CBSE - The Making of a Global World

Examples of the different types of global exchanges which took place before the seventeenth century:
→ Textiles, spices and Chinese pottery were exchanged by China, India and Southeast Asia in return for gold and silver from Europe.
→ Gold and foods such as potatoes, soya, groundnuts, tomatoes and chillies were first exported from the Americas to Europe.

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.

The British government's decision to abolish the Corn Laws was the inflow of cheaper agricultural crops from America and Australia. Many English farmers left their profession and migrated to towns and cities. Some went overseas. This indirectly led to global agriculture and rapid urbanisation, a prerequisite of industrial growth.

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.

Most of the victims of world war belonged to young generations of working men. As a result, it reduced the workforce in Europe, thereby reducing household income. The role of women increased and led to demand for more equality of status. It made the feminist movement stronger. Women started working alongside men in every field. Women and youngsters became more independent and free with long-term effects.

The impact of the Great Depression in India was felt especially in the agricultural sector. It was evident that Indian economy was closely becoming integrated to global economy. India was a British colony and exported agricultural goods and imported manufactured goods. The fall in agricultural price led to reduction of farmers’ income and agricultural export. The government did not decrease their tax and so, many farmers and landlords became more indebted to moneylenders and corrupt officials. It led to a great rural unrest in India.

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.

Two examples from history to show the impact of technology on food availability were:
→ Faster railways, lighter wagons and larger ships helped transport food more cheaply and quickly from production units to even faraway markets.
→ Refrigerated ships helped transport perishable foods such as meat, butter and eggs over long distances.

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.

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 as—the 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.
Lastly, Britain took generous loans from USA to finance the World War. Since India was an English colony, the impact of these loan debts was felt in India too. The British government increased taxes, interest rates, and lowered the prices of products it bought from the colony. Indirectly, but strongly, this affected the Indian economy and people.

The Great Depression was a result of many factors:
→ Prosperity in the USA during the 1920s created a cycle of higher employment and incomes. It led to rise in consumption and demands. More investment and more employment created tendencies of speculations which led to the Great Depression of 1929 upto the mid-1930s.
→ Stock market crashed in 1929. It created panic among investors and depositors who stopped investing and depositing. As a result, it created a cycle of depreciation.
→ Failure of the banks. Some of the banks closed down when people withdrew all their assets, leaving them unable to invest. Some banks called back loans taken from them at the same dollar rate inspite of the falling value of dollar. It was worsened by British change in policy to value pound at the pre-war value.

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.

Q.1: - What was the Bretton wood system?
 (a) Post war the military system
 (b) Post war political system
 (c) Post war international economic system
 (d) None of these
 
Q.2: - What did indentured labour mean?
 (a) Cheap Labour (b) Free Labour
(c) Bonded Labour (d) None of these

Q.3: - What were ‘Canal Colonies’?
 (a) Large Colonies (b) Sea Ports
 (c) Large Canals (d) Irrigated areas
 
Q.4: - Which food traveled west from china to be called “Spaghetti’?
 (a) Soya (b) Groundnuts
 (c) Potato (d) Noodles
 
Q.5: - Which disease spread like wild fire in Africa in the 1890’s?
 (a) Cattle plague (b) Small pox
 (c) Pneumonia (d) None of these
 
Q.6: - Which was the Tabled city of gold?
 (a) Peru (b) Mexico
 (c) El Doeodo (d) Spain
 
Q.7: - Who adopted the concept of assembly line to produce automobiles? 
(a) Samuel Morse (b) Henry Ford
 (c) T. Cuppla (d) Imam Husain
 
Q.8: - The Descendants of indentures workers is a Noble Prize winning writer is-
 (a) Bob Morley (b) V. S. Naipaul
 (c) Amartya Sen (d) Ram Naresh Sarwan
 
Q.9: - The great Depression begin in
 (a) 1927 (b) 1928 (c) 1929 (d) 1930
 
Q.10: - The Chutney music popular in-
 (a) North America (b) South America
 (c) Japan (d) China
 
