The Making of a Global World Notes - Class 10 PDF Download

 Page 1


THE MAKING   GLOBAL WORLD
Q1.       Define Globalization .
Ans. By globalization we mean increasing integration between different economies of the world.  
This is achieved with removal of barriers on free flow of goods, services and capital between
Nations.
Q2. Discuss the sources of interlinkage between the nations in the ancient past ?
Ans. From anicient times, travelers, traders, priests and pilgrims traveled vast distance for 
knowledge opportunity and spiritual fulfillment , or to escape persecution. .  Yhey all serve 
as source of interlinkage between the nations also.
Q3. Examine the effect of this interlinkage among the nations.
Ans. Transformation of  goods, money values, skill, ideas, inventions and even germs and 
diseases.
Q4. What were cowdis ?
Ans. These are seashells, used as a form of currency in international exchange of goods among    
Maldives, China and East Africa.
Q5. How did Silk Route link the world ?
Ans. a.  The silk routes are a good example of trade and cultural link between distant parts of the 
     world.
b. Historians have identified several silk routes, over land and sea, knitting together vast 
regions of Asia and linking Asia with Europe and Northern Africa.
c. Chinese pottery traveled the same route, as did textiles and spices from India and 
Southeast Asia.
d. Precious metals- gold and silver- flowed from Europe to Asia from this route.
e. Buddhism emerged from eastern India and spread in several directions through 
intersecting points on the silk routes.
Q6. “Food offers many examples of long distance cultural exchange’. Justify this statement.
Or
In what ways did food items offer scope for long distance cultural exchange ?
Ans. 1.  Traders and travelers introduced new crops to the lands they traveled.
2. It is believed that noodles traveled west from China to become spaghetti.
3. Arabs traders took pasta to 5
th
 century Sicily, an island now in Italy.
4. Many of our common foods such as  potatoes, soya, groundnuts, maize, tomatoes, 
chillies, sweet potatoes and so on were not known to our ancestors.  These foods were 
only introduced in Europe and Asia after Christopher Coloumbus   accidently  discovered 
America.
Q7. How did the new crops make the difference between life and death ?
Ans. Europe’s poor began to eat better and live longer with the introduction of the humble potato.
Page 2


THE MAKING   GLOBAL WORLD
Q1.       Define Globalization .
Ans. By globalization we mean increasing integration between different economies of the world.  
This is achieved with removal of barriers on free flow of goods, services and capital between
Nations.
Q2. Discuss the sources of interlinkage between the nations in the ancient past ?
Ans. From anicient times, travelers, traders, priests and pilgrims traveled vast distance for 
knowledge opportunity and spiritual fulfillment , or to escape persecution. .  Yhey all serve 
as source of interlinkage between the nations also.
Q3. Examine the effect of this interlinkage among the nations.
Ans. Transformation of  goods, money values, skill, ideas, inventions and even germs and 
diseases.
Q4. What were cowdis ?
Ans. These are seashells, used as a form of currency in international exchange of goods among    
Maldives, China and East Africa.
Q5. How did Silk Route link the world ?
Ans. a.  The silk routes are a good example of trade and cultural link between distant parts of the 
     world.
b. Historians have identified several silk routes, over land and sea, knitting together vast 
regions of Asia and linking Asia with Europe and Northern Africa.
c. Chinese pottery traveled the same route, as did textiles and spices from India and 
Southeast Asia.
d. Precious metals- gold and silver- flowed from Europe to Asia from this route.
e. Buddhism emerged from eastern India and spread in several directions through 
intersecting points on the silk routes.
Q6. “Food offers many examples of long distance cultural exchange’. Justify this statement.
Or
In what ways did food items offer scope for long distance cultural exchange ?
Ans. 1.  Traders and travelers introduced new crops to the lands they traveled.
2. It is believed that noodles traveled west from China to become spaghetti.
3. Arabs traders took pasta to 5
th
 century Sicily, an island now in Italy.
4. Many of our common foods such as  potatoes, soya, groundnuts, maize, tomatoes, 
chillies, sweet potatoes and so on were not known to our ancestors.  These foods were 
only introduced in Europe and Asia after Christopher Coloumbus   accidently  discovered 
America.
Q7. How did the new crops make the difference between life and death ?
