.
(ii) They changed inheritance laws to displace peasants from the land; only one member of a family was allowed to inherit the land. This pushed the rest of the others in the labor market.

Q15: What was the Corn Law? Why was the Corn Law abolished? What was the result of the abolishing of the Corn Law?
                                                                  OR
 What were Corn Laws? How did the abolition of the ‘Corn Laws’ affect the people of England?Ans: ‘Corn Laws’ were laws passed by the British government to restrict the import of corn. Corn laws led to high food prices because the demand for food grains had gone up in the urban and industrial cities. This led to the abolition of Corn Laws, forced on the government by industrialists and urban dwellers. The result was that food could be imported cheaply in Britain. Import of cheap food led to vast areas of land being left uncultivated, rendering thousands of men and women without jobs. People migrated to cities or overseas.

Q16: The testimony of an indentured labourer :-
 Extract from the testimony of Ram Narain Tewary, an indentured labourer who spent ten years on Demerara in the early twentieth century.
 ...... despite my best efforts, I could not properly do the work that was allotted to me ...... in a few days I got my hands bruised all over and I could not go to work for a week for which I was prosecuted and sent to jail for 14 days ...... new emigrants find the tasks allotted to them extremely heavy and cannot complete them in a day ...... Deductions are also made from wages if the work is considered to have been done unsatisfactorily. Many people cannot therefore earn their full wages and are punished in various ways. The laborers have to spend their period of indenture in great trouble ....’

(i) What happened to the worker within a few days of joining work?
 (ii) What happened to him when he was not able to complete the work allotted to him?
 (iii) How were the workers punished when the work was considered to have been done unsatisfactorily?
Ans: On arrival, labourers found living and working conditions very harsh, very different from what they were told and they had hardly any legal rights. In a few days, the worker found his hands bruised and he could not work for a week. He was prosecuted and sent to jail for 14 days. Deductions were made from their salary if their work was considered unsatisfactory.

Q17: Why did thousands of people flee from Europe to America in the 19th century? Give any three reasons. 
Ans: (i) Scrapping of Corn Laws, led to the inability of British agriculture to compete with imports.
(ii) Thousands of people were left unemployed due to agricultural land lying uncultivated. So people migrated in thousands and crossed oceans to find employment and a better future.
(ii) There was a demand for labor in America as the labor supply was short. So people migrated to America in the 19th century.

Q18: Write any three factors responsible for indentured labor migration from India. 
Ans: The three factors responsible for indentured labour migration from India were :
(i) In the mid-19th century cottage industries had declined in India and land rents had risen.
(ii) Lands were cleared for mines and plantations. This affected the poor who could not pay their rent.
(iii) Unemployment led to deep indebtedness of the workers and in the end, they were forced to migrate in search of work.
To escape from poverty or oppression in their home villages, many Indians migrated to other lands.

Q19: What is meant by the Bretton Woods System? Explain. 
Ans: The Bretton Wood system was an attempt to preserve economic sterility and full employment in the industrial world. It established the International Monetary Fund to deal with external surpluses and deficits of its member states. 

Bretton Woods SystemThe Bretton Wood system was based on fixed exchange rates. In this system, national currencies, for example, the Indian rupee, were pegged to the dollar at a fixed exchange rate. The dollar itself was anchored to gold at a fixed price of $ 35 per ounce of gold. It linked natural currencies and the monetary system.

Q20: Explain three major features of the global agricultural economy that had taken shape towards the close of the nineteenth century. 
Ans: By 1890, a global agricultural economy had taken shape, accompanied by complex changes in labor movement patterns, capital flows, ecologies, and technology.
(i) Food no longer came from a nearby village or town, but from thousands of miles away.
(ii) It was not grown by a peasant tilling his land, but by a recently arrived agricultural worker.
(iii) Food was transported by railways built for that very purpose, and by ships manned by low-paid workers from Southern Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean.

Q21: What was Rinderpest? How did Rinderpest change the economy of African society? 
Ans: In Africa, in the 1880s a fast-spreading disease of cattle plague or rinderpest had a terrible impact on the economy of African society. It was carried by infected cattle imported from British Asia to feed the Italian soldiers stationed in East Africa. It killed 90 per cent of the cattle in Africa. The loss of cattle destroyed African livelihoods. Planters, mine owners, and colonial governments now monopolized the remaining cattle resources. Africans were forced into the labor market. Control over the scarce resource of cattle enabled European colonizers to conquer and subdue Africa.