Q.11: - Rinderpest is a?
 (a) Cattle disease in Africa (b) Cattle disease in China
 (c) Cattle disease in India (d) Cattle disease in Russia
 
Q.12: - Which of the following is not a economic exchange?
 (a) Flow of Labour (b) Flow of Capital
 (c) Flow of Knowledge (d) Flow of Trade 
 
 Answer Key of Multiple Choice Questions
1. ( c ) 2. ( c ) 3. ( d ) 4. ( d ) 5. ( a ) 6. ( c ) 7. ( b ) 8. ( b ) 9. ( c ) 10. ( b ) 11. ( a ) 12. ( c ) 

1. Trade Surplus – Britain had a Trade Surplus with Indian. Britain used this Surplus to balance its trade deficit with other countries.
2. Home Charges – Britain’s trade Surplus in India also helped to pay the so called home charges that included private remittance home by British officials and traders, interest payments on India’s external debt and pensions of British officials in India.
3. Major Supplier of cotton – India remained a major supplier of raw cotton to British which was required to feed the cotton textile industry of Britain.
4. Supplier if indenture workers – Many indenture workers from Bihar, U.P., central India migrated to other countries to work in mines and plantations.

1. The international monetary system is the system linking national currencies and monetary system.
2. The Briton woods system was based on fixed exchange rates. In this system the national currencies were pegged to the dollar at a fixed exchange rate.
3. The Bretton woods system inaugurated an era of unprecedented growth of trade and incomes for the western industrial nations.

1. Food could be imported into Britain more cheaply than it would be produced within the country.
2. British agriculture was unable to compete with imports. Vast Areas of land were left uncultivated and people started migrating to cities or other countries.
3. As food prices fell, consumption in Britain rose. Faster industrial growth in Britain also led to higher incomes and therefore more food imports.
4. Around the world in eastern Europe, Russia, America and Australia land were cleared and food production expanded to meet the British demand.

1. This reduced the shipping costs and lowered meat prices in Europe.
 2. The poor in Europe could now consume a more varied diet.
 3. To the earlier, monotony of Bread and Potatoes many, not all could add meat, butter or egg.
 4. Better living conditions promoted social peace within the country and support for imperialism abroad.

1. It was the first modern industrial was which involved industrial nations.
 2. Machine guns, tanks, aircraft, chemical weapons etc are used on a massive scale.
 3. Unthinkable death and destruction.
 4. Most of the people killed and injured were man of working age.
 5. Declined the household income.
 6. Men were forced to join in the war.
 7. Women slapped into undertake jobs which they were not used to.

1. The economy depression immediately affected Indian Trade, as India’s exports and  imports nearly halved between 1928-1934
2. Agriculture prices fell sharply, but the colonial government refused to reduce revenues. Peasants producing for the world markets were worst hit.
3. Raw jute was produced, processed in the industries to make gunny bags. Its exports collapsed and prices fell by 60% peasants of Bengal fell into debt traps.
4. Peasants used up their savings mortgaged lands and sold their precious jewelry to meet their expanses.

In the 19th century, hundreds of thousands of Indians and Chinese laborers went to work on plantations in mines and in mines and in road and railways construction projects around the world.
1. In India, indentures laborers were hired under contracts which promises return travel to India after they had worked for five years on plantations.
2. Gradually in India cottage industries declined, land rents rose, land were cleared for mines and plantations. All this affected the lines of the poor. They failed to pay their rents become indebted, and were forced to migrate in search of work.
3. The main destinations of Indian indentured migrants were the Caribbean islands, Trinidad, Guyana, Surinam, Mauritius, Fiji and Ceylon and Malaya.
4. Recruitment was done by agent engaged by employers and paid small commission.

1. A well known pioneer of mass production was the car manufacturer, ‘Henry Ford’.
 2. He adopted an assembly line technique of a slaughter house.
 3. He realized that the ‘Assembly line’ method would allow a faster and cheaper way of producing vehicles.
 4. This method forced workers to repeat a single task mechanically and continuously
 5. This was a way of increasing output per worker by speeding up the pace of work.
 6. This doubling go daily wages was considered ‘best cost – cutting decision’ he had ever made