The Making of a Global World Class 10 History Chapter 3 Extra Questions and Answers
CBSE Class 10 History Chapter 3 The Making of a Global World Extra Questions and Answers is available here. Students can learn and download PDF of these questions for free. These extra questions and answers are prepared by our expert teachers as per the latest NCERT textbook and guidelines. Learning these questions will help you to score excellent marks in the board exams.
The Making of a Global World Class 10 Extra Questions History Chapter 3
Very Short Answer Type Questions
1. What is globalisation [CBSE Sept. 2011, 2012]
Answer: Movement of people, goods and services across the nations has been termed as globalisation.
2. What were silk routes [CBSE 2014]
Answer: 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.
3. Define Rinderpest. [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2011, 2012]
Answer: 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.
4. ‘The pre-modem world shrank greatly in the 16th century”. Why
Answer: (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.
5. Who discovered America
Answer: Christopher Columbus.
6. Name some of the important food items which travelled from far away places to India.
Answer: Potatoes, soya, ground nuts, maize, tomatoes, etc.
7. What was the most powerful weapon of the Spanish conqueror to colonise America
Answer: The germs such as those of smallpox.
8. What was the impact of germs on the America’s original inhabitants
Answer: America’s original inhabitants had no immunity against the disease. So it killed and decimated whole communities.
9. Which two countries were among the world’s richest until the 18th century
Answer: China and India.
10. What changed the world profoundly in the 19th century
Answer: Economic, political, social, cultural and technological factors interacted in complex ways to transform societies and reshape external relations.
11. Mention any two factors which were responsible for price rise of food grains in Britain in the late 18th century.
Answer: Increase in population and restrictions on the import of food grains.
12. What were Corn Laws Why these Laws were abolished
Answer: 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.
13. Name the countries which wore exporting food grains to Britain.
Answer: Russia, America and Australia.
14. What steps were taken by the British government to improve agriculture in West Punjab
Answer: (i) A network of irrigation canals was built.
(ii) The canal colonies were settled by peasants from other parts of Punjab.
15. What at the factors which transformed 19th century world
Answer: The railways steamship and the telegraph.
16. What were the canal colonies Why and where they were set up
Answer: 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.
17. ‘Till the 1870’s meat was an expensive luxury beyond the reach of the European poor”. Give reason.
Answer: 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.
18. Name the technology which enabled the transportation of perishable foods over
Answer: Refrigerated ships.
19. Name any four colonial powers of the 19th century.
Answer: (i) Britain (ii) USA (iii) France (iv) Germany
20. Why most of the borders of African countries run straight
Answer: Most of the borders of African countries are straight because Africa was divided on paper in conference halls in Europe.
21. Name the disease which had terrifying impact on people’s livelihoods and local economy of Africa during 1890’s.
Answer: Cattle plague or rinderpest.
22. ‘Before the arrival of outsiders most of the Africans had a little reason to work for a wage’. Give reasons.
Answer: (i) Before the arrival of outsiders, Africa had abundant land and a relatively small population. Agriculture and animal rearing was the main occupation of the people. Most of the villages and families were self-sufficient.
(ii) In Africa, there were few consumer goods that wages could buy.
23. Why were European attracted to Africa in die late 19th century Give one reason.
Answer: Due to its vast resources of land and minerals.
24. How rinderpest arrived in Africa in the late 1880’s [CBSE 2014]
Answer: It was carried by infected cattle imported from British Asia to feed the Italian soldiers invading Eritrea in East Africa.
25. Who was indentured labourer
Answer: A bounded labourer under contract to work for an employer for a specific amount of time, to pay off his passage to a new country or home.
26. Name any four regions of India from where indentured workers came.
Answer: (i) Uttar Pradesh (ii) Tamil Nadu (iii) Bihar (iv) Central India
27. What were the main destinations of Indian indentured migrants
Answer: Caribbean islands, Mauritius and Fiji.
28. What is the meaning of ‘cultural fusion’? Give two examples. [CBSE 2012]
Answer: Cultural fusion is a process under which two or more than two cultures intermingle and produce a new culture.
(i) Hosay
(ii) Chutney
29. How were the indentured workers exploited by the recruiting agents
Answer: They provided them false information about final destination, modes of travel, the nature of work and living and working conditions. Sometimes agents even forcibly abducted less willing wages.
30. What was Hosay What was its importance
Answer: In Trinidad the annual Muharram procession was transferred into a riotous carnival called ‘Hosay’. It was one of the way to preserve the culture by indentured labourers.
31. When and why was indentured labour migration abolished
Answer: It was abolished in 1921 as it was opposed by Indian leaders.
32. Name any two Indian groups of bankers who financed export agriculture in Central and South-east Asia.
Answer: (i) Shikaripuri shroffs
(ii) Nattukottai Chettiars
33. Why did the inflow of fine Indian cotton begin to decline in the 19th century
Answer: Tarrifs were imposed by the British government to protect local industries.
34. Define ‘trade surplus’. Why Britain had a trade surplus with India [CBSE Sept. 2014]
Answer: It is a situation under which value of exports is more than imports. Britain had a ‘trade surplus’ because India was exporting food products to Britain which had less market value and it was importing finished goods which had higher market value.
35. How was the income received from trade surplus with India used by Britain [CBSE 2008 (D)]
Answer: Britain’s trade surplus in India also helped to pay the so-called ‘home charges’ that included private remittances home by British officials and traders, interest payments on India’s external debt and pensions of British officials in India.
36. “The First World War was the first modern industrial war”. Justify the answer.
Answer: The first modern industrial war. It saw the use of machine guns, tanks, aircraft, chemical weapons, etc. on a massive scale. These were all increasingly products of modem large-scale industry.
37. The First World War was a war like no other before. Justify.
Answer: (i) The war included world’s leading industrial nations which now harnessed the vast powers of modem industry. –
(ii) The war was fought in air, on land and in water.