Ans. Europe’s poor began to eat better and live longer with the introduction of the humble potato.
Ireland’s poorest peasants became so dependent on potatoes that when disease destroyed the 
potato crop in the mid 1840s, hundreds of thousands died of starvation.
Q8. “The pre modern world shrank greatly in the 16
th
 Century’. Justify this statement.
Ans. 1.  Till the 15
th
  Century , silk routes were the principal route to travel between Asia and the 
     Europe of Asia and Africa.
2. America had not been discovered.
3. Goods and people had to travel long distances for any type of exchanges.
4. Two major events of history in this period of  time were as follows :-
a. European sailors foud a seas route to Asia.
b. European sailors also successfully crossed the western ocean to America.
5. Because of these two developments, movement of goods and people between different 
continents became shorter and faster.
6. In other words , pre-modern world shrank greatly in the 16
th
 century.
Q9. What was the most powerful weapon of the Spanish conquerors ?
Ans. a.  The protuguese and Spanish conquest and clonise America decisively.
b. European conquest was not just a result of superior firepower, the most powerful weapon 
of the Spanish conquerors was the germs such as those of smallpox that they carried on 
their person.
c. Because of their long isolation, America’s original inhabitants had no immunity against 
these diseases that came from Europe.
d. Small pox  proved a deadly killer, it killed and decimated whole communities, paving the 
way for conquest of European.
e. Guns could be bought or captured and turned against the invaders, but not disease such as 
smallpox to which the conquerors were mostly immune.
Q10.  Why did European flee to America in 19
th
 century ?
Or
Describe the economic conditions in Europe until the 19
th
 century.
Ans. European fled to America in the 19
th
 century because :-
a. Until  the 19
th
 century poverty and hunger were common in Europe.
b. Cities were crowded and deadly diseases were widespread.
c. Religious conflicts were common and religious dissenters were persecuted.
d. In America, plantations were growing cotton and sugar for the European markets.  These 
plantations were worked on by slaves.
Q11. How did Europe emerge as the centre of world trade ?
Ans. a.  Until well into the 18
th
 century, China and India were among the world’s richest countries, 
     they were also pre-eminent in Asian trade.
b. Two major factors that led to the emergence of Europe as the centre of world trade were as 
follows :-
i. China restricted its overseas contracts; it was gradually retreating into isolation.
Page 3


THE MAKING   GLOBAL WORLD
Q1.       Define Globalization .
Ans. By globalization we mean increasing integration between different economies of the world.  
This is achieved with removal of barriers on free flow of goods, services and capital between
Nations.
Q2. Discuss the sources of interlinkage between the nations in the ancient past ?
Ans. From anicient times, travelers, traders, priests and pilgrims traveled vast distance for 
knowledge opportunity and spiritual fulfillment , or to escape persecution. .  Yhey all serve 
as source of interlinkage between the nations also.
Q3. Examine the effect of this interlinkage among the nations.
Ans. Transformation of  goods, money values, skill, ideas, inventions and even germs and 
diseases.
Q4. What were cowdis ?
Ans. These are seashells, used as a form of currency in international exchange of goods among    
Maldives, China and East Africa.
Q5. How did Silk Route link the world ?
Ans. a.  The silk routes are a good example of trade and cultural link between distant parts of the 
     world.
b. Historians have identified several silk routes, over land and sea, knitting together vast 
regions of Asia and linking Asia with Europe and Northern Africa.
c. Chinese pottery traveled the same route, as did textiles and spices from India and 
Southeast Asia.
d. Precious metals- gold and silver- flowed from Europe to Asia from this route.
e. Buddhism emerged from eastern India and spread in several directions through 
intersecting points on the silk routes.
Q6. “Food offers many examples of long distance cultural exchange’. Justify this statement.
Or
In what ways did food items offer scope for long distance cultural exchange ?
Ans. 1.  Traders and travelers introduced new crops to the lands they traveled.
2. It is believed that noodles traveled west from China to become spaghetti.
3. Arabs traders took pasta to 5
th
 century Sicily, an island now in Italy.
4. Many of our common foods such as  potatoes, soya, groundnuts, maize, tomatoes, 
chillies, sweet potatoes and so on were not known to our ancestors.  These foods were 
only introduced in Europe and Asia after Christopher Coloumbus   accidently  discovered 
America.
