Q.1   Explain what we man when we say that the World “Shrank” in the 1500 s?   

1. The word ‘Shrank’ stands for increased interaction among the people of various continents of the world.

2. Before 1500 s there was not much inter connectedness, trade and commerce among the residents of various containents.

3. But after 1500s the commercial cultural exchange of ideas and people increased in the continents of the world that stretched from America to the Asia through Europe and Africa.

Activity (Page 83)

Q.1 Prepare a flow chart to show  how Britain’s decision to import food led to increased migration to America and Australia.

Q.2  Imagine that you are an agricultural worker who has arrived in America from Ireland. Write a paragraph on why you choose to come and how you are earning you living.

Hi! I am mack (supposed name), I am  from Ireland. I have come to America. I was a peasant in Ireland. But I had to migrate to America. He main reason behind this was the unemployment  of peasants in Ireland. This occurred due to the import of chapter food items in our country. Thus, we were out berated by the imported food grain and became unemployed. Then I decided to migrate to America, as here peasants were required to work on large farms, and I got employment. In America I live near my employer’s farm. I work in his field and grow crops. In this way I earn my living.

Discuss (Page 88)

Q.3 Discuss the importance of language and popular traditions in the creation of national identity.

1. A person is identified by his language and traditional practices because the language that he speaks belongs to a nation, his motherland. It is the nation which is important than an individual.

2. Also the language and traditional practices of a land or territory develop in a long time, thus get firmly established.

3. People are born and die but language and traditions stay . They are always alive.

4. They give an identity to an indivual, wherever he goes.

Therefore, the  language and popular traditions are important in creating national identity of an individual .

Discuss (Page 99)

Q.4  Briefly summaries the two lessons learnt by economists and politicians from the inter- war economic experience?

The inter-war economic experience was very bad.

1. Most of the countries were devastated and cities were destroyed.

2. The economists and politicians learned that they had to ensure economic stability of the industrial countries.

3. Also they understood the interdependence of national economies all over the world.

Hence , they drew up an internationally accepted framework to recover and consolidate the world economy

Exercise

Write in Brief :

Q.5 Give two examples of different types of global exchanges which took place before the seventeenth century, choosing one example from Asia and one from Americas.

The global exchanges that took place before the seventeenth century from Aisa and Americas were as under :

1. Silk Trade from Aisa (China) to the western countries of Europe.

2. Food items such as potatoes , soya groundnuts , maize tomatoes, chilies etc. were grown in America and eaten up all over the world.

Q.6 Explain how the global transform of disease in the premodern world helped in colonization of Americase.

1. Because of their long isolation from the rest of the world the continents of Americal were not immune to the disease like smallpox, which spread there when the European traders began to colonise them.

2. Thus the European power did not have to use military weapons to conquer the inhabitants of Americas.

3. It was deadly disease that killed and decimated thole communities of Americas.

Thus , the disease paved way for the conquest of Americas.

Q.7   Write a note to explain the effects of the following :

(a)  The British government’s decision to abolish Corn laws.

(b) The coming of rider pest to Africa.

(c) The death of men of working age in Europe because of the world war.

(d) The Great Depression on the Indian economy.

(e) The decision of MNCs to relocate production to Aisant countries.

(i)  When corn laws were scraped in Britain, import of food items began. This imported food was cheaper than what was produced there.

(ii) This imbalance led to land remaining uncultivated and unemployment of many men and women in Britain. They began to mirgrate out of Britain.

(i)  The cattle plague or the rinderpest was a disease spread by the Asian  cattle taken to Africa by its Europea colonizers. The disease infected  the African cattle and within no time the African cattle died in  thousands of number. This destroyed the African economic system  which was based upon cattle and land.

(ii) Thus, unemployed African people were forced to work on European plantations and mines. In this way Africa was colonized.

(i) The death of men of working age in Europe because of the world war  reduced the able bodied workforce in Europe.

