History Ch-4 (Term I)

(The Making of the Global World)

Textbook Exercise Questions Solved
&
Assignment reference solutions
*Note:- For reference only
Q1: 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.
Answer: Examples of the different types of global exchanges which took place before the seventeenth
century:
1) Textiles, spices and Chinese pottery were exchanged by China, India and Southeast Asia in return for
gold and silver from Europe.
2) Gold and foods such as potatoes, soya, groundnuts, tomatoes and chillies were first exported from the
Americas to Europe.
Q2: Explain how the global transfer of disease in the pre-modern world helped in the colonisation of the
Americas.
Answer: The global transfer of disease in the pre-modern world helped in the colonisation of the
Americas because the native American Indians were not immune to the diseases that the settlers and
colonisers brought with them. The Europeans were more or less immune to small pox, but the native
Americans, having been cut off from the rest of the world for millions of years, had no defence against it.
These germs killed and wiped out whole communities, paving the way for foreign domination. Weapons
and soldiers could be destroyed or captured, but diseases could not be fought against.
Answer3: (a) The British governments decision to abolish the Corn Laws resulted in losses for the
agricultural sector, but progress in the industrial sector. Food began to be imported more cheaply into
Britain, and thousands of workers involved in cultivation became unemployed. However, consumption
increased and the industrial sector grew, with more workers being available in cities than in rural areas.
(b) The coming of rinderpest to Africa caused a loss of livelihood for countless Africans. Using this
situation to their advantage, colonising nations conquered and subdued Africa by monopolising scarce
cattle resources to force Africans into the labour market.
(c) The death of men of working age in Europe because of the World War reduced the able-bodied
workforce in Europe, leading to a steady decline in household incomes and a consequent struggle to meet
the living expenditure by families whose men were handicapped or killed.

(d) The decision of MNCs to relocate production to Asian countries led to a stimulation of world trade
and capital flows. This relocation was on account of low-cost structure and lower wages in Asian
countries. It also benefitted the Asian nations because employment increased, and this resulted in quick
economic transformation as well.
Answer4: The impact of technology on food availability was manifold in the late nineteenth century.
Faster railways, lighter wagons and larger ships helped transport food more cheaply and quickly from
production units to even faraway markets. Also, refrigerated ships helped transport perishable foods such
as meat, butter and eggs over long distances.
Answer5: The Bretton Woods Agreement was finalised in July 1944 at Bretton Woods in New
Hampshire, USA. It established the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to preserve global
economic stability and full employment in the industrial world. These institutions also dealt with external
surpluses and deficits of member nations, and financed post-war reconstructions.
Answer6: (Page 87 & 88, Topic 2.4, second paragraph,)Answer given in class
(Make 5 points)
Answer7: The three types of movements or flows within the international economic exchange are trade
flows, human capital flows and capital flows or investments. These can be explained asthe trade in
agricultural products, migration of labour, and financial loans to and from other nations.
India was a hub of trade in the pre-modern world, and it exported textiles and spices in return for gold and
silver from Europe. Many different foods such as potatoes, soya, groundnuts, maize, tomatoes, chillies
and sweet potatoes came to India from the Americas after Columbus discovered it.
In the field of labour, indentured labour was provided for mines, plantations and factories abroad, in huge
numbers, in the nineteenth century. This was an instrument of colonial domination by the British.
Answer8: The Great Depression was a result of many different factors. The post-war global economy
was weak. Also, agricultural over-production proved to be a nuisance, which was made worse by falling
food grain prices. To counter this, farmers began to increase production and bring even more produce to
the markets to maintain their annual incomes. This led to such a glut of food grains that prices plummeted
further and farm produce was left to rot. Most countries took loans from the US, but American overseas
lenders were wary about the same. In a bid to protect the American economy, USA doubled import
duties. This worsened the world trade scenario. All these factors contributed to the Great Depression. It
affected USA the worst on account of its being a global loan provider and the biggest industrial nation.
Answer9: G-77 countries is an abbreviation for the group of 77 countries that demanded a new
international economic order (NIEO); a system that would give them real control over their natural
resources, without being victims of neo-colonialism, that is, a new form of colonialism in trade practised
by the former colonial powers.

The G-77 can be seen as a reaction to the activities of the Bretton Woods twins (the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank) because these two institutions were designed to meet the financial
needs of industrial and developed countries, and did nothing for the economic growth of former colonies
and developing nations.

