NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Social Science Chapter 3 - The Making of a Global World

Answer:

Two examples of different types of global exchanges which took place before the seventeenth century are as follows:

1. Example from the Americas: America had an abundant wealth of crops, minerals and precious metals like gold and silver. The Europeans enhanced their wealth from utilising the rich resources of gold and silver.
2. Example from Asia: China exported pottery and silk to India and Southeast Asia in exchange of textile goods and spices.

Answer:

By the mid-sixteenth century, the Portuguese and Spanish had started the conquest and colonisation of the Americas. However, European colonisation of the Americas was not a result of superior firepower. It was the result of the germs such as smallpox that they carried with them. Because of their long isolation, Americas’ original inhabitants had no immunity against the diseases that came from Europe. As a result, they began to die in thousands and the whole community was eliminated. It paved the way for conquest and colonisation of the Americas by the Europeans.

Answer:

The Corn Laws were the regulations which the British Parliament had passed in the nineteenth century. They were passed to restrict the import of corn due to rising prices of foodgrains. Industrialists and people living in the cities were not happy with the rising food prices. Therefore, they forced the government to abolish the Corn Laws. This decision had the following effects:

1. Food items could be imported into Britain at cheaper prices, rather than growing them within the country.
2. British agriculture was not able to compete with the imports. Consequently, peasants stopped cultivating in their lands.
3. Thousands of men and women were left unemployed. They moved to the cities or migrated to other countries.

Answer:

1. Rinderpest was a fast-spreading cattle plague which arrived in Africa in the 1890s. It was carried by infected cattle which was imported from British Asia to feed the Italian soldiers, who were invading Eritrea in East Africa. It entered into Africa from the east and spread to the western parts like ‘forest fire’. It reached Africa’s Atlantic coast in 1892 and the Cape of Good Hope five years later.
2. Rinderpest had devastating effects on the people’s livelihoods and the local economy of Africa. It killed 90 per cent of the cattle. The loss of cattle destroyed African livelihoods. The remaining 10 per cent of the cattle resources were monopolised by the colonial governments. They used them to strengthen their influence and force Africans into the labour markets. Hence, the European colonisers were able to conquer and subdue Africa.

Answer:

1. The First World War caused widespread destruction to life and property. It caused unprecedented damage and devastation. Millions of people were killed, wounded and disabled during the war, most of whom were men of working age.
2. The casualties in the war reduced the number of able people who could work in Europe. With fewer members within the family, household incomes declined after the war.
3. Consequently, women took up jobs to supplement the family incomes.

Answer:

The effects of the Great Depression on the Indian economy were as follows:

1. Indian trade was affected as exports and imports were reduced to half.
2. Wheat prices in India fell by 50 per cent between 1928 and 1934.
3. Farmers suffered more than people living in the cities. The British Government refused to reduce the land revenue even when the prices of agricultural goods had risen.
4. The jute producers of Bengal fell deeper in debt because the price of raw jute had considerably decreased.
5. India became an exporter of precious metals, notably gold.
6. Landlords and middle-class employees in the cities were better off because the prices of essential commodities had decreased.
7. Industrial investment enlarged as the government extended tariff protection to the industries.

Answer:

MNC stands for multi-national corporations. These are large companies that invest money and operate in several countries simultaneously. From late 1970s, the MNCs decided to relocate production to Asian countries. This decision had the following effects:

1. It stimulated world trade and capital flows.
2. It caused rapid economic transformation. It helped the Asian countries in solving the unemployment problem by increasing the job opportunities.
3. New commodities were manufactured on a large scale in the Asian countries and enabled people to buy and use them

Answer:

Following are the two examples from history to show the impact of technology on food availability:

1. Faster railways, lighter wagons and larger ships helped to move food items faster from faraway farms to final markets. Many common food items such as soya, potatoes and maize were not known to our forefathers five hundred years ago. Only when America was discovered, these crops reached Asia and Europe.
2. Till the 1870s, live animals were shipped from America to Europe and then slaughtered. The refrigerated ships enabled the transport of perishable foods over long distances. With the growth in technology, the animals were slaughtered in America, Australia or New Zealand and then transported to Europe as frozen meat. This reduced shipping costs and lowered meat prices in Europe.

Answer:

The Bretton Woods Agreement was signed among the world powers in July 1944 at Mount Washington Hotel situated at Bretton Woods. Bretton Woods is located at New Hampshire in the USA. The main aim of this agreement was to preserve economic stability and achieve full employment in several nations. Its framework was agreed upon at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference. This conference established the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to deal with external surpluses and deficits of its member-nations. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (or the World Bank) was set up to finance post-war reconstruction. Both these institutions started their financial operations in 1947.

Answer:

Respected parents,

I hope everyone is in the best of their health. As you know, I have been hired under a contract which promises return travel to India after I have worked for five years on my employer’s plantation in the Caribbean. Most of the workers working with me are Indians and they belong to Central India or dry regions of Tamil Nadu. We were provided false information by agents about the nature of work as well as living and working conditions. On reaching the plantations, I found the living conditions very different from what I had imagined. Living and working conditions are inadequate and there are a few legal rights. Once, when I tried to escape in the wild, I was caught and severely punished.