(ii) With fewer numbers within the family, household incomes declined after the war.

(i)  India economic conditions worsened due to the great depression.

(ii) Peasants and farmers incurred heavy losses as prices of raw materials  fell due to lesser export of it.

(iii) They also came under heavy debts.

(iv) On the other hand, urban India dwellers where lead hit by the depression, because they had enough money to survive the economic slump.

(i)  The world’s  economic geography changed when the MNCs decided   to relocated production operation to Asian countries.

(ii) It was done because Asian countries like China offered low wage labour in abundance.

Q.4  Give two examples from history to show the impact of technology on food availability.

The history is full of instances that show how the technology has influenced the food availability. For example,

1. The invention of refrigerated ships made the trade of meat and perishable food items cheaper and the prices of meat declined.

2. Faster railways, lighter wagons and larger ships helped moved food more cheaply and quickly from faraway farms to final markets .

Q.5  What is meant by the Bretton Woods Agreement?

1. The Bretton Woods Agreement is a framework that was drawn up by the international participation of industrial countries.

2. It was carved out to recover and consolidate the encomic recover in the post war era.

3. Its main objective was to establish economic stability in the world.

4. The Brettom Woods agreement was concluded after learning the economic instability of one country influences the others, as the countries were inter- dependent.

Discuss

Q.6 Imagine that you are an indentured India labourer in the Caribbean. Drawing from the details in this chapter, write a letter to your family describing you life and feelings.

Hello Riyaz,

Namaste

I am well here and hope same for you all. Here, in the Caribbean, the situation has changed very musch from what was told to me before my departure from India. Here, the promises made at the time of departure have come down crushing. There is no boarding, living, eating or medical facilities.

I have to live at the farm only. The work load is more than my capacity. Daily targets of the work could not be matched. On falling short at output or making any mistake. I have to undergo penalty, sometimes severe punishements. My life have been miserable here. I was  better at home. I would like to return home as soon as my contract expires.

Regards

Your ABC

Q.7 Explain the three types of movements or flows within inter-national economic exchange. Find one example of each type of flow which involved India and Indians and write a short account of it. 

1. The three types of movement or flows within international economic exchange were as under.

2. Flow of trade or trade in goods such as clothes or wheat.

3. Flow of labour.

4. Flow of capital.

5. Goods, labour and capital were moving around the world.

6. The countries were actively involved in export and import of goods. This generated the employment opportunities.

7. Hence, labour force was also on the move from one country to the another, These movements were ultimately dependent and generated the opportunities of capital investment.

8. Therefore, bankers capitalists invested in plantations, mines and industries not only in their native countries but also in other countries of world.

9. India and Indians could not remain uninvolved in these flows of movements.

The following examples prove this:

1. Flow of trade from India – Indian raw materials like raw cottons, were world famous goods. They were in high demand in Britain . Therefore , Indian participated in the flow of trade.

2. Flow of labour From India – After the discovery of Americas, European powers, especially Britain though of cultivating vast land resources. They required labour to till the land. Once again Indians were involved. Under the system of indentured labour, Indians were migrated to the new found lands on contract basis.

3. Flow of capital from India – Indian bankers organized an indigenous corporate system. They invested money not only in India but also in Africa. Other European colonies, and beyond some of the Indian capitalists were shikaripuri Shroffs, Nattu Kottai Chettiars and Hyderabadi Sindhi traders.

Q.8  Explain the causes of Great Depression.

The great Depression began around 1929 and lasted till 1930. It was the period between the two world wars.

1. After the first world War, US emerged as international debtor. Its economy bommed due to mass production and consumption and capital flow in and outside US. But this boom did not last for long.

2. As soon as the boom ended the prices of agricultural products declined, peasants incurred losses and debts. The whole banking system of US fall down on its kness.

3. The international economy, which largely depended upon the money from US, also got highly disturbed and thus began the great economic depression all over the world.

4. Therefore , agricultural over- production and withdrawal of US investments from wold market led to the Great Depression.