Q7. How did the new crops make the difference between life and death ?
Ans. Europe’s poor began to eat better and live longer with the introduction of the humble potato.
Ireland’s poorest peasants became so dependent on potatoes that when disease destroyed the 
potato crop in the mid 1840s, hundreds of thousands died of starvation.
Q8. “The pre modern world shrank greatly in the 16
th
 Century’. Justify this statement.
Ans. 1.  Till the 15
th
  Century , silk routes were the principal route to travel between Asia and the 
     Europe of Asia and Africa.
2. America had not been discovered.
3. Goods and people had to travel long distances for any type of exchanges.
4. Two major events of history in this period of  time were as follows :-
a. European sailors foud a seas route to Asia.
b. European sailors also successfully crossed the western ocean to America.
5. Because of these two developments, movement of goods and people between different 
continents became shorter and faster.
6. In other words , pre-modern world shrank greatly in the 16
th
 century.
Q9. What was the most powerful weapon of the Spanish conquerors ?
Ans. a.  The protuguese and Spanish conquest and clonise America decisively.
b. European conquest was not just a result of superior firepower, the most powerful weapon 
of the Spanish conquerors was the germs such as those of smallpox that they carried on 
their person.
c. Because of their long isolation, America’s original inhabitants had no immunity against 
these diseases that came from Europe.
d. Small pox  proved a deadly killer, it killed and decimated whole communities, paving the 
way for conquest of European.
e. Guns could be bought or captured and turned against the invaders, but not disease such as 
smallpox to which the conquerors were mostly immune.
Q10.  Why did European flee to America in 19
th
 century ?
Or
Describe the economic conditions in Europe until the 19
th
 century.
Ans. European fled to America in the 19
th
 century because :-
a. Until  the 19
th
 century poverty and hunger were common in Europe.
b. Cities were crowded and deadly diseases were widespread.
c. Religious conflicts were common and religious dissenters were persecuted.
d. In America, plantations were growing cotton and sugar for the European markets.  These 
plantations were worked on by slaves.
Q11. How did Europe emerge as the centre of world trade ?
Ans. a.  Until well into the 18
th
 century, China and India were among the world’s richest countries, 
     they were also pre-eminent in Asian trade.
b. Two major factors that led to the emergence of Europe as the centre of world trade were as 
follows :-
i. China restricted its overseas contracts; it was gradually retreating into isolation.
ii. Importance of America was gradually rising , as it had vast lands, abundant crops and 
minerals.  The plantations in America produced cotton and sugar for the European 
markets.
The result was that Europe emerged as the centre of world trade in the 18
th
 Century.
LESSON-2
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY(1815-1914)
Q1. Describe the important developments that greatly shrank the pre- modern world.
Or
Explain the three types of movement or flows within international economic exchange that 
economists have identify.
Ans. 1.  The world changed a lot in the 19
th
 Century.  Many political, economic , social , cultural 
     and technological factors interacted in complex ways to transform societies and reshaped 
     relations between countries.
2. Economists have identify three types of movements or flows within international 
economic exchanges :-
a. The first is the flow of trade in goods like cotton or wheat.
b. The second is the flow of labour- the migration of people in search of 
employment.
c. The third is the movement of capital for short term or long term investments over 
long distances.
3. All three flows were closely interwoven and affected people’s lives more deeply now 
than ever before.
Q2. Why were Corn law introduced and later abolished in Britain in the 18
th
 century .
Ans. 1.  Population growth from the late 18
th
 century had increased the demand for food grains in 
     Britain pushing up the prices.  Under pressure from farmers, the govt. restricted the import 
     of corn.  These laws were commonly known as ‘Corn laws’. 
2 On the other hand,  The industrialists and people living in cities forced the govt. to 
abolish      Corn laws.
Q3. Describe the impact of food import on Britian in the 19
th
 century ?
Ans. 1.  After the corn law were abolished, food could be imported into Britain more cheaply than 
     it could be produced within the country.
2. British agriculture was unable to compete with imports.
3. Vast areas of land were now left uncultivated, and thousands of men and women were 
thrown out of work.