Q22: “Food offers many examples of long-distance cultural exchange.” Justify this statement. 
Ans: Traders and travelers introduced new crops to the lands they traveled. Even ‘ready’ foodstuff in distant parts of the world might share common origins. It is believed that noodles traveled west from China to become spaghetti. Arab travelers/traders took Pasta to fifth-century Sicily, an island in Italy. Similar foods were also known in India and Japan. This suggests the possibilities of long-distance cultural contact even in the pre-modern world. Many of our common foods such as potatoes, soya, groundnuts, maize, tomato, and chilies had their origin in the Americas.

Long Answer Questions

Q23: Describe in brief the world economic conditions of the post-First World War period. 
Ans: Post-war recovery proved to be difficult. Britain, which was the world’s leading economy in the pre-war period, in particular faced grave crises. Britain found it difficult to recapture its earlier position of dominance in the Indian market and to compete with Japan internationally. Both India and Japan had developed industries during the war, Britain owed a great war debt to the USA, as it had borrowed liberally from the US.
The war had also led to an economic boom as there had been a large increase in demand for production and employment. When the war boom ended it led to huge job losses as the government reduced war expenditures. In Britain, one in every five workers was without a job. Many agricultural economies also faced a crisis. Before the war, eastern Europe was a major supplier of wheat in the world market. War disrupted production and as a result wheat production in Canada, Australia and America expanded dramatically. But when the war ended, wheat production in Europe revived and there was a glut of wheat output. Grain prices fell, incomes declined and farmers fell deeper into debt. Only the US was able to recover quickly.

Q24: Why was the nineteenth-century indenture described as a ‘New System of Slavery’? 
Ans: In the 19th century, hundreds of thousands of Indian and Chinese labourers went to work on plantations, in mines and road and railway construction projects around the world. In India, indentured labourers were hired under contracts which promised return travel to India after five years of work. Recruitment was done by agents engaged by employers. Many migrants agreed to take up work, hoping to escape poverty or oppression in their home villages. Agents gave them false information about final destinations, modes of travel or the nature of the work and living and working conditions. Often the migrants were not even told that they would have to make a long sea voyage. Sometimes agents even forcibly abducted less willing migrants. On arrival at the plantations, labourers found conditions to be very different from what they were told. Living and working conditions were harsh, they had few legal rights. It was indeed a new system of slavery which was condemned by Indian nationalist leaders in 1900 as abusive and cruel. It was abolished in 1921.

Q25: Explain any four causes of the Great Depression. 
Ans: The reasons for the Great Depression of 1929 are :
(i) The post-war world economy was very fragile. First, agricultural overproduction remained a problem. It was made worse by falling prices. There was a glut in the market pushing down prices even further and farm produce rotted due to a lack of buyers.
(ii) In the mid-1920s many countries had financed their investments through loans from the US. US overseas lenders panicked at the first sign of trouble. In the first half of 1928, US overseas loans had amounted to over $ 1 billion. A year later it was one-quarter of that demand. Countries dependent on US loans now faced an acute crisis.

Great Depression(iii) Withdrawal of US loans led to the failure of major banks in Europe and the collapse of currencies like the British pound sterling. In Latin America and elsewhere it intensified the slump in agriculture and raw material prices.
(iv) The US attempt to protect its economy in the depression by doubling import duties also dealt a severe blow to world trade.

Q26: Explain any four measures adopted by America for post-war recovery. 
Ans: One measure adopted by America for post-war recovery was :
(i) Mass production became a feature of industrial production in the US. An example is Henry Ford, the car manufacturer. He adopted the ‘assembly line’ method for faster and cheaper production. Car production increased from 2 million in 1919 to more than five million units in 1929.
(ii) Similarly, there was a boom in the production of refrigerators, and washing machines, all purchased through a ‘‘hire purchase’ system, credit repaid in weekly or monthly installments.
(iii) There were large investments in housing and household goods which created a cycle of higher employment and incomes, rising consumption demand, and more investment.
(iv) The US resumed exporting capital to the world in 1923. US exports and imports boosted European recovery and world trade and income growth over the next six years.

Q27: How far is it correct to say that “The First World War was the first modern industrial war.” Explain. 
Ans: The First World War was the first modern industrial war. It involved the world’s leading industrial nations. These nations harnessed the vast powers of modern industry to inflict the greatest destruction on their enemies. Machine guns, tanks, aircraft, and chemical weapons were used on a massive scale. Millions of soldiers recruited, from around the world, were moved to the front lines on large ships and trains. The scale of death and destruction — 9 million dead, 20 million injured — was unthinkable before the industrial age, without the use of industrial arms.