38. Name any two countries which became major supplier of wheat during the First World War.
Answer: Canada, America and Australia.
39. What was mass production Who was pioneer of mass production [CBSE 2014]
Answer: Production of goods on large-scale is known as mass production. Henry Ford was pioneer of mass production.
40. Which was the world’s first mass produced car?
Answer: The T-Model.
41. What was Henry Ford’s best cost cutting decision
Answer: Under this he doubled the wages of workers but recovered the loss by speeding up the production line.
42. ‘The agricultural regions and communities were the worst affected by the Great Depression of 1929’. Give one reason.
Answer: This was because the fall in agricultural prices was greater and more prolonged than that in the prices of industrial goods.
43. Name the economist who thought that India gold exports during the Great Depression of 1929 promoted global economic recovery.
Answer: John Maynard Keynes.
44. Name the movement launched by Gandhiji during the Great Depression of 1929.
Answer: Civil Disobedience Movement
45. Which two crucial influences, shaped post-war reconstruction
Answer: (i) USA emerged as the dominant economic, political and military power in the western world.
(ii) Dominance of the Soviet Union.
46. Name any two world institutions which were established under the Bretton Woods. Also mention one objective of each. [CBSE 2014]
Answer: (i) International Monetary Fund.
(ii) World Bank.
47. What was the main aim of the post-war international economic system in the world
Answer: Economic stability and full employment.
48. Why were IMF and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development formed
Answer: (i) IMF-To deal with external surpluses and deficits of its member nations.
(ii) IBRD – To finance post-war reconstruction.
49. What is difference between international momentary system and the Bretton Woods system?
Answer: The international monetary system is the system linking national currencies and monetary system whereas the Bretton Woods system was based on fixed exchange rates.
50. What were the limitations of IMF and the World Bank Mention any two.
Answer: (i) They were not equipped to cope with the challenge of poverty and lack of development in the former colonies.
(ii) They were controlled by USA as it had veto power.
51. Why China and other Asian countries became attractive destination for investment by foreign MNC’s
Answer: This is because of the low cost structure of Chinese economy, most importantly its low wages.
52. What is G-77
Answer: The G-77 is a loose coalition of developing nations, designed to promote its members collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity for the United Nations. There were 77 founding members, but the organisation has since expanded to 130 member countries.
Short Answer Type Questions
1. ‘The pre-modern world shrank greatly in the 16th century.’ Explain.
Answer: Because the European sailors found a sea route to Asia and successfully crossed the western ocean to America.
The Portuguese and the Spanish conquests and colonialisation of America was decisively under way by the mid-16th century.
Precious metals, particularly silver, from mines located in presently Peru and Mexico enhanced Europe’s wealth and financed its trade with Asia.
2. What were Corn Laws Why were these Laws abolished [CBSE 2009 (F) Sept. 2010, 2014]
Answer: The Corn Laws were British trade laws to regulate the export or import of corn.
(i) These laws were abolished :
(ii) Because restriction of imports lead to high food prices.
(iii) These laws restricted the free trade. Landlords, industrialists and urban dwellers were against these laws.
3. Highlight three main features of life of African people before the coming of Europeans. [CBSE 2013]
Answer: (i) Africa had abundant land and a relatively small population.
(ii) For centuries, land and livestock sustained African livelihoods. Agriculture and animal rearing was the main occupation of the people. Most of the villages and families were self-sufficient.
(iii) People rarely worked for a wage. There were few consumer goods that wages could buy.
4. What were the main reasons for the attraction of Europeans to Africa [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2014]
Answer: (i) Europeans were attracted to Africa in search of valuable minerals like gold, coal, silver, etc.
(ii) They were attracted to Africa due to its vast resources of land.
(iii) They went to Africa hoping to establish plantations and mines.
5. Give three examples to show that the world changed with the discovery of new sea routes to America. [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2011, 2012]
Answer: (i) Before the discovery of the sea routes, America had been cut off from regular contact with the rest of the world for millions of years. But from the sixteenth century, its vast lands and abundant crops and minerals began to transform trade and lives everywhere.
(ii) Precious metals, particularly silver, from mires located in present day Peru and Mexico also enhanced Europe’s wealth and financed its trade with Asia. Legends spread in seventeenth-century Europe about South America’s fabled wealth. Many expeditions set off in search of El Dorado, the fabled city of gold
(iii) With the discovery of sea routes three types of movements or flows became prominent. i.e., the flow of goods, labour and capital.
6. “India played a crucial role in the late 19th century world economy”. Explain. [CBSE 2014]
Answer: (i) Britain had a ‘trade surplus’ with India. Britain used this surplus to balance its trade deficits with other countries.
(ii) Britain’s trade surplus in India also helped pay the so-called ‘home charges’ that included private remittances home by 3ntish officials and traders, interest payments or. India’s external debt, and pensions of British officials in India.
(iii) in the nineteenth century, hundreds of thousands of Indian and Chinese labourers went to work on plantations in mines and in rood and railway construction projects around the world.
(iv) India also provided raw material to the developing industries of the world.
(v) India become a major market for the final goods: especially cotton textile.
7. Name any two world institutions which were established under the Bretton Woods. Also mention one objective of each.
Answer: (i) International Monetary Fund.
(ii) World Bank.
Objective:
(a) IMF to deal with external surpluses and deficits o! its member nations.
(b) IBRD – To finance post-war reconstruction.
8. Why thousands of people fled Europe for America in the 19th century
Or
Why did thousands of people flee away from Europe to America in the 19th century Give any three reasons. [CBSE Sept. 2010]
Answer: (i) Until the 19th century, poverty and hunger were common in Europe.
(ii) Cities were crowded and deadly diseases were widespread.
(iii) Religious conflicts were common and religious dissenters were persecuted So people migrated from Europe to America.
