The Making of a Global World — Class 10 Social Science
History — India and the Contemporary World-II · Chapter 3
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Chapter summary
Key ideas & terms
- Globalisation
- The growing integration of economies and societies through trade, capital and the movement of people.
- Silk Routes
- Ancient trade routes linking Asia with Europe and North Africa.
- Indentured labour
- Bonded workers contracted to work for an employer for a fixed period to repay passage.
- Columbian exchange
- The transfer of crops, people and diseases between the Old and New Worlds after 1492.
- Great Depression
- The worldwide slump of 1929–30s marked by falling prices, output and jobs.
- Bretton Woods
- The 1944 agreement that set up the IMF and the World Bank.
- Tariff
- A tax imposed on imported goods at the border.
- Corn Laws
- British laws restricting grain imports, later abolished to allow cheaper food.
Extra questions & answers
What were the three types of flows in the nineteenth-century global economy?
The flow of trade (goods), the flow of labour (migration of people for work) and the flow of capital (short- and long-term investment).
What was the impact of the abolition of the Corn Laws in Britain?
Cheaper food could be imported, British agriculture could not compete, land went uncultivated, people migrated, and rising incomes raised demand for imports.
What were the main causes of the Great Depression?
Agricultural overproduction and falling prices, the withdrawal of US loans, and the collapse of banks and businesses across interconnected economies.
What was the Bretton Woods system?
A post-war framework of fixed exchange rates with the IMF to handle external deficits and the World Bank to finance reconstruction, to preserve economic stability.
How did indentured labour migration affect the colonies?
Millions of Indian and Chinese workers were taken to plantations and mines, creating new, often harsh, conditions but also new cultural blends in the Caribbean, Fiji and elsewhere.
What were the Silk Routes, and what did they carry?
Ancient trade routes linking Asia with Europe and North Africa, along which goods, precious metals, ideas, religions and even diseases travelled between distant regions.
How did food items connect distant parts of the world?
Foods like potatoes, maize and chillies, unknown earlier, spread from the Americas to the rest of the world after Columbus, changing diets and even populations.
What was the impact of the abolition of the Corn Laws in Britain?
Cheaper food could be imported, uncompetitive British farming declined, people migrated to cities or abroad, and rising incomes increased the demand for imports.
What were the effects of the Great Depression on India?
Falling agricultural prices reduced peasants’ incomes while their burdens remained, deepening rural debt and discontent, which fed into the national movement.
What was the Bretton Woods system?
A post-war framework set up in 1944 with the IMF and the World Bank to preserve economic stability, manage external imbalances and finance reconstruction.
Discuss
Explain what we mean when we say that the world ‘shrank’ in the 1500s.
In the 1500s, European sailors discovered sea routes to Asia and crossed the Atlantic to America. These routes connected distant continents more closely through trade, migration, conquest and the exchange of crops, goods, ideas and diseases. Travel and communication between different parts of the world therefore became more regular, making the world seem smaller or ‘shrunken’.
Activity
Prepare a flow chart to show how Britain’s decision to import food led to increased migration to America and Australia.
Britain abolished the Corn Laws → cheaper food was imported into Britain → British farmers could not compete with imported food → large areas of farmland were left uncultivated → many agricultural workers lost their jobs → workers migrated to British cities or overseas → food production expanded in America and Australia to meet British demand → new farms, railways, ports and settlements required labour → more people migrated from Europe to America and Australia.
Activity
Imagine that you are an agricultural worker who has arrived in America from Ireland. Write a paragraph on why you chose to come and how you are earning your living.
I left Ireland because poverty, unemployment and the failure of the potato crop made it extremely difficult for my family to survive. I heard that land was being cleared and large farms were being developed in America to produce food for European markets. After a long sea journey, I found work on one of these farms. I now earn my living by preparing the fields, sowing and harvesting crops and helping to load the produce onto trains that carry it to the ports.
Discuss
Discuss the importance of language and popular traditions in the creation of national identity.
