THE MAKING OF A GLOBAL WORLD
VERY SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS [1 MARKS]
1. Who discovered the continent of America?
Answer:
America was discovered by Christopher Columbus.
2. Which European country first conquered America?
Answer:
The Spanish first conquered America.
3. Which powerful weapon was used by Spanish to conquer America?
Answer:
Germs of smallpox were used by the Spanish to conquer America.
4. Name two countries which were world's richest countries till the 18th century.
Answer:
India and China.
5. What were Corn Laws?
Answer:
Under pressure from the landed groups, government restricted the import of corn. The laws
allowing the government to do this are known as Corn Laws.
6. How was the transport of perishable foods possible over long distances?
Answer:
Refrigerated ships, enabled the transport of perishable food over long distances.
7. Why did the big European powers meet in Berlin in 1885?
Answer:
In 1885 the big European powers met at Berlin to complete the division of Africa among
themselves.
8. What was rinderpest? When did it arrive in Africa?
Answer:
Rinderpest was a kind of cattle plague. It arrived in Africa in 1890s.
9. What is indentured labour?
Answer:
It is a bonded labour who had agreed under contract to work for an employer for a specific period
and to pay his passage to a new country or home.
10. What were the main destinations of Indian indentured migrants?
Answer:
Indentured Indian migrants were taken to Caribbean islands (mainly Trinidad, Guyana and
Surinam) Mauritius and Fiji.
11. What was 'Hosay'?
Answer:
The Muharram procession in Trinidad turned into a riotous carnival called Hosay (for Imam
Hussain). It took place annually. Workers of all races and religions joined the procession
12. Who popularised Rastafarianism?
Answer:
Rastafarianism was made famous by the Jamaican reggae star Bob Marley. It reflected cultural
links with India.
13. What was Chutney music?
Answer:
Chutney music was popular in Trinidad and Guyana. It is an expression of post-indenture
experience.
14. Name a Nobel Prize winning writer who is a descendant of indentured labour from India?
Answer:
V. S. Naipaul.
15. Which West-Indies cricketers trace their roots to indentured labour migrants from India?
Answer:
Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
16. Who were 'Coolies'?
Answer:
Descendants of Indian indentured labourers were often referred to as coolies in Trinidad.
17. What is meant by trade surplus?
Answer:
Trade surplus means higher value of exports than the value of imports.
18. Who were the ‘Allies’ during the First World War?
Answer:
During the First World War the Allies were Britain, France and Russia. They were, later joined by
the United States.
19. Which country was not a member of the Central Powers?
Answer: Japan.
20. Who adopted the concept of an assembly line to produce automobiles?
Answer: Henry Ford.
21. Who made the best-cost cutting decision?
Answer: Henry Ford.
22. What was the 'hire purchase' system?
Answer:
Hire purchase system means purchase on credit, repaid in weekly or monthly instalments.
23. Name the countries who were members of Axis Powers.
Answer:
The Axis Powers consisted of Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan.
24. Who were the Allies during the Second World War?
Answer:
The Allies consisted of Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the US during the Second World
War.
25. Which institution was established in the Bretton Woods Conference?
Answer:
International Monetary Fund.
26. What was the Bretton Woods System?
Answer:
It was post-war international economic system.
27. What is referred to as the ‘Bretton Woods twins’?
Answer:
The IMF and the World Bank.
28. What is G-77?
Answer:
G-77 is a group of developing countries.
29. Define fixed exchange rates.
Answer:
When exchange rates are fixed and the government intervenes to prevent movement.
30. How were cowries used in the ancient period?
Answer:
Cowries or seashells were used as a form of currency.
SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS [3 MARKS]
31. What lessons were learnt from inter-war economic experiences by the economists and
politicians during the Second World War? Describe.
Answer:
Economists and politicians learnt two key lessons from inter-war economic experiences during
the Second World War:
An industrial society based on mass production cannot be sustained without mass
consumption. But to ensure mass consumption, there was a need for high and stable
incomes. Income could be stable if employment was stable. So stable incomes and
employment were needed.
Markets could not guarantee full employment. Therefore, Government would need to
check fluctuations of prices and provision of employment. Economic stability can be
ensured with the interference of the Government.
The second lesson was a country’s economic links with the outside world. The goal of full
employment could only be achieved if Government had power to control flow of goods,
capital and labour.