9. “Economists of the 19th century identify three types of movements or ‘flows’ within international economic exchanges.” Explain. [CBSE Sept. 2011. 2012]
Answer: (i) The flow of trade : The flow of trade refers largely to trade in goods. For example, wheat travelled from Russia, America and Australia to Britain.
(ii) The flow of labour : This includes the migration of people in search of employment. For example, more than 50 million people migrated from Europe to America and Australia In search of jobs.
(iii) The movement of capital : This covers the movement of capital for short-term or long-term investments over long distances. For example, capital flowed from financial centres such as London to other parts of the world.
10. Explain indentured labour with lire help of an example.
Answer: A bonded labourer under contract to work for an employer tor a specific period of rime, to pay off a passage a new country or home. In the nineteenth century, hundreds of thousands o: Indian and Chinese labourers went to work on plantations, in mines and ill roads and railway construction projects around the world.
In India, indentured labourers were hired under contracts which promised the return travel to India after they had worked five years on their employer’s plantation.
11. Why did the European employers find it difficult to recruit labour in Africa Give two methods they used to recruit and retain labour. [CBSE 2011)
Or
Why was there a shortage of labour willing to work for wages in Africa in the 1890s How did Europeans try to recruit and retain labour Explain any two methods. [CBSE 2012]
Or
What methods were used by the European employers to recruit and retain the African labourers?
Answer: The European employers found it difficult to recruit labour in Africa because historically. Africa had abundant land and a relatively small population. For centuries, land and livestock sustained African livelihood and people rarely worked for wages.
Methods to recruit and retain labour :
(i) Heavy taxes : Tile colonial government started imposing heavy taxes which could be paid only by working for wages on plantations and mines.
(ii) New inheritance laws : Inheritance laws were changed so that the peasants were displaced from land: only one member of a family was allowed to inherit land, others were pushed into the labour market
(iii) Restriction on movement : Miners were also enclosed in compounds, and were not allowed to move about freely.
12. Mention any four factors responsible for indentured labour.
Answer: (i) Decline of cottage industry in India.
(ii) Increase in land rents.
(iii) Loss of cattle wealth due to rinderpest in Africa.
(iv) Unemployment and poverty.
13. What was the impact of industrialisation in Britain on Indian economy
Answer: (i) With industrialisation, the British cotton manufacturers began to expand and industrialists pressurised the government to restrict the cotton imports, and protect the local industries. Tariffs were imposed on doth imports into Britain. Consequently, the inflow of fine Indian cotton began to decline.
(ii) From the early nineteenth century. British manufacturers also began to search the overseas markets for their cloth.
(iii) The British machine-made textile products started giving a tough competition to the Indian textile industry at home.
So there was a decline in the share of cotton textiles from some 30 per cent around 1800 to 15 per cent by 1815. By the 1870s, this proportion had dropped to below 3 percent.
14. “India played a crucial role in the late 19th century world economy.” Explain by giving an example.
Or
What was the importance of the Indian trade for the Britishers
Or
How did India play a crucial role in the nineteenth century world economy Explain with examples. [CBSE Comp. (O) 2008]
Answer: (i) Trade Surplus : Britain had a trade surplus with India, i e., a situation under which the value of exports is more than the imports. Britain used this surplus to balance its trade deficit with other countries.
(ii) Home charges : Britain’s trade surplus in India also helped to pay the so called ‘home charges’ that included private remittances home by British officials and traders, interest payments on India’s external debts and pensions of the British officials in India.
(iii) Major supplier of cotton : India remained a major supplier of raw cotton to Britain which was required to feed the cotton textile industry of Britain.
(iv) Supplier of indentured workers: Many indentured workers from Bihar. Uttar Pradesh, Central India migrated to other countries to work in mines and plantations.
15. Name the countries involved in the First World War.
Answer: The war was the outcome of the rivalry between the two strong armed camps or the European powers, i.e., Triple Alliance and Triple Entente or the Central Powers.
On the one side were the Allies – Britain. France and Russia (later joined by the US) and on the opposite side were the Centre Powers – Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Turkey.
16. What is NIEO?
Or
Why did Group 77 countries demand a New International Economic Order Explain. [CBSE 2009 (D). Sept, 2010]
Or
Why did most of the developing countries organise themselves as a group — the Group of 77 (G-77) [CBSE 2012)
Answer: NIEO is the New International Economic Order. NIEO was a set of proposals put forward during the 1970s by the developing countries with the following main objectives:
(i) To revise the international economic system in favour of the developing countries.
(if) The developing nations wanted a system that would give them a real control over their natural resources.
(iii) The developing countries wanted to set up a system under which they could get a fairer price for raw materials, and better access for their manufactured goods in the developed countries markets.
(iv) Developing countries must be entitled to regulate and control the activities of the Multinational Corporations (MNCs) .
17. Mention the impact of the First World War on agricultural economies.
Answer: (i) The agricultural economies also suffered because of First World War.
(ill Before the War. Eastern Europe was a major supplier of wheat in the world market.
{iii) When this supply was disrupted during the First World War. wheat production of Canada. America and Australia expanded dramatically. But once the War was over, production in Eastern Europe revived and created a glut in the wheat output. Grain prices fell, rural income declined and farmers fell deeper into debt.
18. ‘The First World War was modern industrial war’. Explain.
Or
Explain how the First World War was so horrible a war like none other before. [CBSE 2010 (0)]
Or
How far is it correct to say that “The First World Wax was the First modem industrial war”? Explain. [CBSE Sept. 2010]
Answer: i) The First World War saw the use of machine guns, tanks, aircraft, chemical weapons, etc. on a massive scale.
(ii) These were all increasingly products of modern large-scale industry. To fight the war. millions of soldiers had to be recruited from around the world. and moved to the front lines on large ships and trains.