Language and popular traditions help people develop a sense of shared history and belonging. Folk songs, stories, festivals, music and religious processions preserve collective memories and allow communities to express their experiences. Indian indentured labourers carried such traditions abroad and combined them with local cultures, producing forms such as Hosay, chutney music and Rastafarianism. These shared cultural practices united people, helped them survive oppression and contributed to the formation of collective and national identities.
Discuss
Who profits from jute cultivation according to the jute growers’ lament? Explain.
According to the lament, traders profit from jute cultivation rather than the peasants who grow the crop. Farmers spend money, borrow funds and work hard in the hope of earning more, but traders purchase the harvested jute at an extremely low price. The growers are therefore left with debts and losses while the traders gain by controlling the price paid to them.
Discuss
Briefly summarise the two lessons learnt by economists and politicians from the inter-war economic experience?
The first lesson was that an industrial economy based entirely on an unrestricted free market could not maintain economic stability or full employment. Governments needed to intervene to control fluctuations in prices, production and employment. The second lesson was that full employment could be achieved only if governments could regulate international flows of goods, capital and labour. These lessons shaped the post-war Bretton Woods economic system.
Write in brief
1. Give two examples of different types of global exchanges which took place before the seventeenth century, choosing one example from Asia and one from the Americas.
From Asia, the silk routes carried Chinese silk and pottery, Indian and Southeast Asian textiles and spices, precious metals, religious beliefs and cultural ideas across Asia, Europe and North Africa. From the Americas, crops such as potatoes, maize, tomatoes, chillies, groundnuts and sweet potatoes were taken to Europe and Asia after the voyages of Columbus, transforming diets and agricultural practices.
2. Explain how the global transfer of disease in the pre-modern world helped in the colonisation of the Americas.
European conquerors carried diseases such as smallpox to the Americas. The indigenous inhabitants had lived in isolation from these diseases and possessed little or no immunity against them. Smallpox spread rapidly, killing and weakening entire communities even before many Europeans reached them. This demographic destruction reduced indigenous resistance and made Spanish and Portuguese conquest and colonisation much easier.
3. Write a note to explain the effects of the following: a) The British government’s decision to abolish the Corn Laws.
After the Corn Laws were abolished, Britain could import food more cheaply than it could produce it domestically. British agriculture could not compete with these imports, so large areas of land were left uncultivated and many agricultural workers lost their jobs. Food prices fell and consumption increased. Displaced workers moved to cities or migrated overseas, while farming expanded in America, Australia, Russia and Eastern Europe to supply Britain.
3. Write a note to explain the effects of the following: b) The coming of rinderpest to Africa.
Rinderpest spread through Africa in the 1890s and killed most of the cattle on which African communities depended for food, transport and livelihood. The loss of cattle caused hunger and destroyed local economies. Colonial governments and European plantation owners took control of the remaining livestock and land. Africans who had previously supported themselves through farming and herding were forced into wage labour on plantations and in mines.
3. Write a note to explain the effects of the following: c) The death of men of working-age in Europe because of the World War.
The First World War killed or injured millions of working-age men in Europe. With fewer workers available, household incomes declined and women increasingly entered jobs that had previously been performed by men. The reduction in the workforce also disrupted production and changed family life and social roles. Europe’s economic strength weakened, while countries such as the United States became more important lenders and producers.
3. Write a note to explain the effects of the following: d) The Great Depression on the Indian economy.
The Great Depression sharply reduced India’s exports and imports, while international agricultural prices collapsed. Peasants suffered severely because crop prices fell but the colonial government did not reduce land-revenue demands. Jute and wheat growers received very low prices, became deeply indebted, used up their savings, mortgaged land and sold jewellery and precious metals. Urban people with fixed incomes benefited somewhat from falling prices, and protected Indian industries received greater investment.
3. Write a note to explain the effects of the following: e) The decision of MNCs to relocate production to Asian countries.
Multinational companies moved production to Asian countries because labour and other production costs were comparatively low. This increased foreign investment, industrial production and employment in countries such as China. It also expanded world trade and international capital flows. As a result, the economic importance of several Asian countries grew and the geography of global production was transformed.