32. What role did the ‘Silk route’ play in linking distant parts of the world?
OR
“The silk routes are a good example of vibrant pre-modem trade and cultural links between
distant parts of the world.” Explain how.
Answer:
The routes on which cargoes carried Chinese silk to the west were known as ‘Silk routes’.
(i) Historians have discovered several silk routes over land and by sea, covering vast regions of
Asia and connecting Asia with Europe and North Africa. Even pottery from China, textile and
spices from India and South Asia also travelled the same route.
(ii) In return, precious metals like gold and silver flowed from Europe to Asia. The traders along
with trading items carried knowledge, ideas, values, skills, inventions, lifestyles, food habits,
religious beliefs, etc.
(iii) Culturally, Buddhism emerged from Eastern India and spread in several directions through
the silk routes. Thus, silk route not only played a major role in linking distant parts of the world,
but also promoted pre-modern trade and cultural links.
33. “The new crops could make the difference between life and death”. Explain the above
statement in context of Irish Potato Famine.
Answer:
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.
Ireland’s poorest peasants became so dependent on the potatoes that when disease
destroyed the potato crop in the mid-1840s, hundreds of thousands died of starvation.
Hungry children dug for potatoes in a field that had already been harvested, hoping to
discover some leftovers.
During the Great Irish Potato Famine around ten lakh people died of starvation in Ireland
and double the number emigrated in search of work.
34. ‘Many a times introduction of new crops make the difference between life and death/
Explain the statement with the example of introduction of potato crop in Europe.
Answer:
Foods such as potato which were unknown before were only introduced in Europe and
Asia after Christopher Columbus accidentally discovered the vast continent known as the
Americas.
Sometimes the new crops like potato could make the difference between life and death. It
was with the introduction of the humble potato that Europe’s poor began to eat well, eat
better and live longer.
Ireland’s poor peasants became so dependent on potatoes that when the potato crop was
destroyed by disease in the mid-1840s, hundreds of thousands of peasants died of
starvation.
35. What were the IMF and the World Bank designed for? What made them shift their
attention towards developing countries?
Answer:
The IMF and the World Bank were designed to meet the financial requirements of industrial
countries. They were known as the Bretton Woods Twins. They were not equipped to deal with
the challenges of poverty and lack of development in the former colonies. Fortunately, Europe
and Japan rapidly rebuilt their economies and grew less dependent on the IMF and the World
Bank.
As a result, IMF and the World Bank began to shift their attention more towards developing
countries. The major challenge before the newly independent and developing countries was to
help the majority of the people to come out of the severe poverty. Even after many years of
decolonisation, the former colonial powers still controlled vital resources such as minerals and
land in some of their colonies. Even the US also often enjoyed the rights to exploit natural
resources of the developing countries very cheaply.
The formation of the group of 77 developing countries (G-77) helped these countries to demand a
New International Economic Order (NIEO) that would give them real control over their natural
resources, more development assistance, fairer prices for raw materials and better access for their
manufactured goods in developed countries’ markets.
36. What steps were taken by economists and politicians of the world to meet the global
economic crisis that arose after World War II?
Answer:
The Second World War caused an immense amount of economic devastation and social
disruption. To preserve economic stability and full employment in the industrial world a
Conference was held in 1944 at Bretton Woods, USA. The Bretton Woods Conference
established the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (Popularly known as World Bank) to deal with external surpluses and deficits of its
member nations and to finance post-war reconstruction.
The post-war international economic system is also often described as the Bretton Woods System.
The Bretton Woods System was based on fixed exchange rates. In this system, national currencies
were pledged to the dollar at a fixed exchange rate. The dollar itself was anchored to gold at a
fixed price of $35 per ounce of gold.
The IMF and the World Bank were designed to meet the financial needs of the industrial
countries. But as Europe and Japan rapidly rebuilt their economies, they grew less dependent on
the IMF and the World Bank. Thus from the late 1950s the Bretton Woods institutions began to
shift their attention more towards developing countries. The developing countries which were
former colonies came under the guidance of international agencies dominated by the former
colonial powers.
37. Explain the causes of the Great Depression in the US between 1929-30.
Answer:
There were several factors that had caused the ‘Depression’. Some of those were as follows:
(i) Agricultural Overproduction. Agricultural overproduction remained a problem. Falling of
agricultural prices had made it even worse. As the prices fell, the agricultural income declined. To
meet this situation, farmers brought larger volume of produce to the market to maintain their
small income. The excessive supply couldn’t be sold due to lack of buyers and farm produce
rotted.