(iii) The scale of death and destruction – 9 million dead and 20 million injured – was unthinkable before the industrial age, without the use of industrial arms.
19. What is the difference between fixed exchange rate and floating exchange rate?
Answer: Fixed rate of exchange refers to the rate of exchange as fixed by the government. Historically, it has two variants; Gold standard system of exchange rate and Bretton woods system of exchange rate.
Flexible or floating rate of exchange is the rate which is determined by the supply-demand forces in the foreign exchange market. It is also called ‘free exchange rate’ as it is determined by the free play of supply and demand forces in the international money market.
When the exchange rate falls, imports rise since import is a component of the demand of foreign exchange and exports fall as export is a component of the supply of foreign exchange.
20. “The First World War was fought between two power blocs” Explain.
Answer: The First World War was fought from 1914 – 1918. On the one side were the Allies – Britain. France and Russia (later joined by the US): and on the opposite side were the Central Powers – Germany. Austria – Hungary and Ottoman Turkey.
21. What was mass production? Explain its impact on the world economy of earlier 20th century.
Answer: Production of goods on large-scale with the help of machines is known as mass production.
Impact:
(i) Mass production lowered costs and prices of engineered goods Thanks to higher wages, more workers could now afford to purchase durable consumer goods such as cars. Car production in US rose from 2 million in 1919 to more than 5 million in 1929.
(ii) The demand for refrigerators, washing machines, etc. was also fuelled by a boom in house construction and home ownership, financed once again by loans.
(iii) The housing and consumer boom of the 1920s created the basis of prosperity in the US. Large investments in housing and household goods seemed to create a cycle of higher employment and incomes, rising consumption demand, more investment, and yet more employment and incomes.
22. Write any three factors responsible for indentured labour migration from India. [CBSE Sept. 2010. 2013]
Answer: (i) Most Indian indentured workers came from the present day regions of eastern Uttar Pradesh. Bihar. Central India and the dry- districts of Tamil Nadu. In the mid-nineteenth century these regions experienced many changes – cottage industries declined, land rents rose, lands were cleared for mines and plantations. All this affected the lives of the poor, they failed to pay then rents, became deeply indebted.
(ii) On the other hand workers were required in other countries for plantations, mines, road and railway construction projects.
(iii) In hope for better future in other countries many workers from India started migrated in other countries.
Long Answer Type Questions
1. What was the importance of Silk Routes
Or
How did Silk Routes link the world Explain with three suitable examples. [CBSE 2008 (D)]
Or
Explain any three characteristics of Silk Routes. [CBSE Comp. (D) 2008, Sept. 2010, 2012]
Or
Enumerate the importance of Silk Routes. [CBSE Sept. 2010]
Answer: (i) The silk routes are a good example of vibrant pre-modem trade and cultural links between the distant parts of the world.
(ii) The silk route was used by the Chinese traders to export silk to other countries.
(iii) These routes were used by traders to trade goods from one country to another.
(iv) Trade and cultural exchange always went hard in hand. Early Christian missionaries almost certainly travelled through this route to Asia, as did the early Muslim preachers, a few centuries later.
(v) These routes were also used to spread religions Buddhism emerged from eastern India to spread ir. several directions through intersecting points on the silk routes.
2. Explain the impacts of scrapping of the Corn Law. [CBSE Sept, 2010, 2014]
Or
What was the result of the abolishing of Corn Laws? [CBSE Sept, 2010, 2012]
Answer: (i) The scrapping of Corn Laws lead to free trade of food grains.
(ii) After the abolition of Corn Laws, food could be imported into Britain more cheaply than it could be produced within the country.
(iii) British farmers were unable to compete with imports. Vast areas of land were now left uncultivated, and thousands of men and women were thrown out of work. They flocked to the cities or migrated overseas
(iv) Increase in demand due to fall in prices and increase in income leads to mismatch between demand and supply of food grains.
(v) Many countries of the world like Russia. America and Australia and some eastern European countries started exporting food grains to Britain which gave further set back to the local producers.
3. ‘By 1890, a global agricultural economy had taken shape.’ Explain by giving example.
Or
Describe any three changes in the global agricultural economy after 1890. [CBSE 2014]
Answer: (i) Food and other products : Food and Other products started flowing from far away places. It was no longer grown by a peasant tilling his own land, but by an agricultural worker, perhaps recently arrived, who was now working on a large farm that only a generation ago. had perhaps been a forest.
(ii) Infrastructure : The food and other products being transported by railways bud: for that very purpose and by ships which were increasingly manned in these decades by low paid workers from southern Europe Asia Africa and the Caribbean Islands.
(iii) Raw materials : Indian farmers were producing raw cotton and other farm products to British industry. World trade between 1820 and 1914 multiplied about 25 to 40 times.
(iv) Scrapping of Corn Law : The scrapping of the Corn Laws laid the foundation of free trade. Now food could be imported or exported into Britain freely.
(v) Commercialisation of agriculture in colonies: The imperial countries took various steps to commercialise agriculture in their colonies. For example. British government built a network of irrigation canals to transform semi desert waste land of West Punjab into fertile agricultural land.
4. “The example of indentured labour migration from India and other parts of the world illustrates the two-sided nature of the 19th century” world.” Explain by giving examples.
Or
Why 19th century indentured has been described as a ‘new system of slavery’ Explain. [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2012, 2014]
Answer: (i) It was a world of faster economic growth as well as greater misery, higher income for some, and poverty for others, technological advances in some areas, and new forms of exploitation in others.
In India, indentured labourers were hired under contracts which promised the return travel to India, after they had worked for five years on their employer’s plantation.
(ii) Most of the indentured workers migrated in hope for a bright future, but they were exploited by the recruiting agent and by the employer.
- They had to pay a commission to the recruiting agent.
- The agents used to provides false information to the workers regarding their final destination, modes of travel, the nature of work and living and working conditions.