4. Give two examples from history to show the impact of technology on food availability.
First, railways and steamships enabled grain produced on distant farms in America, Australia, Russia and Eastern Europe to be transported quickly and cheaply to Britain. This increased Britain’s food supply and lowered prices. Second, refrigerated ships made it possible to transport frozen meat from America, Australia and New Zealand to Europe. Shipping costs and meat prices fell, allowing many poorer Europeans to add meat to their diets.
5. What is meant by the Bretton Woods Agreement?
The Bretton Woods Agreement was the framework for the post-war international economic system adopted at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference held at Bretton Woods in the United States in July 1944. It created the International Monetary Fund to manage external surpluses and deficits and the World Bank to finance post-war reconstruction. It also established a system of fixed exchange rates in which currencies were linked to the US dollar and the dollar was linked to gold.
Discuss
6. Imagine that you are an indentured Indian labourer in the Caribbean. Drawing from the details in this chapter, write a letter to your family describing your life and feelings.
Dear Family, I hope all of you are well. The recruiting agent promised good wages, comfortable living conditions and a return journey after five years, but life here is very different. The voyage was long, and work on the plantation is exhausting. We labour for many hours under strict supervision, live in poor conditions and possess very few legal rights. Punishments are harsh, and it is difficult to leave the plantation. I miss our home deeply, but we support one another and preserve our traditions through songs, festivals and gatherings. People from different regions and religions take part together in celebrations such as Hosay. These traditions give us courage and make this unfamiliar place feel a little more like home. I continue to hope that I will complete my contract and return to you safely. With love, Your family member.
7. Explain the three types of movements or flows within international economic exchange. Find one example of each type of flow which involved India and Indians, and write a short account of it.
The first flow is trade in goods. During the nineteenth century, colonial India exported raw materials and agricultural products such as cotton, wheat, opium and indigo, while importing British manufactured goods. The second flow is the movement of labour. Large numbers of Indians migrated as indentured workers to plantations in the Caribbean, Mauritius and Fiji, and to tea plantations in Assam. The third flow is the movement of capital. British capital was invested in Indian railways, plantations, mines and other colonial enterprises, largely to promote trade and serve imperial interests. These three flows connected India to the world economy but operated under unequal colonial conditions.
8. Explain the causes of the Great Depression.
The Great Depression resulted from several connected causes. Agricultural overproduction caused food prices to fall, so farmers tried to produce even more to maintain their incomes, pushing prices down further. Many countries had borrowed heavily from the United States during and after the First World War. When American lenders reduced overseas loans, banks and businesses in borrowing countries faced serious difficulties. In the United States, easy credit encouraged excessive spending and speculation. When confidence collapsed, people rushed to sell shares, leading to the Wall Street Crash. Banks failed, businesses closed, unemployment rose and demand declined. The United States then raised import duties, which further reduced international trade and spread the crisis worldwide.
9. Explain what is referred to as the G-77 countries. In what ways can G-77 be seen as a reaction to the activities of the Bretton Woods twins?
The G-77 refers to a group of developing countries that organised themselves to demand a fairer international economic order. Although many had gained political independence, their economies still suffered from colonial legacies, poverty and dependence on developed countries. The IMF and the World Bank, known as the Bretton Woods twins, were dominated by Western industrial powers and did not adequately address the development needs of poorer nations. The G-77 therefore demanded greater control over natural resources, fairer prices for raw materials, improved access to markets in developed countries and more development assistance without unfair conditions.
Project
Find out more about gold and diamond mining in South Africa in the nineteenth century. Who controlled the gold and diamond companies? Who were the miners and what were their lives like?
Major diamond deposits were discovered near Kimberley in the late nineteenth century, while large gold deposits were found in the Witwatersrand region. European businessmen and investors gradually consolidated control over the industry. The diamond business became dominated by large companies such as De Beers, associated with Cecil Rhodes, while powerful mining houses financed and controlled much of the gold industry. The miners included large numbers of Black African migrant labourers as well as some white workers. Black miners were generally paid low wages, housed in tightly controlled compounds and separated from their families for long periods. They performed dangerous underground work, faced strict racial discrimination and had little freedom to change jobs or challenge employers. The mining system generated enormous profits for company owners while creating harsh and unequal working and living conditions for African labourers.