Class 10 : Social Science (In English) – Lesson 3. The Making of a Global World
EXPLANATION & SUMMARY
🔵 Introduction
The world we live in today is interconnected through trade, culture, technology, and ideas. But this process of globalization has a long history. The chapter “The Making of a Global World” traces how the modern world economy emerged, how different societies came into contact, and how exchanges shaped politics, culture, and economics.
🟢 Early Global Exchanges (Pre-16th Century)
🌿 Food as a link: Before modern trade, food items like potatoes, maize, and tomatoes travelled from the Americas to Europe and Asia. These new crops increased food security and supported population growth.
💡 Silk Routes: Ancient trade routes, called Silk Routes, connected Europe, Asia, and Africa. Along with silk and spices, they carried ideas, technologies, and even diseases.
⚡ Cultural exchange: Religions like Buddhism spread from India to other parts of Asia through these trade connections.
🔴 16th to 18th Century – Voyages and Colonies
➡️ European exploration: After Columbus’s voyage (1492), European countries explored new lands in the Americas, Asia, and Africa.
✏️ Conquest of Americas: Spain and Portugal colonized large parts of South America, exploiting resources like silver and gold.
🧠 Impact on Europe: Precious metals from the Americas increased wealth in Europe, fuelling trade and industrial growth.
🌿 Slave trade: Millions of Africans were captured and transported to work on plantations in the Americas. This was one of the darkest chapters of global exchange.
🟡 19th Century – Global Economy Takes Shape
✔️ Industrial Revolution: In Britain and later other parts of Europe, new machines and industries transformed production.
💡 Need for raw materials: Colonies like India supplied raw cotton, jute, and indigo to European factories.
➡️ Transport & communication: Railways, steamships, and telegraphs connected distant regions faster.
⚡ Free trade vs. protectionism: Britain promoted free trade, but colonies were forced into unequal economic relationships.
🌍 Migration: People moved in large numbers:
Europeans to America and Australia.
Indians and Chinese as indentured labourers to sugar, tea, and rubber plantations.
🔵 Impact on Colonies like India
✏️ De-industrialization: India’s handicraft industries declined due to machine-made imports from Britain.
🌿 Shift to agriculture: Farmers were forced to grow cash crops (like indigo, cotton) instead of food crops.
🧠 Famines: Scarcity of food led to devastating famines in India.
✔️ Railways & roads: Built mainly to serve colonial trade interests, not for local benefit.
🟢 First World War and Its Aftermath
💡 Global conflict: The war (1914–1918) involved most of the world’s powerful nations and disrupted trade.
🌿 Economic impact:
Shortages of food and resources.
Inflation and unemployment.
⚡ Rise of the US: The United States emerged as a strong economic power after the war.
🧠 Treaty of Versailles: Punished Germany severely, leading to future instability.
🔴 Great Depression (1929–1939)
🌍 Crash of 1929: The New York Stock Exchange collapsed, spreading economic crisis worldwide.
✔️ Impact on production & trade:
Industrial output fell.
Global trade shrank.
💡 Impact on India:
Prices of agricultural goods dropped.
Farmers faced heavy losses.
But poor peasants could buy cheap goods, showing mixed effects.
🟡 Second World War and New Economic Order
⚡ World War II (1939–1945): Another global conflict, worse than WWI.
🌿 Post-war recovery: Countries realized the need for international cooperation.
💡 Institutions created:
IMF (International Monetary Fund)
World Bank
These aimed to stabilize the global economy.
🧠 Decolonization: After the war, Asian and African colonies gained independence and sought to build their own economies.
🔵 Globalization in the Late 20th Century
✔️ End of colonialism: Independent nations tried to protect their economies, but gradually opened up to world markets.
🌍 New technologies: Computers, internet, and modern transport made global connections faster.
➡️ Global interdependence: Modern globalization linked production and consumption across continents.
✏️ Challenges: Inequalities between developed and developing nations remained.