- Sometimes, agents even forcibly abducted less willing migrants.
5. ‘The indentured workers had discovered their own ways of surviving.” Explain. [CBSE 2013]
Or
How did the indentured labourers maintain their cultural identity in other part of the world [CBSE 2013]
Answer: (i) Many of the indentured labourers escaped into the jungles.
(ii) They started celebrating festivals like Hosay in which both the Hindus and Muslims, who had migrated from India participated.
(iii) Many of the migrants joined or became part of the Rastafarianism, ie. a religious movement born out of black slums of Jamaica.
(iv) They started creating their own way of enjoyment like Chutney Music. The Chutney Music has beer, created by Indo- Caribbean people. The Music derives elements from Indian film songs.
(v) They developed a new culture which was a blend of the new culture and the traditional culture of the indentured labourers.
6. Explain the impact of the First World War on Britain.
Or
How did the First World War change the economic life of the people in Britain Explain. [CBSE 2008 (D)]
Or
Describe in brief the world economic conditions of the post First World War period. [CBSE 2010 (D), Sept. 2012, 2013]
Answer: (i) The post-war economic recovery proved difficult as the heavy expenditure on the World War I weakened the British economy
(ii) While Britain was preoccupied with war, industries had development in Japan and India. So now Britain had to face competition from these countries, especially from Japan.
(iii) To finance war expenditures. Britain had borrowed liberally from the United States (US). This meant that at the end of the war. Britain was burdened with huge external debts.
(iv) The war had led to an economic boom, i.e., to a large increase in demand, production, prices and employment. When the war boom ended production contracted, employment and unemployment increased.
(v) The economic hardship of the war period forced the people of British colonies against them. For example. Non-Cooperation movement was launched in India.
7. What was the impact of the Great Depression on USA Explain. [CBSE 2013]
Answer: (i) With the fall in prices and the prospect of a depression, the US banks also slashed domestic lending, and called back loans.
(ii) Farms were unable to sell their harvests.
(iii) Faced with falling income, many households in the US could not repay what they had borrowed, and were forced to give up their homes, cars and other consumer durables.
(iv) industrial production registered a fail of about 35 per cent.
(v) The number of the unemployed started rising, and in 1933. it touched 17 million. As unemployment soared, people trudged long distances looking for any work they could find. Ultimately, the US banking system itself collapsed.
8. Explain the consequences of the Second World War.
Or
Describe in brief the destruction caused during the Second World War. [CBSE 2010 (O), Sept. 2012]
Answer: (i) Death and Destruction : More than GO million people, or about 3 per cent of the world’s population, are believed to have been killed, directly or indirectly, as a result of the tear. Millions or more were injured too. Many big cities were reduced to ashes.
(ii) Damage to Agriculture. Trade and Industries : The World War II caused a great damage to agriculture, trade and commerce. The terrible battles fought in different countries, made large tracts of land infertile. Lakhs of industries were destroyed which caused a severe damage to the industrial production. Many industries were closed down in the absence of sufficient raw materials.
(iii) Increase in Soviet Russia’s Power and Prestige : The Second World War boosted up the power and prestige of the Soviet Union. Russian influence started increasing in the international held, and many countries got attracted towards communism. (iv) USA becomes a Super Power : The World War II made USA the supreme power of the world Undoubtedly, the USA played an important role in the victory of the Allies. After the war, no European country was either as powerful or as prosperous as the United States of America (USA).
(v) New Economic system : The main aim of the post-war international economic system was to preserve economic Stability and full employment in the industrial world. The Bretton Woods conference established the International Monetary fund IMP to deal with external surpluses and deficits its member nations. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development ( popularly known as the World Bank) was set up to finance post-war reconstruction.
9. ‘Economists and politicians drew two key lessons from inter-war economic experiences.’ Explain. [CBSE Sept 2012]
Answer: (i) Full employment : An industrial society based on mass production cannot be sustained without mass consumption. But to ensure mass consumption, there was a need for high and stable income. Income could not be stable if employment was unstable Thus, stable income also required a stead. full employment.
(ii) Intervention of government : Before the Second World War, most of the economists believed that capitalist economies or markets are self-sustaining. i.e. there is no need for government intervention. But the inter-war period proved that markets alone could not guarantee full employment.
Therefore, the government would have to step into minimise fluctuations of price, output and employment. Economic stability could be ensured only through the intervention of the government.
10. What is meant by the Bretton Woods Agreement Explain. [CBSE Sept. 2010. 2011]
Answer: The Bretton Woods Conference took place in the July of 1944 at Bretton Woods in New Hamsphire, USA. Under this system, the International Monetary Fund (IMP) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) were established.
The main terms of this agreement were:
(i) Formation of IMF and IBRD (also called the World Bank).
(ii) To establish monetary cooperation amongst the member countries.
(iii) Adjustable peg foreign exchange rates system was followed, i. the exchange rates were fixed, with the provision of changing them if necessary.
Currencies were required to be convertible for trade related and other current account transactions. The governments, however, had the power to regulate capital flows.
(iv) All member countries were required to subscribe to the IMF’s capital.
11. What were the impacts of the Bretton Woods system Explain.
Answer: (i) Bretton Woods system inaugurated an era Of unprecedented growth of trade and income for the Western industrial nations and Japan.
(ii) It provided a big boost to the world trade which grew annually at over 8 per cent between 1950 and 1970. and incomes at nearly 5 per cent.
(iii) The grow-h was also mostly stable, without large fluctuations.
(iv) The system also controlled the unemployment which averaged less than 5 per cent in most industrial countries.
(v) These decades also saw the worldwide spread of technology and enterprise. Developing countries were in a hurry to catch up with the advanced industrial countries. Therefore, they invested vast amounts of capital, importing industrial plans and equipment featuring modern technology.
