CBSE Class 10 Social Science History The Making of a Global World Assignment

Brief Concepts of the Lesson - Trade is the activity of buying selling or exchanging goods or services between people firms or countries.
Indentured labour—A bonded labourer under contract to work for an employer for a specific amount to work for an employer for a specific amount of time to pay off his passage to a new country or home.
Tariff – Tax imposed on a country’s imports from the rest of the world. Tariff are levied at the point of entry i.e. the border or the airport.
Corn laws—The laws allowing the British Govt. to restrict the import of corn were popularly known as the corn laws.
Assembly line production – The assembly line is a manufacturing process in sequential manner to added to a product in sequential manner to create a finished product.

Objective Questions

Very Short Answer Type Questions  

Question :  What was the importance of the Indian trade for the British?
Answer : 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.

Question : How Bretton Woods System Worked?
Answer : 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.

Question : What were the effects of the British Government’s decision to abolish the corn laws?
Answer : 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.

Question :  What were the advantages of invention of refrigerated ship?
Answer : 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.
5. Better living conditions promoted social peace within the country and support for imperialism abroad.

Question : Describe any five factors that led to the end of the Bretton Woods System and the beginning of globalisation.
Answer : The five factors are : (i) Decline in economic power of the USA.

(a) US dollar no longer commanded confidence.

(b) US dollar could not maintain its value in relation to gold.

(c) Collapse of fixed exchange rates on floating exchange rates.

(ii) Change in the international finance : The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were created to meet the financial needs of the industrial countries. International financial system changed, and developing countries were forced to borrow from western commercial banks.

(iii) Unemployment in industrialised countries : Industrial world was hit by unemployment. The number of unemployed started rising and people travelled long distances looking for any work they could find.

(iv) Shifting to production enterprises : MNCs shifted their production units to Asian countries because of abundant labour and low wages.

(v) Changes in China : China became an attractive destination for investment by foreign MNCs.

Question : How did Rinderpest become instrumental in subjugating the Africans?
Answer : (i) The loss of 90% of the cattle destroyed African livelihood.

(ii) Planters, mine owners and colonial government now successfully monopolised what little cattle resources remained, to strengthen their power and forced Africans into the labour market.

(iii) Control over the scarce resource of cattle enabled European colonisers to conquer and subdue Africa.

Question : 19th century indenture had been described as a new system of slavery. Explain the statement briefly.
Answer : New system of slavery :

(i) Recruiting agents tempted the poor people by giving false information about the nature of work, final destinations, living and working conditions, mode of travel, etc.

(ii) Less willing workers were, at times, forcibly abducted by the agents.

(iii) On arrival at the plantations, when labourers found conditions to be different, many of them escaped into the wilds while other developed new forms of individual and collective self expression.

Question : Write any three factors responsible for indentured labour migration from India.
Answer : Factors responsible for indentured labour migration from India :

(i) In the mid-19th century, cottage industries declined, land rents rose, lands were cleared for mines and plantations. This affected poor people because they were highly indebted and were forced to migrate for work.

(ii) Temptations : As the agents provided false information about final destinations, nature of work and living and working conditions, many poor people were tempted to go and work.

(iii) In order to escape poverty or oppression at home and in villages, many migrants agreed to work.

Question : ‘The First World War was a war like no other’. Explain any three features about the war to support the statement.
Answer : (i) It involved the world’s leading industrial nations.

(ii) This was was the first modern industrial war. Machine guns, tanks, aircrafts, chemical weapons, were used on a massive scale.

(iii) Most of those who were maimed were young and men of working age. The scale of death and destruction was great. These deaths and injuries reduced the workforce.

(iv) Industries during the war were restructured to produce war-related products.

(v) The war led to the snapping of economic links between the world’s largest economic powers which were now fighting with each other. The war transformed the US from being an international debtor to an international creditor.

Question : What was the impact of industrialisation in Britain and on the Indian economy? Explain.
Answer : The Industrial Revolution in England became an important cause of India's poverty. (i) The Industrial Revolution enabled England to produce more goods than needed there. So the Indian markets were flooded by the machines made goods from England. As a result of this, India which was at one time an exporting country was reduced to a big consumer of the English goods.

Question : Explain the destruction caused during the Second World War. Mention two crucial influences which shaped post-war reconstruction
Answer : (i) Unlike earlier wars, most of the deaths took place outside the battlefields.