🟢 Conclusion
The making of the global world was not a single event, but a long historical process. From ancient Silk Routes to modern globalization, human societies have always been connected. But these connections brought both opportunities (trade, growth, cultural exchange) and challenges (exploitation, inequality, wars).
📝 Summary (~200 words)
🌍 Globalization has deep roots, beginning with ancient Silk Routes.
🌿 Food & cultural exchanges shaped societies across continents.
✏️ 16th century voyages led to colonization, slave trade, and wealth transfer to Europe.
💡 19th century Industrial Revolution linked colonies like India into a global economy, but caused de-industrialization and famines.
⚡ First World War disrupted trade; the US rose as an economic power.
🔴 Great Depression (1929) devastated global economies, especially agricultural nations.
🌿 Second World War further damaged economies, but also led to institutions like IMF and World Bank.
🧠 Decolonization allowed Asian and African nations to shape their economies.
✔️ Late 20th century globalization—driven by technology and communication—connected the world more closely, but inequalities remain.
📝 Quick Recap
🔵 Ancient Silk Routes → trade + ideas + culture.
🟢 16th–18th century → colonies, slave trade, wealth to Europe.
🔴 19th century → Industrial Revolution, migration, Indian de-industrialization.
🟡 20th century → WWI, Depression, WWII, IMF & World Bank.
🌍 Late 20th century → globalization, tech, interdependence, inequality.
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QUESTIONS FROM TEXTBOOK
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🔵 Question 1:
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:
🌿 From Asia, the Silk Routes connected China, India, Central Asia, and Europe. Along these routes, traders exchanged silk, spices, porcelain, and precious stones. These goods travelled widely, enriching distant societies. The Silk Routes also became channels for the spread of cultural ideas, technologies, and even religions such as Buddhism.
🌽 From the Americas, after Columbus’s voyage, crops like maize, potatoes, and tomatoes were introduced to Europe, Africa, and Asia. These new food items had long-lasting impacts: potatoes supported population growth in Europe, maize spread to Africa and China, and tomatoes became part of Mediterranean cuisine.
✔️ Thus, exchanges were not limited to goods but also included culture, ideas, and crops that transformed diets and societies globally.
🔵 Question 2:
Explain how the global transfer of disease in the pre-modern world helped in the colonisation of the Americas.
🟢 Answer:
💡 When Europeans arrived in the Americas in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, they carried with them germs such as smallpox, measles, and influenza.
🌿 The indigenous people of the Americas had no immunity to these diseases because they had never been exposed before.
⚡ As a result, entire communities were wiped out. Mortality rates were shockingly high, sometimes destroying up to 90% of local populations.
🧠 This depopulation weakened resistance to European conquest. Societies that might have resisted colonisation were left fragile and fragmented.
✔️ With fewer native people to work, Europeans imported enslaved Africans to meet labour demands on plantations and mines.
➡️ In short, disease acted as an unintentional but powerful weapon that gave Europeans a decisive advantage in colonising the Americas.
🔵 Question 3:
Write a note to explain the effects of the following:
(a) The British government’s decision to abolish the Corn Laws.
🟢 Answer:
🌿 The Corn Laws had imposed restrictions on the import of cheaper foreign grains.
✔️ Their abolition in 1846 allowed Britain to import grain freely.
💡 This made food cheaper for industrial workers, reducing cost of living.
➡️ However, British farmers suffered as they could not compete with cheap imports, leading to rural unemployment and migration to cities.
(b) The coming of rinderpest to Africa.
🟢 Answer:
⚡ Rinderpest was a cattle plague that entered Africa in the late 19th century.
🌿 It destroyed nearly 90% of African cattle.
🧠 This collapse devastated pastoral communities, forcing them into wage labour.
✔️ It made African societies more vulnerable to European colonisation.
(c) The death of men of working-age in Europe because of the World War.
🟢 Answer:
💡 The First World War (1914–18) killed millions of young men.
🌿 Labour shortages appeared in industries and farms.