4. They flocked to the cities or migrated overseas.
5. As the food price fell. Consumption in Britain rose.
6. Faster industrial growth in Britain led to higher incomes and therefore more food imports.
Q4. Describe dramatic changes occurred in west Punjab in the 19
th
 century .
Ans. a.  The British Indian government built a network of irrigation canal to transform semi-desert 
     wastes into fertile agricultural lands that could grow wheat and cotton for export.
Page 4


THE MAKING   GLOBAL WORLD
Q1.       Define Globalization .
Ans. By globalization we mean increasing integration between different economies of the world.  
This is achieved with removal of barriers on free flow of goods, services and capital between
Nations.
Q2. Discuss the sources of interlinkage between the nations in the ancient past ?
Ans. From anicient times, travelers, traders, priests and pilgrims traveled vast distance for 
knowledge opportunity and spiritual fulfillment , or to escape persecution. .  Yhey all serve 
as source of interlinkage between the nations also.
Q3. Examine the effect of this interlinkage among the nations.
Ans. Transformation of  goods, money values, skill, ideas, inventions and even germs and 
diseases.
Q4. What were cowdis ?
Ans. These are seashells, used as a form of currency in international exchange of goods among    
Maldives, China and East Africa.
Q5. How did Silk Route link the world ?
Ans. a.  The silk routes are a good example of trade and cultural link between distant parts of the 
     world.
b. Historians have identified several silk routes, over land and sea, knitting together vast 
regions of Asia and linking Asia with Europe and Northern Africa.
c. Chinese pottery traveled the same route, as did textiles and spices from India and 
Southeast Asia.
d. Precious metals- gold and silver- flowed from Europe to Asia from this route.
e. Buddhism emerged from eastern India and spread in several directions through 
intersecting points on the silk routes.
Q6. “Food offers many examples of long distance cultural exchange’. Justify this statement.
Or
In what ways did food items offer scope for long distance cultural exchange ?
Ans. 1.  Traders and travelers introduced new crops to the lands they traveled.
2. It is believed that noodles traveled west from China to become spaghetti.
3. Arabs traders took pasta to 5
th
 century Sicily, an island now in Italy.
4. Many of our common foods such as  potatoes, soya, groundnuts, maize, tomatoes, 
chillies, sweet potatoes and so on were not known to our ancestors.  These foods were 
only introduced in Europe and Asia after Christopher Coloumbus   accidently  discovered 
America.
Q7. How did the new crops make the difference between life and death ?
Ans. Europe’s poor began to eat better and live longer with the introduction of the humble potato.
Ireland’s poorest peasants became so dependent on potatoes that when disease destroyed the 
potato crop in the mid 1840s, hundreds of thousands died of starvation.
Q8. “The pre modern world shrank greatly in the 16
th
 Century’. Justify this statement.
Ans. 1.  Till the 15
th
  Century , silk routes were the principal route to travel between Asia and the 
     Europe of Asia and Africa.
2. America had not been discovered.
3. Goods and people had to travel long distances for any type of exchanges.
4. Two major events of history in this period of  time were as follows :-
a. European sailors foud a seas route to Asia.
b. European sailors also successfully crossed the western ocean to America.
5. Because of these two developments, movement of goods and people between different 
continents became shorter and faster.
6. In other words , pre-modern world shrank greatly in the 16
th
 century.
Q9. What was the most powerful weapon of the Spanish conquerors ?
Ans. a.  The protuguese and Spanish conquest and clonise America decisively.
b. European conquest was not just a result of superior firepower, the most powerful weapon 
of the Spanish conquerors was the germs such as those of smallpox that they carried on 
their person.
c. Because of their long isolation, America’s original inhabitants had no immunity against 
these diseases that came from Europe.
d. Small pox  proved a deadly killer, it killed and decimated whole communities, paving the 
way for conquest of European.
e. Guns could be bought or captured and turned against the invaders, but not disease such as 
smallpox to which the conquerors were mostly immune.
Q10.  Why did European flee to America in 19
th
 century ?
Or
Describe the economic conditions in Europe until the 19
th
 century.
Ans. European fled to America in the 19
th
 century because :-
a. Until  the 19
th
 century poverty and hunger were common in Europe.
b. Cities were crowded and deadly diseases were widespread.
c. Religious conflicts were common and religious dissenters were persecuted.
d. In America, plantations were growing cotton and sugar for the European markets.  These 
plantations were worked on by slaves.