Q.9 Explain what is referred to as the G-77 countries. In what ways can G-77 be seen as a reaction to the activities of the Bretton Woods twins?

1. G-77 is a group of developing countries who work together to achieve new International Economic order (NIEO).

2. The unsatisfactory services of IMF and the world Bank, (the Bretton Woods twins) to the newly independent countries led to the emergence of G-77.

3. After their independence poor countries were offered financial aid by the Bretton Woods twins.

4. But at the same time, their natural resources were also controlled by “twins” in the counter of investments made.

5. Thus the developing countries who wished to develop on the lines of developed industrial countries, did not find it easy to cope up with conditions of “twins”.

Hence, there occurred a reaction and G-77 came into existence.

Project

Q.10 Find out more about gold and diamond mining in South Africa in the nineteenth century. Who controlled the gold and diamond companies? Who were the miners and what were their lives like?

1. During the 19^th century in South Africa, gold was discovered in Johannesburg and diamonds in Kimberly. Soon Europan migrants began mining of gold and diamonds in South Africa, when from 1886 onwards, mining business became highly profitable. This can be attested by the data that South Africa was producing world’s 27% gold from 1886 to 1914 (the year of First World War).

2. Cecil Rhodes was the first European to create a gold and diamond mining monopoly buying up land and forming De Beers, today World’s largest diamond producing company.

3. Mining company were controlled by Europeans and Americans , as many of white settlers migrated to South Africa ; with desire of making huge profits in the mining industry. They also introduced technological advances and deep mining techniques so that profits could be increased.

4. The workers on the mining fields were African natives, and most of them igrated to South Africa, from other parts and colonial states of African continents.

The mining worker lived a miserable life. For example :

1. They were paid ten times lower wages than the white workmen.

2. Apartheid (racism) : The discovery of gold and diamonds in Sourthern Africa led to apartheid (racism) from as early as 1889.

3. In 1889 chamber of mines was formed by European industrial nations mainly to reduce African wages. This was to increase the profitability of mines. This increased racial attack on African blacks, as they were a dissatisfied lot and lives miserable lives.

Additional Questions

Short Answer Type Questions (30 Words)

Q.1   What are the main elements of globalization?

The main elements of globalization are trade, migration of people in search of job, movement of capital and much else.

Q.2   Was travelling an important activity? If yes, how?

1. Travelling was an important activity in the past.

2. From accident times travelers, traders, priests and pilgrims traveled vast distance for knowledge, opportunity and spiritual fulfillment or to escape persecution.

Q.3  What did travelers carry? Give an example.

1. The travelers carried goods, money , values, skills, ideas inventions and even germs and diseases.

2. For example, about 3000 years ago there existed coastal trade between Indus valley civilizations with present day West Asia.

Short Answer Type Questions (60-80 Words)

Q.4  Did the silk routes had religious significance?

Yes, the silk routes had a great religious significance. For example

1. Buddhaism, that emerged in eastern India, spread in several directions through intersecting points along the silk routes.

2. Similarly, later on, Christianity and Islam also got promoted and spread as their missionaries travelled along the silk routes.

Long Answer Type Question (100-125 words)

Q.5  What were the results of ‘Shrinking’ of the world from 16^th century onwards?

The ‘Shrinking’ of the world from 16^th century onwards, resulted into many developments. These were as under:

1. Americas (North South America and Caribbean Islands) were discoverd.

2. Americas were colonized by the ruropean powers.

3. Sea trade route through Indian ocean was also discovered by the ruropean sailors.

4. This led to the expansion and redirection of Asian trade towards Europe.

5. China, isolated and restricted itself from overseas contacts.

6. Due to this , the centre fo trade got shifted from China towards West i.e., in Europe.

7. The gold and silver mines of South American countries like Peru, El Dorado and Mexico got exposed to the European powers.

8. Smallpox, a deadly disease also spread into American continents through European soldiers.