➡️ Women had to join the workforce in large numbers.
✔️ This changed gender roles and labour patterns permanently.
(d) The Great Depression on the Indian economy.
🟢 Answer:
⚡ Indian farmers faced sharp fall in prices of cash crops like jute, wheat, and cotton.
🌿 Their incomes collapsed, but taxes remained high.
💡 While peasants suffered, poor consumers could buy cheap food.
🧠 Overall, rural India faced deep economic hardship.
(e) The decision of MNCs to relocate production to Asian countries.
🟢 Answer:
🌿 Since the 1970s, many multinational companies shifted production to countries like India, China, and Vietnam.
✔️ They did so because of lower wages and availability of skilled but cheap labour.
⚡ This boosted employment and exports in Asia.
💡 However, working conditions were often poor and exploitative.
🔵 Question 4:
Give two examples from history to show the impact of technology on food availability.
🟢 Answer:
🌿 Improved agriculture: In the 18th and 19th centuries, new agricultural technologies such as mechanical threshers, chemical fertilizers, and improved ploughs increased productivity, leading to more reliable food supply.
⚡ Transport innovations: Steamships and railways allowed food to be transported quickly across great distances. For example, wheat from the United States, Australia, and Russia could reach European markets cheaply.
💡 This global circulation ensured that even if one region suffered famine, others could supply grain, reducing scarcity.
🧠 Thus, technology directly influenced how societies survived and expanded by ensuring food security at larger scales.
🔵 Question 5:
What is meant by the Bretton Woods Agreement?
🟢 Answer:
💡 The Bretton Woods Agreement was signed in July 1944 at Bretton Woods, USA, to design a new international economic system after the Second World War.
🌿 It created two important institutions: the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
✔️ Its aim was to stabilize exchange rates, promote trade, and rebuild war-torn economies.
➡️ Countries agreed to keep their currencies fixed to the US dollar, which was in turn linked to gold.
🧠 This system encouraged global cooperation and post-war recovery, lasting until the early 1970s when it collapsed.
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OTHER IMPORTANT QUESTIONS FOR EXAMS
SECTION A — MCQs (Q1–Q19 here; 1 mark each)
🔵 Question 1: Which ancient network best illustrates early long-distance exchanges among Europe, Asia and Africa?
🟡 Options:
🔵 (A) Triangular Trade
🟢 (B) Silk Routes
🔴 (C) Atlantic Circuit
🟡 (D) Suez Corridor
🟢 Answer: (B) Silk Routes — carried silk/spices/ideas and even religions like Buddhism.
🔵 Question 2: The post-1492 movement of crops like potato, maize and tomato across continents is called:
🟡 Options:
🔵 (A) Green Revolution
🟢 (B) Columbian Exchange
🔴 (C) Industrial Revolution
🟡 (D) Commercial Revolution
🟢 Answer: (B) Columbian Exchange — trans-oceanic crop transfer reshaping diets/populations.
🔵 Question 3: Which crop from the Americas crucially supported European population growth after the 16th century?
🟡 Options:
🔵 (A) Rice
🟢 (B) Potato
🔴 (C) Wheat
🟡 (D) Barley
🟢 Answer: (B) Potato — high yields on poor soils boosted food security.
🔵 Question 4: A major unintended enabler of European conquest in the Americas was the:
🟡 Options:
🔵 (A) Gunpowder monopoly
🟢 (B) Spread of Old-World diseases
🔴 (C) Superior cavalry
🟡 (D) Treaty guarantees
🟢 Answer: (B) Spread of Old-World diseases — smallpox/measles decimated indigenous peoples.
🔵 Question 5: The trans-Atlantic “triangular trade” primarily linked:
🟡 Options:
🔵 (A) Europe–Asia–Australia
🟢 (B) Europe–Africa–Americas
🔴 (C) Asia–Africa–Oceania
🟡 (D) Europe–Asia–Americas via Cape
🟢 Answer: (B) Europe–Africa–Americas — manufactured goods, enslaved Africans, plantation produce.