Q11. How did Europe emerge as the centre of world trade ?
Ans. a.  Until well into the 18
th
 century, China and India were among the world’s richest countries, 
     they were also pre-eminent in Asian trade.
b. Two major factors that led to the emergence of Europe as the centre of world trade were as 
follows :-
i. China restricted its overseas contracts; it was gradually retreating into isolation.
ii. Importance of America was gradually rising , as it had vast lands, abundant crops and 
minerals.  The plantations in America produced cotton and sugar for the European 
markets.
The result was that Europe emerged as the centre of world trade in the 18
th
 Century.
LESSON-2
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY(1815-1914)
Q1. Describe the important developments that greatly shrank the pre- modern world.
Or
Explain the three types of movement or flows within international economic exchange that 
economists have identify.
Ans. 1.  The world changed a lot in the 19
th
 Century.  Many political, economic , social , cultural 
     and technological factors interacted in complex ways to transform societies and reshaped 
     relations between countries.
2. Economists have identify three types of movements or flows within international 
economic exchanges :-
a. The first is the flow of trade in goods like cotton or wheat.
b. The second is the flow of labour- the migration of people in search of 
employment.
c. The third is the movement of capital for short term or long term investments over 
long distances.
3. All three flows were closely interwoven and affected people’s lives more deeply now 
than ever before.
Q2. Why were Corn law introduced and later abolished in Britain in the 18
th
 century .
Ans. 1.  Population growth from the late 18
th
 century had increased the demand for food grains in 
     Britain pushing up the prices.  Under pressure from farmers, the govt. restricted the import 
     of corn.  These laws were commonly known as ‘Corn laws’. 
2 On the other hand,  The industrialists and people living in cities forced the govt. to 
abolish      Corn laws.
Q3. Describe the impact of food import on Britian in the 19
th
 century ?
Ans. 1.  After the corn law were abolished, food could be imported into Britain more cheaply than 
     it could be produced within the country.
2. British agriculture was unable to compete with imports.
3. Vast areas of land were now left uncultivated, and thousands of men and women were 
thrown out of work.
4. They flocked to the cities or migrated overseas.
5. As the food price fell. Consumption in Britain rose.
6. Faster industrial growth in Britain led to higher incomes and therefore more food imports.
Q4. Describe dramatic changes occurred in west Punjab in the 19
th
 century .
Ans. a.  The British Indian government built a network of irrigation canal to transform semi-desert 
     wastes into fertile agricultural lands that could grow wheat and cotton for export.
b. The canal colonies , as the areas irrigated by the new canals were called, were settled by 
peasants from other parts of Punjab.
Q5. Explain, giving examples, the role played by technological inventions in transforming 19
th
 
century world.
Ans. a.  The railways. Steamships, the telegraphs were important inventions without which we   
     cannot imagine the transformed 19
th
 Century world.
b. Colonisation stimulated new investments and improvements in transport; faster railways, 
lighter wagons and larger shi0ps helped move food more cheaply and quickly from 
faraway farms to final markets.
c. The trade in meat can be cited as a good example of this connected process.  Till the 
1870s, animals were shipped live from America to Europe.  They were slaughtered when 
they arrived there.  This process had numerous problems .  Live animals took up a lot of 
ship space.  Many of them either died or fell ill and became unfit to eat.  As a result meat 
had become an expensive luxury and the European poor never afforded to buy it.
d. With the development of a new technology, namely refregerated  ships, it became 
possible to transport the perishable foods over long distances.  Now animals were 
slaughtered for food at the starting point- in America, Australia or New Zealand- and 
then transported to Europe as frozen meat.  This reduced shipping costs and lowered meat 
prices in Europe.  Now poor in Europe could consume a more varied diet.  Better living 
conditions promoted social peace within the country and support for imperialism abroad.
Q6. Explain the darker side of expanding trade in the 19
th
 century ?
Ans. 1.  Trade flourished and markets expanded in the late 19
th
 century, but there was a darker side 
      to this process.
2. In may  parts of the world , these developments meant loss of freedoms and livelihoods.
3. Late 19
th
 century Europeans conquest brought about many destructive economic , social 
and ecological changes in the colonies.