I want to come back to India as soon as my contract ends. I have heard that our nationalist leaders have started opposing the system of indentured labour migration by calling it ‘abusive’ and ‘cruel’. I hope they succeed in getting this system abolished. May God help them to succeed so that I can return to India and reunite with my parents!

Warm regards.
Your loving son,
ABC

Answer:

The three types of movements or flows within international economic exchange are explained as under:

1. Flow of trade: The first type of flow is the flow of trade. In the nineteenth century, it meant the trade in goods, especially in cloth or wheat.
2. Flow of labour: The second type is the flow of labour. It meant the migration of people to new areas in search of employment.
3. Flow of capital: The third type is the flow of capital in foreign countries either for short-term or long-term investments.

All the three flows were closely inter-related and these affected the lives of people in several ways. Examples of the involvement of India and Indians in each type of flow are given below:

1. India had trade relations with several countries of the world since many centuries. Nearly five thousand years ago, the people of the Indus Valley Civilisation carried on international trade with other prosperous regions such as Mesopotamia.
2. In the nineteenth century, hundreds of Indian indentured labourers migrated to other countries to perform labour in mines, plantations and construction projects.
3. During the British rule in India, several Europeans established their factories in India. As a result, the flow of capital involving India and the European countries began.

Answer:

The causes of the factor that led to the Great Depression were as follows:

1. Over-production, unplanned and uncoordinated development of industries was one chief reason.
2. The owners of factories and business enterprises tried to maximise their profits by producing more than what was required.
3. The purchasing power of the workers remained low. The capitalists were not ready to reduce the prices as it would affect their profits. So, the goods largely remained unsold.

These factors led to a glut in the market. It was called economic depression which spread throughout the world.

Answer:

The G-77 countries consist of a group of 77 developing countries which came into existence in late 20th century to demand a New International Economic Order (NIEO). In order to preserve economic stability and full employment in the industrial world, the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference was held in July 1944 at Bretton Woods in New Hampshire (USA). In this Conference, two international institutions were set up, namely, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD or the World Bank). These institutions are also known as the Bretton Woods Twins. G-77 was established to counter the activities of the Bretton Woods Twins:

1. Since the IMF and the World Bank have been established by the developed countries, decision-making in these institutions is controlled by the Western industrial powers. The USA has an effective right of veto over major IMF and World Bank decisions. The developing countries have no say in these institutions.
2. The developing countries were overburdened by poverty and lack of resources. Their economies and societies were handicapped by long phases of colonial rule. The IMF and the World Bank were set up to meet the financial needs of the industrialised countries. They were not equipped to cope with the challenge of poverty and lack of development in the former colonial countries.
3. As colonies, many less-developed regions of the world had been part of the Western European empires. After many years of decolonisation, the former colonial powers continued to control the vital resources such as minerals and land in many former colonies. As newly independent countries faced immense pressures to lift their population out of poverty, they had to end the dominance of powerful nations over their economies.

Answer:

The modern world shrank greatly in the 16th century because:

1. European sailors discovered new sea routes to Asia and America.
2. The Indian subcontinent was the centre of bustling trade in Asia since ancient times. The discovery of new sea routes helped the Europeans to drive this trade towards Europe.
3. Besides mercantilist expansion, the spread of Christianity was another factor which guided Europeans to travel to faraway regions.

Answer:

Economists and politicians drew the following lessons from the inter-war economic experiences:

1. An industrial society based upon mass production cannot sustain without mass consumption. To ensure mass consumption, the incomes have to be stable and high, and employment has to be adequate. The markets can never fulfill the condition of full employment. Therefore, governments should interfere to minimise shifts in output, prices and employment levels. Economic stability can be only ensured through government efforts.
2. The second lesson was linked to a country’s economic relations with other countries. The aim of full employment can only be achieved if governments had the authority to regulate flow of goods, capital and labour.

Answer:

The traders gained extensive profits from trading in jute. On the other hand, the growers and cultivators of jute led miserable lives, as the prices paid to them for their produce were very low. Jute was cultivated in Bengal on a large scale. Its increasing demand in the world market forced the cultivators to produce more jute. They borrowed money and took loans to cultivate jute. At the time of the Great Depression, the prices of jute products fell considerably. As a result, the cultivators faced many losses and suffered immensely.

Answer:

A person is identified as belonging to a particular nation by his cultural traditions and the language that he speaks. The languages as well as traditional practices usually develop and get established over a long period of time. They give an identity to an individual wherever he is. Thus, a French national will always speak the French language or follow French customs wherever he goes in the world.

Answer:

Being an Irish agricultural worker, I reached America by a cargo ship. I chose to come to America for earning some money because agricultural workers are in great demand in southern part of America as compared to Ireland. The southern part of America is basically an agricultural area where one can earn a lot by working in the fields. As a result, I worked in the fields in southern part of America for a few years. I was able to earn enough money for me and my family. (Answers may vary.)