🔵 Question 6: Which precious metal from American mines (like Potosí) expanded European trade in the 16th–17th centuries?
🟡 Options:
🔵 (A) Copper
🟢 (B) Silver
🔴 (C) Platinum
🟡 (D) Nickel
🟢 Answer: (B) Silver — financed European purchases in Asia and widened global commerce.
🔵 Question 7: The Corn Laws in Britain regulated:
🟡 Options:
🔵 (A) Cotton imports
🟢 (B) Grain imports
🔴 (C) Indigo exports
🟡 (D) Tea taxation
🟢 Answer: (B) Grain imports — their abolition opened the door to cheap foreign wheat.
🔵 Question 8: Abolishing the Corn Laws (1846) mainly led to:
🟡 Options:
🔵 (A) Costlier bread for workers
🟢 (B) Cheaper food; pressure on British farmers
🔴 (C) Rise of protectionism
🟡 (D) End of industrialization
🟢 Answer: (B) Cheaper food; pressure on British farmers — free-trade grain policy.
🔵 Question 9: In the 19th century, which technology most directly enabled rapid long-distance movement of bulk food?
🟡 Options:
🔵 (A) Airships
🟢 (B) Steamships & railways
🔴 (C) Telegraph alone
🟡 (D) Oil pipelines
🟢 Answer: (B) Steamships & railways — cut time/cost of moving grain and meat.
🔵 Question 10: Refrigerated ships chiefly enabled Europe to import:
🟡 Options:
🔵 (A) Tropical timber
🟢 (B) Meat and dairy from temperate zones
🔴 (C) Coal from Australia
🟡 (D) Spices from the Indies
🟢 Answer: (B) Meat and dairy from temperate zones — cold storage transformed diets.
🔵 Question 11: “Indentured labour” in the 19th century refers to:
🟡 Options:
🔵 (A) Free peasant migration to cities
🟢 (B) Contract labourers sent overseas for fixed terms
🔴 (C) Guild apprentices in Europe
🟡 (D) Military recruits from colonies
🟢 Answer: (B) Contract labourers sent overseas for fixed terms — e.g., to Caribbean/Fiji.
🔵 Question 12: A notable 19th-century commodity triangle linking India, China and Britain was:
🟡 Options:
🔵 (A) Cotton–Textiles–Coal
🟢 (B) Opium–Tea–Silver
🔴 (C) Rubber–Tin–Palm oil
🟡 (D) Wool–Wine–Copper
🟢 Answer: (B) Opium–Tea–Silver — opium from India to China; tea to Britain; silver flows.
🔵 Question 13: A key effect of 19th-century British trade on India’s crafts was:
🟡 Options:
🔵 (A) Revival of handlooms
🟢 (B) De-industrialisation of artisanal sectors
🔴 (C) Rise of guild protection
🟡 (D) Autarky
🟢 Answer: (B) De-industrialisation of artisanal sectors — competition from machine-made textiles.
🔵 Question 14: The First World War (1914–18) caused:
🟡 Options:
🔵 (A) Trade expansion and low prices
🟢 (B) Trade disruptions, inflation, labour shortages
🔴 (C) Immediate Great Depression
🟡 (D) End of US influence
🟢 Answer: (B) Trade disruptions, inflation, labour shortages — economies strained by war.
🔵 Question 15: The Great Depression (1929) in India led mainly to:
🟡 Options:
🔵 (A) Rising crop prices and prosperity
🟢 (B) Collapse of agricultural prices and rural distress
🔴 (C) Industrial boom
🟡 (D) Abolition of land revenue
🟢 Answer: (B) Collapse of agricultural prices and rural distress — incomes fell while taxes persisted.
🔵 Question 16: The Bretton Woods system (1944) introduced:
🟡 Options:
🔵 (A) Purely floating exchange rates
🟢 (B) Fixed but adjustable exchange rates anchored to the US dollar
🔴 (C) Barter among nations
🟡 (D) European customs union only
🟢 Answer: (B) Fixed but adjustable exchange rates anchored to the US dollar — plus IMF/World Bank.