Q28: “The indentured labor gave rise to a new culture in the Caribbean islands.” Justify this statement with any four suitable examples. 
Ans: The Indian indentured labor in the Caribbean developed new forms of individual and collective self-expression, mixing different cultural forms, old and new :
(i) In Trinidad the annual Muharram procession was transformed into a notorious carnival called ‘‘Hosay’’ (for Imam Hussain) in which workers of all religions and races joined.
(ii) In the same way, the protest religion of Rasta Farianism (made famous by the Jamaican reggae star, Bob Morley) reflected the social and cultural links with Indian migrants to the Caribbean.
(iii) ‘‘Chutney Music,’’ popular in Trinidad and Guyana, is another expression of the new culture.
(iv) Many indentured workers stayed on after their contracts ended. This fusion was a result of things from different places getting mixed, losing their original characteristics and becoming something new. Consequently, there are large communities of Indian descent in these countries. Famous examples are the Nobel Prize-winning writer V.S. Naipaul and West Indies cricketers like Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan.

Q29: The Economic Depression of 1929 proved less grim for urban India. Explain with four examples. 
Ans: The economic downturn was comparatively less severe for urban India.
(i) Individuals with fixed incomes, such as rent or salary, experienced improved financial situations.
(ii) The overall cost of living decreased.
(iii) There was an increase in industrial investment.
 (iv) The government provided tariff protection to industries in response to nationalist sentiments. 

Q30: Discuss the factors that led to the end of the Bretton Woods system and the beginning of globalization. 
Ans: (i) The end of Bretton Woods came with the US dollar no longer commanding confidence in the world’s principal currency. From the 1960’s the rising cost of overseas investment weakened the US’s finances and competitive strength. It could not retain its value of gold. It led to the collapse of the system of fixed exchange rates and the introduction of floating exchange rates.
(ii) In 1970’s international financial system also changed. Developing countries were now forced to borrow from Western commercial banks and private lending institutions instead of international institutions. This led to periodic debt crises in the developing world, and increased poverty in Africa and Latin America. By the 1970s MNCs also began to shift production operations to low-wage Asian countries.

Globalization(iii) China which had been cut off from the post-war world economy, since its revolution in 1949, has now come back into the fold of the world economy. Its new economic policies and the collapse of the Soviet Union have led to it. The low-cost structure of the Chinese economy, and its low wages, have flooded the world market with Chinese goods.
(iv) The relocation of industry to low-wage countries has stimulated world trade and capital flows. The world’s economic geography has been transformed as countries such as India, China, and Brazil have undergone rapid economic transformation.

Q31: What is meant by globalization? Describe the three types of movements or flows within international economic exchange. 
Ans: See Ans. No. 1 Short Answer Type Question.

Q32: What were the Corn Laws? How did the abolition of the Corn Laws affect the people of England? 
Ans: See Ans. No. 15, Short Answer Type Question.

Q33: How did the global transfer of diseases in the pre-modern world help in the colonisation of the Americas? 
Ans: 

• The European conquest of the Americas cannot be attributed solely to superior firepower; a significant factor was the introduction of diseases carried by the Europeans, particularly smallpox.

• The devastating impact of smallpox and other European diseases was primarily due to the lack of immunity among the inhabitants of the Americas.

• Smallpox, in particular, proved to be a deadly and widespread killer, spreading rapidly across the continent even before Europeans reached certain areas.

• The introduction of these diseases caused significant death and decimation within local communities, paving the way for the conquest of the Americas.

• The strategic advantage of European conquerors lay in their immunity to diseases like smallpox, allowing them to navigate and conquer regions with weakened and depopulated communities.

Q34: Explain why the economy of the USA was strong in the early 1920s. Would you agree that the roots of the Great Depression lay in this ‘boom’. Give reasons for your answer. 
Ans: 

• The First World War played a pivotal role in boosting the U.S. economy.

• The most significant characteristic of the U.S. economy during the 1920s was the adoption of mass production, resulting in reduced costs and prices of engineered goods.

• The effects of mass production included higher wages for workers and a substantial increase in their purchasing power.

• The 1920s witnessed a housing and consumer boom in the U.S., laying the foundation for prosperity.

• This economic upswing created a cycle where higher employment and incomes drove increased consumption demands, leading to more investment and further employment.

• However, overproduction became a challenge, causing a decline in the prices of goods.

• In response, U.S. banks reduced lending and called back loans, negatively impacting farms unable to sell their harvests, resulting in ruined households and collapsed businesses.

Q35: What was the impact of the First World War on the socio-economic conditions of the world? Describe any four points. 
Ans: (i) During the war, industries were restructured to produce war-related goods. Entire societies were also reorganized for war — as men went to battle, women stepped in to undertake jobs that earlier only men were expected to do.
(ii) Most of the killed and maimed were men of working age. With fewer members within the family, household incomes declined after the war.
(iii) Economic powers like Britain and France declined after the war. The war transformed the U.S. from being an international debtor to an international creditor.(iv) The war had led to an economic boom, that is, to a large increase in demand, production and employment. When the war boom ended, production contracted and unemployment increased.