Assignment Solutions:
Answer1: Arab traders took pasta to fifth century SICILY
Answer2: The foods which were introduced in Europe and Asia after Christopher Columbus discovered
America were potatoes, soya, groundnuts, maize, tomatoes, chillies, sweet potatoes, etc.
Answer3: Sometimes the new crops could make the difference between life and death. Europes poor
began to eat better and live longer with the introduction of the humble potato. Irelands poorest peasants
became so dependent on potatoes that when disease destroyed the potato crop in the mid-1840s, hundreds
of thousands died of starvation.
Answer4: (Page 79, Topic 1.3, last paragraph, 1st line onward)The Portuguese and Spanish conquest
and colonisation of America . whole communities, paving the way for conquest.
Answer5: (Page 78, Topic 1.2, first paragraph, 1st line onward)
Answer6: (1) Population growth from the late eighteenth century had increased the demand for food
grains in Britain. So, in nineteenth-century British Parliament, under pressure from landed groups,
restricted and controlled the import of corn. These laws were called as Corn Laws.
(2) Reasons for the scrapping of corn laws:
(a) Population growth from the late eighteenth century had increased the demand for food grains in
Britain. As urban centres expanded and industry grew, the demand for agricultural products went
up, pushing up food grain prices.
(b) Under pressure from landed groups, the government also restricted the import of corn. Unhappy
with high food prices, industrialists and urban dwellers forced the abolition of the Corn Laws.
Answer7: (a) After the Corn Laws were scrapped, food could be imported into Britain more cheaply than
it could be produced within the country.
(b) British agriculture was unable to compete with imports. As a result, the agricultural class thrown
out of work.
(c) Vast areas of land were now left uncultivated, and thousands of men and women were thrown out
of work.
Answer8: The railways, steamships, the telegraph, for example, were important inventions without which
we cannot imagine the transformed nineteenth-century world.
(a) (Page 83, Topic 2.2, first paragraph, 5th line onward)
(b) (Page 84, Topic 2.2, first paragraph, 1st line onward)
(c) To the earlier monotony of bread and potatoes many, though not all, could now add meat (and
butter and eggs) to their diet.
Answer 9: (a) In Africa the borders run straight, as if they were drawn using a ruler.
(Page 85, first paragraph, 7th line onward) (make 4 points)
(b) In 1885 the big European powerssome colonies earlier held by Spain.

Answer10: Africa had abundant land and a relatively small population. For centuries, land and livestock
sustained African livelihoods and people rarely worked for a wage. In the late nineteenth century,
Europeans were attracted to Africa due to its vast resources of land and minerals. But there was an
unexpected problem a shortage of labour willing to work for wages.
(Page 87, second paragraph, first line onward)
Answer 11: ((Page 81, Topic 2, second paragraph, first line onward)
Answer12 : The depression was caused by a combination of several factors.
(a) (Page 95, Topic 3.2, second paragraph, third line onward)
(b) (Page 95, Last Paragraph, first line onward)
(c) The First World War had given a great boost to the American industries. But after the war,
demands of goods fell sharply but the industries continued their production at the breakneck
speed. As a result, the market got flooded with unsold stock and home market could not absorb all
the products.
(d) Failure of Banking System: In Europe withdrawal of US loan led to the failure of some major
banks and the collapse of currencies such as the British pound sterling. Ultimately, the US
banking system itself collapsed.
Answer13: In the nineteenth century the colonial India had become an exporter of agricultural goods and
importer of manufactures. The depression immediately affected Indian trade.
(a) Indias exports and imports nearly halved between 1928 and 1934. As international prices
crashed, prices in India also plunged. Between 1928 and 1934, wheat prices in India fell by 50
per cent.
(b) Peasants and farmers suffered more than urban dwellers. Though agricultural prices fell sharply,
the colonial government refused to reduce revenue demands. Peasants producing for the world
market were the worst hit.
(c) Peasants who borrowed in the hope of better times or to increase output in the hope of higher
incomes faced ever lower prices, and fell deeper and deeper into debt.
(d) Indians peasants used up their savings, mortgaged lands, and sold whatever jewellery and
precious metals they had to meet their expenses.
(e) In these depression years, India became an exporter of precious metals, notably gold.
Answer14: Page 100 Last Paragraph Line 1st
Answer15: Same as Q14.
Answer16: The bankers Shikaripuri shroffs and Nattukottai Chettiars & traders financed export
agriculture in Central & South- East Asia.
Answer17: Britain and France made vast additions to their overseas territories in the late nineteenth
century. Belgium and Germany became new colonial powers. The US also became a colonial power in the
late 1890s by taking over some colonies earlier held by Spain.
Answer18: Japan and India were the countries whose industries had developed when Britain was
preoccupied with war.
Answer19: The countries of Allies Power were Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the US.

Answer20: Page 98 Topic 4 (Fourth Paragraph)

Answer21: Page 98 Topic 4.1 From 1st line

Answer22: Relocation of industries to low wage countries had stimulated the world trade & capital
flow. Wages were relatively low in countries like China. Thus they became attractive destinations for
investment by foreign MNCs competing to capture world markets. Thus most of the TVs, mobile phones,
and toys in the shops and made in China were cheap in price. This is because of the low-cost structure of
the Chinese economy, most importantly its low wages.