4. e.g- in Africa , in the 1890s, a fast spreading disease of cattle plague or rinderpest had a 
terrifying impact on people’s livelihoods and the local economy.
5. The example of indentured lanour migration from India illustrates that it was a world of 
faster economic growth for some and great misery and poverty for others, technological 
advances in Europe and new forms of coercion in Asia and Africa.
Q7. Describe the impact of ‘Rinderpest’ on African lives .
Ans. 1.  Rinderpest was carried by infected cattle imported from British Asia to feed the Italian 
     soldiers invading Eritrea in East Africa in the 1880s.
2. It reached the Cape Town five years later and killed 90 per cent of the cattle.
3. Rinderpest had a terrifying impact on people’s livelihoods and local economy.
4. Historically , Africa had abundant land a relatively small population.  For centuries, land 
and livestock sustained African livelihoods and people rarely worked for a wage, nit in 
late 19
th
 century Africa there were a few consumer goods that wages could buy.
Q8. Why were Europeans attracted to Africa in the 19
th
 century ?
Ans. 1.  In the late 19
th
 century, Europeans were attracted to Africa due to its vast resources of   
     land and minerals.
Page 5


THE MAKING   GLOBAL WORLD
Q1.       Define Globalization .
Ans. By globalization we mean increasing integration between different economies of the world.  
This is achieved with removal of barriers on free flow of goods, services and capital between
Nations.
Q2. Discuss the sources of interlinkage between the nations in the ancient past ?
Ans. From anicient times, travelers, traders, priests and pilgrims traveled vast distance for 
knowledge opportunity and spiritual fulfillment , or to escape persecution. .  Yhey all serve 
as source of interlinkage between the nations also.
Q3. Examine the effect of this interlinkage among the nations.
Ans. Transformation of  goods, money values, skill, ideas, inventions and even germs and 
diseases.
Q4. What were cowdis ?
Ans. These are seashells, used as a form of currency in international exchange of goods among    
Maldives, China and East Africa.
Q5. How did Silk Route link the world ?
Ans. a.  The silk routes are a good example of trade and cultural link between distant parts of the 
     world.
b. Historians have identified several silk routes, over land and sea, knitting together vast 
regions of Asia and linking Asia with Europe and Northern Africa.
c. Chinese pottery traveled the same route, as did textiles and spices from India and 
Southeast Asia.
d. Precious metals- gold and silver- flowed from Europe to Asia from this route.
e. Buddhism emerged from eastern India and spread in several directions through 
intersecting points on the silk routes.
Q6. “Food offers many examples of long distance cultural exchange’. Justify this statement.
Or
In what ways did food items offer scope for long distance cultural exchange ?
Ans. 1.  Traders and travelers introduced new crops to the lands they traveled.
2. It is believed that noodles traveled west from China to become spaghetti.
3. Arabs traders took pasta to 5
th
 century Sicily, an island now in Italy.
4. Many of our common foods such as  potatoes, soya, groundnuts, maize, tomatoes, 
chillies, sweet potatoes and so on were not known to our ancestors.  These foods were 
only introduced in Europe and Asia after Christopher Coloumbus   accidently  discovered 
America.
Q7. How did the new crops make the difference between life and death ?
Ans. Europe’s poor began to eat better and live longer with the introduction of the humble potato.
Ireland’s poorest peasants became so dependent on potatoes that when disease destroyed the 
potato crop in the mid 1840s, hundreds of thousands died of starvation.
Q8. “The pre modern world shrank greatly in the 16
th
 Century’. Justify this statement.
Ans. 1.  Till the 15
th
  Century , silk routes were the principal route to travel between Asia and the 
     Europe of Asia and Africa.
2. America had not been discovered.
3. Goods and people had to travel long distances for any type of exchanges.
4. Two major events of history in this period of  time were as follows :-
a. European sailors foud a seas route to Asia.
b. European sailors also successfully crossed the western ocean to America.
5. Because of these two developments, movement of goods and people between different 
continents became shorter and faster.
6. In other words , pre-modern world shrank greatly in the 16
th
 century.
Q9. What was the most powerful weapon of the Spanish conquerors ?