(ii) US Loan Crisis. In the mid-1920s, many countries financed their investments through loans
from the US. The overseas lenders panicked at the first sign of trouble. Countries that depended
crucially on US loans faced an acute crisis due to the withdrawal of US loAnswer: It led to the
failure of major banks and collapse of currencies such as the British pound sterling. In Latin
America and elsewhere, it intensified the decline of agricultural and raw material prices. By
doubling import duties, US gave another severe blow to world trade.
38. Describe the effect of the Great Depression on the world? Who were the worst affected by
this depression?
Answer:
The Great Depression began around 1929 and lasted till the mid-1930s. During this period, there
were catastrophic declines in production, employment, incomes and trade. Agricultural regions
and communities were worst affected due to the great fall of agricultural prices.
In the US, farmers could not sell their harvests, households were ruined and businesses collapsed.
Many households in the US could not repay their loans due to fall in their income and were forced
to give up their homes, cars and other consumer durables. Unemployment increased rapidly and
people had to travel long distances in search of work.
The Great Depression’s wider effects on society, politics and international relations and on
peoples needs proved more enduring. The Depression immediately affected Indian trade. India’s
exports and imports halved between 1928 and 1934.
Peasants and farmers suffered more than urban dwellers. Though argicultural prices fell sharply,
the colonial government refused to reduce revenue demands. Peasants producing for the world
market were the worst hit. Across India, peasants indebtedness increased.
39. “The relocation of industry to low-wage countries stimulated world trade and capital
flows.” Justify the statement.
Answer:
The industrial world was hit by unemployment that began rising from the mid 1970s and
remained till 1990s. From the late 1970s, MNCs began to shift production operations to low-wage
Asian countries. New Economic policies in China and collapse of the Soviet Union and
communication in Eastern Europe brought many countries back into the world economy.
Wages were relatively low in countries like China. The became attractive destinations for
investments by foreign MNCs competing to capture world market.
Thus the relocation of industry to low-wage countries stimulated world trade and capital flow.
40. Why did the developing countries organize the G-77? Give three reasons.
Answer:
(i) The formation of the G-77 was a response to certain changes in the international financial
system proposed by the Bretton Woods Conference. The IMF and the World Bank (Bretton
Woods Twins) were designed to meet the financial requirements of industrial countries. Although
there was unprecedented growth in the West and Japan, nothing was done about the poverty and
lack of development in the countries which were earlier colonies.
(ii) The developing countries did not benefit from the fast growth the western economies
experienced under the guidance of the World Bank and the IMF. Thus, there arose a need for the
developing nations to organise themselves into the G-77 group to demand a New International
Economic Order.
(iii) The formation of the New International Economic Order (NIEO) meant a system that would
give them real control over their natural resources, more development assistance, fairer prices for
raw materials and better access for their manufactured goods in developed countries’ markets.
41. “The pre-modem world changed with the discovery of new sea routes to America. “Give any
three suitable examples to explain the statement.
Answer:
Christopher Columbus discovered the vast continent that later came to be known as America.
With the discovery of America, started the cultural exchange with the original inhabitants of a
vast continent.
Foods like potatoes, maize, tomatoes, chillies, sweet potatoes, which were not known to
people of other continents, were introduced there and became a part of their daily diet.
Precious metals, particularly silver from mines located in present-day Peru and Mexico,
also enhanced Europe’s wealth and financed its trade with Asia.
Slave trade started. European traders captured slaves in Africa and took them to America,
where they worked on plantations. Europe became the centre of World trade.
Religious dissenters were persecuted in Europe. Thousands, therefore fled Europe for
America.
From the sixteenth century, America’s vast lands and abundant crops and minerals began
to transform trade and lives everywhere.
42. ‘Trade flourished and markets expanded in the late 19th century, but there was a darker
side to this process’. Substantiate.
Answer:
Trade flourished and market expanded in the late 19th century. But this was not only a
period of expanding trade and increased property (wealth). There was a darker side to this
process.
In many parts of the world, the expansion of trade and a close relationship with the world
economy also meant a loss of freedom and livelihoods.
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