Extra Questions for Class 10 Social Science History Chapter 3 The Making of a Global World

Q. 1. How did agricultural economies go into a crisis, post war?
Ans. (i) Before the war, eastern Europe was a major supplier of wheat in the world market.
(ii) When this supply was disrupted during the war, wheat production in Canada, America and Australia increased.
(iii) But once the war was over, production in eastern Europe was revived and there was overproduction of wheat. Grain prices fell, rural incomes declined and farmers fell deeper into debt.

Q. 2. Show how the Silk Routes are a good example of pre-modern trade between different countries of the world?
Ans. → Historians have identified several silk routes, over land and by sea, knitting together vast regions of Asia, and linking it with Europe and Northern Africa.
→ Chinese pottery also travelled the same route, as did textiles and spices from India and South East Asia.
→ In return, precious metals like gold and silver flowed from Europe to Asia.

Q. 3. Which factors were responsible for the economic depression of 1929?
Ans. (i) Agricultural overproduction: Agricultural overproduction led to the falling of agricultural prices. As prices fell, agricultural income declined, farmers tried to expand their production and sell more in the market to earn. This worsened the situation as prices further fell, leading to farm produce rotting in the market with lack of buyers.
(ii) Withdrawal of US loans: Many countries financed their investments through loans from US But US overseas lenders panicked at the first sign of trouble. US overseas loans had gone upto $ 1 billion but it reduced to one quarter of that amount and countries depending on US loans now faced an acute crisis.

Q. 4. How did the Bretton Woods system collapse giving birth to Globalisation?
Ans. (i) Despite years of stable and rapid growth, not all was well in the post-war world.
(ii) From the 1960s, the rising cost of US overseas involvement weakened its financial and its competitive strength.
(iii) The US dollar now no longer commanded confidence as the world’s principal currency. It could not maintain its value in relation to gold.
This ultimately led to the collapse of fixed exchange rates and the introduction of a system of floating exchange rates.

Q. 5. What was the most powerful weapon that the Spanish used to conquer America?
Ans. → The most powerful weapon was the germs such as those of smallpox.
→ Because of their long isolation, America’s original inhabitants had no immunity against these diseases that came from the Europe.
→ Smallpox in particular, proved to be a deadly killer disease.

Q. 6. How did food travel from one country to another? Give some examples.
Ans. Food offers many examples of cultural exchange.
(i) Take spaghetti and noodles. It is believed that noodles travelled west from China to become spaghetti or perhaps, Arab traders took pasta to fifth-century Sicily.
(ii) Many of our common foods such as potatoes, soya, groundnuts, maize, tomatoes, chillies, sweet potatoes, etc., were not known to our ancestors but these foods were introduced in Asia and Europe after Christopher Columbus discovered America.
(iii) Sometimes, the new crops could make the difference between life and death. Europe’s poor began to eat better and live longer with the introduction of the humble potato.

Q. 7. Why did thousands of people flee from Europe to America?
Ans. (i) Until the 19th century, poverty and hunger was common in Europe.
(ii) Cities were crowded and deadly diseases were widespread.
(iii) Religious conflicts were common and dissenters were persecuted.

Q. 8. How did healthy trade practices lead to colonialism?
Ans. (i) In many parts of the world, the expansion of trade and a closer relationship with the world economy also meant a loss of freedom and livelihood.
(ii) European powers in Africa divided this country amongst themselves with ‘paper partition’, i.e., borders of these countries run straight as drawn by a ruler. This division was made without the permission of these African countries.
(iii) Britain and France made vast additions to their colonies in the late 19th century. Belgium and Germany became new colonial powers and US also became a colonial power by taking over the colonies earlier held by Spain.

Q. 9. How did Europeans handle the problem of shortage of labour in Africa?

Ans. (i) Heavy taxes were imposed on Africans, which could be paid only by working for wages on plantations and mines.
(ii) Inheritance laws were changed so that peasants were displaced from their lands. Only one member of a family was allowed to inherit land, as a result of which the others were pushed into the labour market.

Q. 10. What agricultural changes took place in India?
Ans. (i) In west Punjab, in India, the British Indian government built a network of irrigation canals to transform semi-desert wastes into fertile agricultural lands that could grow wheat and cotton for export.
(ii) These were ‘Canal Colonies’, where areas were irrigated by the new canals and were settled by peasants from other parts of Punjab.

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