Ans. a.  The protuguese and Spanish conquest and clonise America decisively.
b. European conquest was not just a result of superior firepower, the most powerful weapon 
of the Spanish conquerors was the germs such as those of smallpox that they carried on 
their person.
c. Because of their long isolation, America’s original inhabitants had no immunity against 
these diseases that came from Europe.
d. Small pox  proved a deadly killer, it killed and decimated whole communities, paving the 
way for conquest of European.
e. Guns could be bought or captured and turned against the invaders, but not disease such as 
smallpox to which the conquerors were mostly immune.
Q10.  Why did European flee to America in 19
th
 century ?
Or
Describe the economic conditions in Europe until the 19
th
 century.
Ans. European fled to America in the 19
th
 century because :-
a. Until  the 19
th
 century poverty and hunger were common in Europe.
b. Cities were crowded and deadly diseases were widespread.
c. Religious conflicts were common and religious dissenters were persecuted.
d. In America, plantations were growing cotton and sugar for the European markets.  These 
plantations were worked on by slaves.
Q11. How did Europe emerge as the centre of world trade ?
Ans. a.  Until well into the 18
th
 century, China and India were among the world’s richest countries, 
     they were also pre-eminent in Asian trade.
b. Two major factors that led to the emergence of Europe as the centre of world trade were as 
follows :-
i. China restricted its overseas contracts; it was gradually retreating into isolation.
ii. Importance of America was gradually rising , as it had vast lands, abundant crops and 
minerals.  The plantations in America produced cotton and sugar for the European 
markets.
The result was that Europe emerged as the centre of world trade in the 18
th
 Century.
LESSON-2
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY(1815-1914)
Q1. Describe the important developments that greatly shrank the pre- modern world.
Or
Explain the three types of movement or flows within international economic exchange that 
economists have identify.
Ans. 1.  The world changed a lot in the 19
th
 Century.  Many political, economic , social , cultural 
     and technological factors interacted in complex ways to transform societies and reshaped 
     relations between countries.
2. Economists have identify three types of movements or flows within international 
economic exchanges :-
a. The first is the flow of trade in goods like cotton or wheat.
b. The second is the flow of labour- the migration of people in search of 
employment.
c. The third is the movement of capital for short term or long term investments over 
long distances.
3. All three flows were closely interwoven and affected people’s lives more deeply now 
than ever before.
Q2. Why were Corn law introduced and later abolished in Britain in the 18
th
 century .
Ans. 1.  Population growth from the late 18
th
 century had increased the demand for food grains in 
     Britain pushing up the prices.  Under pressure from farmers, the govt. restricted the import 
     of corn.  These laws were commonly known as ‘Corn laws’. 
2 On the other hand,  The industrialists and people living in cities forced the govt. to 
abolish      Corn laws.
Q3. Describe the impact of food import on Britian in the 19
th
 century ?
Ans. 1.  After the corn law were abolished, food could be imported into Britain more cheaply than 
     it could be produced within the country.
2. British agriculture was unable to compete with imports.
3. Vast areas of land were now left uncultivated, and thousands of men and women were 
thrown out of work.
4. They flocked to the cities or migrated overseas.
5. As the food price fell. Consumption in Britain rose.
6. Faster industrial growth in Britain led to higher incomes and therefore more food imports.
Q4. Describe dramatic changes occurred in west Punjab in the 19
th
 century .
Ans. a.  The British Indian government built a network of irrigation canal to transform semi-desert 
     wastes into fertile agricultural lands that could grow wheat and cotton for export.
b. The canal colonies , as the areas irrigated by the new canals were called, were settled by 
peasants from other parts of Punjab.
Q5. Explain, giving examples, the role played by technological inventions in transforming 19
th
 
century world.
Ans. a.  The railways. Steamships, the telegraphs were important inventions without which we   
     cannot imagine the transformed 19
th
 Century world.
b. Colonisation stimulated new investments and improvements in transport; faster railways, 
lighter wagons and larger shi0ps helped move food more cheaply and quickly from 
faraway farms to final markets.
c. The trade in meat can be cited as a good example of this connected process.  Till the 
1870s, animals were shipped live from America to Europe.  They were slaughtered when 
they arrived there.  This process had numerous problems .  Live animals took up a lot of 
ship space.  Many of them either died or fell ill and became unfit to eat.  As a result meat 
had become an expensive luxury and the European poor never afforded to buy it.
d. With the development of a new technology, namely refregerated  ships, it became 
possible to transport the perishable foods over long distances.  Now animals were 
slaughtered for food at the starting point- in America, Australia or New Zealand- and 
then transported to Europe as frozen meat.  This reduced shipping costs and lowered meat 
prices in Europe.  Now poor in Europe could consume a more varied diet.  Better living 
conditions promoted social peace within the country and support for imperialism abroad.