12. ‘In the. 19th century, all over the world more than 150 million people migrated from one country to another.’ Explain the factors responsible for this migration.
Answer: (i) Abolition of Corn Laws and free trade : The scrapping of the Corn laws laid the foundation of free trade. Now, food could be imported Or exported into Britain freely.
(ii) New Economic activities: The free trace led to development of railways and new ports. People had to settle or, the lands to bring them under cultivation. This meant building homes and settlements. All the construction activities needed labour. The demand for labour in places where labour was in short supply led to migration.
(iii) Role of technology: The railways, steamships, lighter wagons helped the people to move from one country to another.
(iv) Imperialism : The wave of imperialism engulfed the whole world and due to this people migrated from one nation to another.
(v) Different flows : The flow of trade accompanied with capital paved way for the flow of labour.
13. Explain the role of technology in shaping the world economy of the 19th century. [CBSE 2010 (D)]
Or
What was the impact of technology on food availability Explain with the help of examples. [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2011, 2014]
Or
What was the role of technology in transforming in the 19th century world Explain with an example. [CBSE Sept. 2010]
Answer: (i) Transformation of the world economy : Technology played a major role in all these developments. Railways, steam shipping, telegraph, etc. were important inventions without which it was not possible to imagine the transformation of nineteenth-century world.
(ii) Linking the markets : New investments and improvements in transport: faster railways. lighter wagons and larger ships helped move food more cheaply and quickly from far away farms to final markets.
(iii) Impact on the meat trade : Till the 1870s, moat from America was shipped to Europe in the form of live animals which were then slaughtered in Europe. But live animals took up a lot of ship space. Many also died in voyage, fell ill. lost weight or became unfit to eat. So the prices of meat were very high and it was beyond the reacts of the European poor. Due to high price, the demand and production was low. But the invention of refrigerated ships made it possible to transport meat from one region to another.
(iv) Social peace and Imperialism : The refrigerated ships reduced shipping cost and lowered meat prices in Europe. The poor in Europe could now consume a more varied diet. Better living conditions promoted social peace within the country and support for Imperialism abroad.
(v) Colonialism : Technology played very important role in linking the world markets which promoted the sprit of colonialism.
14. Define the term ‘Trade Surplus’. How was the income received from trade surplus with India used by Britain? [CBSE 2010, 2012, 2011]
Answer: When the value of exports is higher than value of imports, it is called as ‘Trade Surplus’.
(ii) Britain used this surplus to balance its trade deficits with other countries — that is. with countries from which Britain was importing more than it was selling to.
(iii) This is how n multi-lateral settlement system works—it allows one country’s deficit with another country to be settled by its surplus with a third country.
(iv) By helping Britain balance its deficits. India played a crucial role in the late- nineteenth century world economy.
(v) Britain’s trade surplus in India also helped to pay the so-called ‘home charges’ that included private remittances home by British officials and traders, interest payments on India’s external debt, and pensions of British officials in India.
15 What do you know about the Great Depression Explain the major factors responsible for the Great Depression. [CBSE 2008 (F), Sept. 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013]
Answer: This was a period during which most parts of the world experienced catastrophic decline in production, employment, income and trade. The state of Economic Depression set in the United States of America in 1929 and engulfed the entire world. Tins state of Economic Depression set in the United States of America (USA) in 1929. and engulfed the entire world. Hence, it is known as the Greet Depression.
Causes of Economic Depression :
(i) Conditions created by the War: There was an immense industrial expansion in view of the increased demands of goods related to army during the period of the First World War. After the war, the industries went through the same proliferation. However, the sharp decrease in demands for military and war products gave birth to the economic depression.
(ii) Overproduction in agriculture:
Agricultural overproduction was one another major factor responsible for the depression. This was made worse by falling agricultural prices. As prices slumped, and agricultural income declined, farmers tried to expand production, and bring a larger volume of produce to the market to maintain their overall income. This worsened the glut in the market, pushing down prices even further. The farm produce rotted for lack of buyers.
(iii) Shortage of loans : In the mid 1920s, many countries financed their investments through loans from the US. While it was often very easy to raise loans in the US during the boom period, but the US overseas lenders panicked at the first sign of trouble.
(iv) Multiple effect : The withdrawal of lenders from the market had a multiple effect. In Europe, it led to the failure of some major banks, and the collapse of currencies such as the British pound and the sterling.
In Latin America and elsewhere, it intensified the slump in agricultural and raw material prices. The US attempt to protect its economy in the depression by doubling import duties also dealt another severe blow to the world trade.
16. How did Henry Ford revolutionise mass production in the US Explain. [CBSE 2012]
Answer: (i) Henry Ford adopted the assembly line of a Chicago slaughterhouse to his new car plant in Detroit.
(ii) The assembly line allowed a faster and cheaper way of producing vehicles. It forced workers to repeat a single task mechanically and continuously.
(iii) This increased their efficiency in the single task and the speed of production too.
(iv) Standing in front of the conveyer belt, no worker could delay the motion or take a break.
(v) In the beginning many workers quit, since they could not cope up with the stress of work.
(vi) Henry Ford doubled their ‘wages and against that he not only increased the speed of the conveyer belt but also banned trade unions.
17. Explain the impact of the Great Depression on the Indian economy. [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2014]
Or
Explain the impact of the Great Depression on Indian farmers in the early twentieth century. [CBSE 2009 (F), Sept. 2012]
Answer: (i) Impact on trade : The depression immediately affected Indian trade. India’s exports and imports nearly halved between 1928 and 1934. As international prices crashed, prices in India plunged. Between 1928 and 1934 wheat prices in India fell by about 50 per cent.
(if) Impact on farmers : The fall in prices had a deep impact on the poor farmers. Though agricultural prices fell sharply, but the colonial government refused to give any relief to the farmers in taxes. Peasants producing tor the world market were the worst hit.