🔵 Question 17: Post-1970s, many MNCs moved production to Asia primarily because of:
🟡 Options:
🔵 (A) Rising Asian tariffs
🟢 (B) Lower wages with adequate skills & infrastructure
🔴 (C) Scarcity of labour
🟡 (D) Export bans
🟢 Answer: (B) Lower wages with adequate skills & infrastructure — boosting exports and jobs.
🔵 Question 18: Which statement best captures “globalisation” in the late 20th century?
🟡 Options:
🔵 (A) Isolation of national markets
🟢 (B) Deeper integration of production, trade and finance across countries
🔴 (C) End of technology transfers
🟡 (D) Only cultural exchange, not economic
🟢 Answer: (B) Deeper integration of production, trade and finance across countries.
🔵 Question 19: Rinderpest’s spread in Africa (late 19th c.) primarily resulted in:
🟡 Options:
🔵 (A) Growth of pastoral wealth
🟢 (B) Massive cattle deaths, impoverishment and easier colonial control
🔴 (C) Dairy surplus for export
🟡 (D) End of European interest
🟢 Answer: (B) Massive cattle deaths, impoverishment and easier colonial control.
🔵 Question 20: The US emerged as the strongest economic power mainly after:
🟡 Options:
🔵 (A) The American Civil War
🟢 (B) The First World War
🔴 (C) The Cold War
🟡 (D) The Great Depression
🟢 Answer: (B) The First World War — US industry and finance expanded while Europe weakened.
SECTION B — Very Short Answer (2 marks each; 40 words)
🔵 Question 21: State two ways in which food crops from the Americas changed European societies.
🟢 Answer:
🌿 Potato and maize became staple diets, improving nutrition.
💡 Cheap, abundant food supported population growth and urbanisation.
🔵 Question 22: Why did European powers import enslaved Africans to the Americas?
🟢 Answer:
✔️ Native populations collapsed due to diseases.
➡️ Europeans needed labour for plantations and mines.
🔵 Question 23: Write two consequences of the abolition of Corn Laws in Britain.
🟢 Answer:
⚡ Cheap grain imports lowered bread prices for workers.
🌿 British farmers suffered unemployment due to competition.
🔵 Question 24: State two reasons why rinderpest made African societies vulnerable to colonisation.
🟢 Answer:
🐄 Massive cattle deaths destroyed pastoral economies.
💡 People were forced into wage labour, easing European domination.
SECTION C — Short Answer (3 marks each; 60 words)
🔵 Question 25: Explain the role of Silk Routes in the pre-modern world.
🟢 Answer:
🌿 Carried silk, spices, and precious goods between Asia, Europe, and Africa.
💡 Facilitated cultural exchange, including spread of Buddhism.
⚡ Functioned as links of commerce and ideas long before European voyages.
🔵 Question 26: How did the Industrial Revolution transform global food supplies?
🟢 Answer:
✔️ Mechanisation improved farming outputs.
🌍 Railways/steamships carried surplus to distant markets.
🧠 Refrigerated ships enabled meat/dairy imports, diversifying diets.
🔵 Question 27: Describe three impacts of the First World War on the world economy.
🟢 Answer:
⚡ Disrupted global trade and transport.
🌿 Led to food shortages and inflation.
🧠 US emerged as dominant creditor and industrial power.
🔵 Question 28: Why did the Great Depression create severe problems for Indian farmers?
🟢 Answer:
🌾 Crop prices collapsed, incomes declined.
✔️ Yet colonial revenue demands remained unchanged.
💡 Rural debt and poverty deepened, worsening distress.
🔵 Question 29: Explain three features of the Bretton Woods system.
🟢 Answer:
🌍 Created IMF and World Bank.
💡 Established fixed exchange rates anchored to the US dollar.
✔️ Aimed at post-war reconstruction and trade stability.