Q6. Explain the darker side of expanding trade in the 19
th
 century ?
Ans. 1.  Trade flourished and markets expanded in the late 19
th
 century, but there was a darker side 
      to this process.
2. In may  parts of the world , these developments meant loss of freedoms and livelihoods.
3. Late 19
th
 century Europeans conquest brought about many destructive economic , social 
and ecological changes in the colonies.
4. e.g- in Africa , in the 1890s, a fast spreading disease of cattle plague or rinderpest had a 
terrifying impact on people’s livelihoods and the local economy.
5. The example of indentured lanour migration from India illustrates that it was a world of 
faster economic growth for some and great misery and poverty for others, technological 
advances in Europe and new forms of coercion in Asia and Africa.
Q7. Describe the impact of ‘Rinderpest’ on African lives .
Ans. 1.  Rinderpest was carried by infected cattle imported from British Asia to feed the Italian 
     soldiers invading Eritrea in East Africa in the 1880s.
2. It reached the Cape Town five years later and killed 90 per cent of the cattle.
3. Rinderpest had a terrifying impact on people’s livelihoods and local economy.
4. Historically , Africa had abundant land a relatively small population.  For centuries, land 
and livestock sustained African livelihoods and people rarely worked for a wage, nit in 
late 19
th
 century Africa there were a few consumer goods that wages could buy.
Q8. Why were Europeans attracted to Africa in the 19
th
 century ?
Ans. 1.  In the late 19
th
 century, Europeans were attracted to Africa due to its vast resources of   
     land and minerals.
2. Europeans came to Africa hoping to establish plantations and mines to produce crops and 
minerals for export to Europe.
3. But in Africa- a shortage of labour willing to work for wages.
Q9. Describe the methods used by Europeans to recruit and retain labour in Africa.
Ans. Employers used many methods to recruit and retain labour –
1. Heavy taxes were imposed which could be paid only by working for wages on plantations 
and mines.
2. Inheritance laws were changed so that peasants were displaced from land; only  one 
member of a family was allowed to inherit  land , as a result of which the others were 
pushed into the labour market.
3. Mineworkers were also confined in compounds and not allowed to move about freely.
Q10. What  was indentured labour ?
Ans. A bonded  labourer under contact to work for an employer for a specific amount of time, to 
pay off his passage to a new country or home.
Q11. How was indentured labour migration from India illustrated the two sided nature of the 19
th
 
century world?
Ans. a.  It was a world of faster economic growth.
b. It was a world of great misery, higher incomes for some and poverty for others.
c. It was a world of technological advances in some areas and coercion in others like Asia 
and Africa.
Q12. What circumstances compelled Indians and Chinese to work as indentured labour in 
plantation and mining. ?
Ans. a.  In the 19
th
 century, hundreds of thousands of Indian and Chinese labourers went to work 
    on plantations, in mines, and in road and railway construction project around the world.
b. In India, indentured labourers were hired under contracts which promised return travel to 
India after they had worked five years on their employer’s plantation.
c. They came from the present day regions of eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Central India 
and the dry districts of Tamil Nadu because in the mid 19
th
 century these regions 
experienced many changes-cottage industries declined, land rents rose, lands were 
cleared for mines and plantations.
d. All this affected the lives of the poor; they failed to pay their rents, became deeply 
indebted and were forced to migrate in search of work.
Q13. Which were the main destinations of Indian indentured migrants ?
Ans. 1.  The main destinations of Indian indentured migrants were the Caribbean islands (mainly 
     Trinidad, Guyana and Surinam), Mauritius and Fiji.
2. Tamil migrants went to Ceylon and Malaya.
3. Indentured workers were also recruited for tea plantations in Assam.
Q14. What methods were used  for the recruitment of the Indentured labour ?
Ans. 1.  Recruitment was done by agents engaged by employers and paid a small commission.