(iii) Impact on Urban India : The depression proved less grim for urban India. Because of falling prices those with fixed income- say town-dwelling landowners, who received rents and middle-class salaried employees now found themselves better off. Every thing low cost.
(iv) High Industrial investment : Industrial investment also grew as the government extended tariff protection to industries, under the pressure of nationalist opinion.
(v) Political Impact : The Great Depression paved way for Gandhiji to launch the Civil Disobedience movement.
18. G-77 can be seen as a reaction to the activities of Bretton Woods Twins. Explain the statement with five arguments. [CBSE 2013]
Answer: (i) The Bretton Woods Twins — the IMF and the World Bank were dominated by the former colonial powers As a result, most developing countries did not benefit from the fast growth that the western economies experienced in die 1950s and 1960s. So. they organised themselves as a croup — the group of 77 of G-77 to demand a new International economic order.
(ii) Former colonial powers exploited the natural resources for developing nations through the IMF and the World Bank.
(iii) The developing nations organised themselves into G-77 so as to gain real control over then natural resources.
(iv) They wanted to get more development assistance and fairer prices tor raw materials.
(v) They also wanted a better opportunity for their manufactured goods in the markets of developed nations.
19. What were the factors which were responsible for the end of the Bretton Woods system
Answer: (i) The Decline of US Currency: After 1960s, the US was no longer the dominant economic power as it had been for more than two decades The US dollar now no longer commanded confidence as the world’s principal currency. Tire dollar could not maintain is value in relation to gold.
(ii) New powers : By the mid-1960s, the E E C and Japan had become international economic powers in their own right. With total reserves exceeding those of the US. with higher levels of growth and trade, and with per capita income approaching that of the US. Europe and Japan were narrowing the gap between themselves and the United States.
(iii) Rise of Western Commercial Banks :
From the mid-1970s, the International financial system also changed in important ways. Earlier, developing countries could turn to international institutions for loans and development assistance. But now. they were forced to borrow from Western commercial banks and private lending institutions- This led to periodic debt crises in the developing world and lower income along with increased poverty, especially in Africa and Latin America.
(iv) Problem of unemployment : The industrial world was also hit by unemployment that began rising from the mid-1970s, and remained high until the early 1990s. From the late 1970s, MNCs also began to shift production operations to low-wage Asian countries.
(v) Rise of China and Soviet Union: China had been cut off from the post-war world economy since its revolution in 1949. But new economic policies in China and the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Soviet style communism in Eastern Europe brought many countries back into the fold of the world economy.
(vi) Low cost structure in China : The Chinese economy emerged ns a new super power due to low cost structure. Wages were relatively low- in countries like China. Thus they became attractive destinations for investment by foreign MNCs competing to capture the world markets.
20. What were the main sources of attraction for Europeans to come to Africa in the late nineteenth century How did they exploit their resources [CBSE 2010 (F)]
Answer: (i) Europeans were attracted to Africa due to its vast resources of land and minerals.
(ii) Europeans came to Africa hoping to establish plantations and mines to produce crops and minerals for export to Europe. (iii) 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.
(iv) Europeans divided different regions of Africa among themselves.
21. Explain any four measures adopted by America for postwar (First World War) recovery. [CBSE Sept. 2010]
Answer: (i) USA moved towards mass production which lowered the cost of production.
(ii) Due to lower cost of production producers started giving higher wages to the worker.
(iii) The demand for common household products boomed the housing sector
(iv) The housing and consumer boom of the 1920s created the basis of prosperity in the US. Large investments in housing and household goods seemed to create a cycle of higher employment and incomes, rising consumption demand, more investment, and yet more employment and incomes.
(v) In 1923. the US resumed exporting capital to the rest of the world and became the largest overseas lender.
HOTS Questions and Answers
1. Why were the Corn Laws scrapped Explain any three reasons. [CBSE Comp. (D) 2008, 2009 (F), Sept. 2011]
Answer: Unhappy with high food prices, industrialists and urban dwellers forced the abolition of the Corn Laws.
(i) High prices : Population in Britain grew in the late 18th century. Due to high population, the demand of food grain in Britain went up. With high demand, price of food grains also started rising.
(ii) Urban dwellers : With the expansion of industrialisation cities were expanding. More and more people were purchasing food grains from the market. As the prices were pushing up there was a social unrest. This forced the government to scrap Corn Laws.
(iii) Industrialists and landlords : Most of the industrialists and the landlords were also not in the favour of Corn Laws because these laws hindered the free trade.
2. Why was there a need for clearing lands in Britain during the nineteenth century Explain any three reasons. [CBSE Comp. (D) 2008]
Answer: (i) High demand for foodgrains : Population in Britain grew at a very fast rate in the late 18th century. Due to high population the demand for foodgrains went up. To fulfil the need for foodgrains land was cleared.
(ii) Railway : It was not enough merely to clear lands for agriculture. Railways were needed to link the agricultural regions to the ports. So land was cleared to lay new railway lines.
(iii) New harbours : Land was also cleared to build new harbours and old ones expanded to ship the new cargoes.
(iv) Homes and settlements : People had to settle on the land to bring them under cultivation. This meant building homes and settlements.
3. How was the food problem solved in Britain after the scrapping of the ‘Corn Laws’ Explain. [CBSE 2009 (O)]
Answer: (i) Import of food : Through corn laws, various restrictions were imposed on the import of food but after the Corn Laws scrapped, food could be imported into Britain more cheaply than it could be produced within the country. Traders started importing cheap food from Eastern Europe, Russia, America and Australia.
(ii) Global agricultural economy : Large- scale import of foodgrains shaped way for global agricultural economy. Food no longer came from a nearby village or town, but from thousands of miles away. Large farms were created. These farms were linked by railways and roads.
(iii) Import from canal colonies : The British colonial government in India and other colonies built a network of irrigation canals to transform semi-desert wastes into fertile agricultural lands that could grow wheat and cotton for export to Britain.