SECTION D — Long Answer (5 marks each; 120 words)
🔵 Question 30: Analyse the impact of 19th-century global trade on India’s economy.
🟢 Answer:
🌿 India became a supplier of raw materials like cotton, jute, indigo.
✔️ Traditional handicrafts declined due to machine-made imports.
⚡ Farmers forced to shift from food to cash crops, risking famine.
💡 Colonial railways served export interests, not local needs.
🧠 Overall, India was integrated into the world economy but exploited.
🔵 Question 31: Evaluate the effects of the Great Depression on different social groups in India.
🟢 Answer:
🌾 Rich peasants: crop prices crashed, incomes collapsed.
🌿 Small farmers: trapped in debt, lost lands.
✔️ Landless labourers: found cheap food but no secure jobs.
💡 Urban consumers: benefited from low prices.
🧠 Thus, depression created hardship for producers but mixed effects overall.
🔵 Question 32: Explain how technology reshaped global integration in the 19th century.
🟢 Answer:
✔️ Steamships and railways sped up bulk transport.
⚡ Telegraph improved communication between continents.
🌿 Refrigerated ships expanded meat and dairy trade.
💡 These innovations lowered costs and linked global markets.
🧠 Technology thus deepened interdependence across regions.
🔵 Question 33: Assess the significance of the Bretton Woods system after the Second World War.
🟢 Answer:
🌍 Stabilised currencies via fixed exchange rates.
💡 Funded reconstruction of war-torn economies.
✔️ Encouraged international trade and investment.
🌿 Provided aid to developing nations via World Bank.
⚡ Created US financial dominance until its collapse in 1970s.
SECTION E — Case/Source-Based (4 marks each)
🔵 Question 34 (Case 1):
Read the following excerpt:
“After the Corn Laws were abolished, Britain imported food more cheaply. But this hurt local farmers.”
(i) Why were Corn Laws unpopular with industrial workers? (1)
(ii) How did their abolition help workers? (1)
(iii) Explain one negative effect on rural Britain. (2)
🟢 Answer:
(i) 🌿 They made bread costly.
(ii) ✔️ Abolition lowered food prices, easing worker budgets.
(iii) 💡 British farmers faced unemployment and decline in incomes.
🔵 Question 35 (Case 2):
Read the source:
“The Great Depression hit agricultural prices in India severely.”
(i) What happened to prices of crops like jute/wheat? (1)
(ii) Why could farmers not escape colonial taxes? (1)
(iii) How did the Depression differently affect poor consumers? (2)
🟢 Answer:
(i) ⚡ Prices collapsed.
(ii) ✔️ Land revenue demands stayed rigid.
(iii) 💡 Poor could afford cheap food, though producers suffered badly.
🔵 Question 36 (Case 3):
Read this passage:
“After 1944, institutions like IMF and World Bank aimed to stabilise the post-war global economy.”
(i) Where was the agreement signed? (1)
(ii) Name the two bodies created. (1)
(iii) State two aims of these institutions. (2)
🟢 Answer:
(i) 🌍 Bretton Woods, USA.
(ii) ✔️ IMF and World Bank.
(iii) 💡 To reconstruct economies and maintain currency stability.
SECTION F — Map Skill (5 marks)
🔵 Question 37 (a): On the map of India, locate and label two important centres of the Indian National Movement related to the global economy.
🟢 Answer:
✔️ Bombay (centre of textile trade & nationalist activities).
🌿 Calcutta (jute industry, colonial export hub).
🔵 Question 37 (b): On the outline map of the world, identify and label three major regions linked to 19th-century trade.
🟢 Answer:
🌍 Britain (industrial imports/exports hub).
🌿 India (supplier of raw cotton/indigo).
⚡ Americas (source of food grains and raw materials).
For Visually Impaired Students: Instead of maps, attempt —
(i) Name any two Indian cities important in colonial exports.
(ii) Name three regions globally connected in 19th-century trade.
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MIND MAPS
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