Class 10 History Chapter 2 Question Answers - India and the Contemporary World - II

Q1: What is globalisation [CBSE Sept. 2011, 2012]
Ans: Movement of people, goods and services across the nations has been termed as globalisation.

Q2: What were silk routes [CBSE 2014]
Ans: These were the routes which knitted together vast regions of Asia and linked Asia with Europe and northern Africa. These routes are known to have existed since before the Christian Era and thrived almost till the 15th century.

Q3: Define Rinderpest. [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2011, 2012]
Ans: Rinderpest, also referred to as “cattle plague” is a serious contagious disease of cattle. It is caused by a virus which is related to that of human measles, canine distemper, etc.

Q4: ‘The pre-modem world shrank greatly in the 16th century”. Why
Ans: (i) Because European sailors found a sea route to Asia and successfully crossed the western ocean to America.
(ii) The Portuguese and the Spanish conquest and colonialisation of America was decisively under way by the mid-16th century.

Q5: Who discovered America
Ans: Christopher Columbus.

Q6: Name some of the important food items which travelled from far away places to India.
Ans: Potatoes, soya, ground nuts, maize, tomatoes, etc.

Q7: What was the most powerful weapon of the Spanish conqueror to colonise America
Ans: The germs such as those of smallpox.

Q8: What was the impact of germs on the America’s original inhabitants
Ans: America’s original inhabitants had no immunity against the disease. So it killed and decimated whole communities.

Q9: Which two countries were among the world’s richest until the 18th century
Ans: China and India.

Q10: What changed the world profoundly in the 19th century
Ans: Economic, political, social, cultural and technological factors interacted in complex ways to transform societies and reshape external relations.

Q11: Mention any two factors which were responsible for price rise of food grains in Britain in the late 18th century.
Ans: Increase in population and restrictions on the import of food grains.

Q12: What were Corn Laws Why these Laws were abolished
Ans: The laws allowing the British government to restrict the import of com were popularly known as the ‘Com Laws’. Unhappy with high food prices, industrialists and urban dwellers forced the abolition of the Com Laws.

Q13: Name the countries which wore exporting food grains to Britain.
Ans: Russia, America and Australia.

Q14: What steps were taken by the British government to improve agriculture in West Punjab
Ans: (i) A network of irrigation canals was built.
(ii) The canal colonies were settled by peasants from other parts of Punjab.

Q15: What at the factors which transformed 19th century world
Ans: The railways steamship and the telegraph.

Q16: What were the canal colonies Why and where they were set up
Ans: The semi-waste areas of Punjab, after being irrigated by new canals, began to be called canal colonies. They were created to grow wheat and cotton for export.

Q17: ‘Till the 1870’s meat was an expensive luxury beyond the reach of the European poor”. Give reason.
Ans: Before 1870’s animals were shipped live from America to Europe and then slaughtered. Live animal took up a lot of ship space. Many also died in voyage, fell id, lost weight or became unfit to eat.

Q18: Name the technology which enabled the transportation of perishable foods over
Ans: Refrigerated ships.

Q19: Name any four colonial powers of the 19th century.
Ans: (i) Britain (ii) USA (iii) France (iv) Germany

Q20: Why most of the borders of African countries run straight
Ans: Most of the borders of African countries are straight because Africa was divided on paper in conference halls in Europe.