4. “Food offers many examples of long distance cultural exchange.” Explain. [CBSE Sept. 2011]
Or
Assess with examples the contribution of food to the process of globalisation of the early periods. [CBSE 2012]
Answer: (i) Many of our common foods, such as potatoes, soya, groundnuts, maize, tomatoes, chillies, sweet potatoes, etc. were not known to our ancestors. These food items reached our country through travellers. It is believed that noodles travelled west from China to , become spaghetti. Or, perhaps the Arab traders took pasta to the 5th century Sicily, an island in Italy.
(ii) Many of the food items which are consumed by us today were introduced by travellers and explorers. In fact, many of our common foods came from America’s original inhabitants as our continent was discovered by Columbus, who came from America.
(iii) Europeans poor began to eat better and live longer with the introduction of the potatoes.
5. ‘The Portuguese and Spanish used all ethical and unethical methods to colonise America”. Justify.
Or
How were the germs used as a powerful weapon by the Portuguese and the Spanish for the colonisation of America
Answer: (i) The Portuguese and the Spanish had a strong firepower and army.
(ii) But along with these, they also used germs and viruses for conquering parts of America.
(iii) As America was isolated, so the original inhabitants had no immunity against these dreadful germs and viruses.
(iv) Smallpox proved a deadly killer. Once introduced, it spread deep into the continent killing several communities, and paving the way for conquests.
(v) These germs were more dangerous as compared to guns and firearms because guns could be brought or captured, but there was no answer for these germs.
6. “European conquests produced many painful economic, social and ecological changes through which the colonised societies were brought into the world economy.” Explain. [CBSE 2015]
Answer: (i) In 1885 the big European powers met in Berlin to complete the carving up of Africa between them.
(ii) Rinderpest a cattle disease arrived in Africa in the late 1880s. It was carried by infected cattle imported from British Asia to feed the Italian soldiers invading Eritrea in East Africa. Entering Africa in the east, rinderpest moved west ‘like forest fire’, reaching Africa’s Atlantic coast in 1892. It reached the Cape (Africa’s southernmost tip) five years later. Along the way rinderpest killed 90 per cent of the cattle. The loss of cattle destroyed African livelihoods. Planters, mine owners and colonial governments now successfully monopolised what scarce cattle resources remained, to strengthen their power and to force Africans into the labour market. In the era of conquests even a disease affecting cattle reshaped the lives and fortunes of thousands of people and their relation with the rest of the world.
(iii) The example of indentured labour migration from India also illustrates the two-sided nature of the nineteenth-century world. It was a world of faster economic growth as well as great misery, higher incomes for some and poverty for others, technological advances in some areas and new forms of coercion in others.
7. What were the social advantages of invention of refrigerated ships
Answer: (i) This reduced the shipping costs, and lowered meat prices in Europe.
(ii) The poor in Europe could now consume a more varied diet.
(iii) To the earlier, monotony of bread and potatoes many, not all, could add meat, butter or eggs.
(iv) Better living conditions promoted social peace within the country, and support for imperialism abroad.
8. What was the impact of the spread of rinderpest or the cattle plague on the African people Explain. [CBSE 2009 (O)]
Or
How did rinderpest change .the economy of the African society [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2011]
Or
Explain the social impact of introduction of rinderpest in Africa.
Or
Describe briefly the effects of rinderpest in Africa in the 1890’s. [CBSE Sept. 2011, 2012, 2014]
Answer: (i) Arrival of rinderpest : Rinderpest arrived in Africa in the late 1880s. Within two years, it spread in the whole continent reaching Cape Town (Africa’s southernmost tip) within five years.
(ii) Loss of Cattle : The germs of the disease were carried by infected cattle imported from British Asia to feed the Italian soldiers invading Eritrea in Eastern Africa. The rinderpest killed about 90 per cent of the cattle.
(iii) Loss of livelihood : As cattle was the main wealth of the people so the loss of cattle destroyed the African livelihoods.
(iv) African into labour market : Planters, mine owners and colonial governments now successfully monopolised what scarce cattle resources remained, to strengthen their power, and to force the Africans into the labour market.
(v) Subdue of Africa : Control over scarce resource of cattle enabled the European colonisers to conquer and subdue Africa.
9. Explain the social and economic impacts of the First World War. Suggest any two ways to save the world from the Third World War.
Or
“The First World War was mainly fought in Europe but its impact was felt around the world.” Explain by giving examples.
Or
What was the impact of the First World War on the socio-economic conditions of the world Write four points. [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2011]
Answer: (i) A Total War : The First World War was totally different from the previous wars. The fighting involved the world’s leading industrial nations, who now harnessed the vast powers of modern industry to inflict the greatest possible destruction on their enemies.
(ii) Modem industrial war : This war was thus the first modem industrial war. It saw the use of machine guns, tanks, aircraft, submarines, liquid fire, chemical weapons, etc., on a massive scale. These were all increasingly products of modern large-scale industry.
(iii) Reduction In the workforce : Most of the killed and maimed were men of working age. These deaths and injuries reduced the able-bodied workforce in Europe. With fewer numbers within the family, household incomes declined after the war.
(iv) New social set-up: The war was responsible for reorganising the whole society and economy. During the war, industries were restructured to produce war-related goods. So, there was a shortage of consumer goods. The entire societies were also reorganised for war, as men went to battle, women stepped into to undertake jobs that earlier only men were expected to do.
(v) Emergence of America as a Super World Power : The United States of America (USA) became a Super World Power after the war. American companies and the people had floated huge loans to the Allies during the war. As a result of it, her economic supremacy was established. Thus, the war transformed the US from being an international debtor to an international creditor.
Suggestions :
(i) The membership of the Security Council (UNO) should be expanded.
(ii) International exchange programmes.