(ii) More civilians than soldiers died from war.

(iii) Vast parts of Asia and Europe were devastated.

(iv) Cities were destroyed.

(v) There was immense amount of economic devastation. Two crucial influences: First : U.S’s emergence as military power in the western world. Second : Dominance of the Soviet Union.

Question : Describe the contribution of indentured labours towards the cultural fusion in emerging global world.

Answer : Indentured labour made a huge contribution towards cultural fusion.
(i) Cultural fusion is a phenomenon, which emerges when two or more cultures inter-mingle and produce a new culture.

(ii) Indentured labourers used to live and work in very harsh conditions. This forced them to seek new avenues of comfort and relaxation. This blended different cultural forms.

(iii) Examples : (a) Hosay : In Trinidad, the annual Muharram procession was transformed into a riotous carnival called ‘Hosay’ in which workers of all races and religions joined.

(b) Chutney Music : It is another creative contemporary expression of the post indentured experience.

(c) Rastafarianism : The protest religion of ‘Rastafariansim’ is also said to reflect social and cultural links with Indian migrants to the Carribean.

Question : What attracted the Europeans to Africa? Give any three reasons.
Answer : (i) Europeans were attracted due to the resources of land and minerals of Africa.

(ii) They came to Africa to establish plantations and exploit mines.

(iii) African countries were militarily weak and backward. So, it was easy to conquer them.

Question : State three reasons why Europeans fled to America in the 19th century.

Answer : Europeans fled to America in the 19th century because :

(i) Until the 19th century, power 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.

(iv) In America, plantations were growing cotton and sugar for the European market. These plantations were worked on by slaves.

Question : “Indian trade had played a crucial role in the late nineteenth century world economy.” Analyze the statement.
Answer : The role on Indian economy in the nineteenth century world economy can be explained as follows :

(i) India was a major exporter of raw materials to Britain most importantly items such as cotton, spices, indigo etc.

(ii) Indian markets were flooded with the British manufactured goods, giving huge profits to the British companies.

(iii) There was a trade surplus for Britain while trading with India. This trade surplus was used in many ways by Britain. This was used to pay for the private remittances by the British officials.

(iv) Not only with Britain, India also traded with China mainly in opium.

(v) In the nineteenth century, thousands of Indian labourers went to work on plantations in mines and in rood and railway construction projects around the world as indentured labor.

Question : Describe the impact of ‘Rinderpest’ in Africa in the 1890s.
Answer : Rinderpest or cattle -plague was the fastspreading and devastating disease of cattle. Rinderpest 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 to the west like forest fire reaching Africa’s Atlantic coast in 1892.It killed 90% of the cattle on the way. It affected the Africans in following ways:

(i) 90% of cattle were killed.

(ii) The loss of cattle destroyed African livelihoods.

(iii) Earlier people rarely worked for a wage. They possessed land and livestock. Due to Rinderpest, they were forced to work for wages and so it affected the economy.

(iv) Colonial government forced the Africans into labor market.

(v) Thus, this worked as a gods gift to the colonizers as now they could easily have cheap labor to meet their colonial needs.

Question : “Trade and cultural exchange always went hand in hand”. Explain the statement in the light of silk routes.
Answer : (i) The silk routes are a good example of vibrant pre-modern trade and cultural links between distant parts of the world.

(ii) The name ‘silk routes’ points to the importance of west-bound Chinese silk cargoes along this route. Precious metals — gold and silver, etc. flowed from Europe to Asia. Chinese potteries, textiles from China and spices from India were traded.

(iii) Various food item offer very good examples of long distance cultural exchanges.

(iv) Christian missionaries, Muslim preachers and Buddhist monks travelled through this route.

Question : After 19th century, how did the indentured labourers discover their own ways of survival? Explain?
Answer : (i) Initially the indentured labourers found it difficult to adjust to the harsh living conditions of the plantation. But very soon they discovered new ways of survival.

(ii) They developed new forms of individual and collective self expression, blended art, cultural forms, old and new.

(iii) In Trinidad, the cultural Muharram Procession was transformed into a riotous carnival called ‘Hosay’ in which workers of all races and religions joined.

(iv) The protest-religion ‘Rastafarianism’ is also said to reflect social and cultural links with Indian migrants to the Caribbean

(v) ‘Chutney music’ popular in Trinidad and Guyana is another creative expression of the post indenture experience.