Class 10 Social Science Notes Chapter 4 (The making of a global world) – India and Contempory World-II Book

Alright class, let's delve into Chapter 4, 'The Making of a Global World'. This chapter is crucial as it explains how our world became interconnected through trade, migration, capital flows, and the exchange of ideas over centuries. Understanding this long history of globalization is vital, not just for your exams, but for comprehending the world we live in today.

Detailed Notes: The Making of a Global World (Class 10 History, Ch-4)

1. The Pre-Modern World:

• Globalization is not new: Interactions through trade, migration, movement of capital, and ideas have existed for thousands of years.
• Ancient Connections:
  • Travellers, Traders, Priests, Pilgrims: Travelled vast distances for knowledge, opportunity, spiritual fulfillment, or to escape persecution. They carried goods, money, values, skills, ideas, inventions, and even germs and diseases.
  • Indus Valley Civilisation: Had active coastal trade links with present-day West Asia as early as 3000 BCE.
  • Silk Routes: The most famous example of pre-modern trade and cultural links. These routes (plural – land and sea) connected vast regions of Asia, linking Asia with Europe and northern Africa.
    • Goods: Chinese pottery, Indian textiles and spices travelled west. Precious metals (gold, silver) flowed from Europe to Asia.
    • Cultural Exchange: Buddhism spread from eastern India along these routes. Christian missionaries and later Muslim preachers also used these paths.
• Food Travels:
  • Food offers examples of long-distance cultural exchange.
  • Noodles likely travelled west from China to become spaghetti.
  • Common foods like potatoes, soya, groundnuts, maize, tomatoes, chillies, sweet potatoes were unknown in Eurasia until Christopher Columbus accidentally discovered the Americas (around 500 years ago).
  • Impact: The introduction of the humble potato significantly improved European diets, leading to longer life spans. However, dependence on it led to disaster, like the Irish Potato Famine (mid-1840s) when disease destroyed the crop.
• Conquest, Disease, and Trade:
  • The Indian Ocean had bustling trade routes long before Europeans arrived.
  • European exploration (16th century onwards) dramatically shrank the pre-modern world.
  • America's Discovery: Opened up vast lands and resources. Precious metals (silver) from mines in Peru and Mexico enhanced Europe's wealth and financed trade with Asia.
  • Role of Disease: Europeans' most potent weapon was not military power but germs like smallpox. Native Americans had no immunity to diseases brought from Europe. Smallpox decimated entire communities, paving the way for European conquest.
  • Until the 19th century, poverty and hunger were common in Europe. Cities were crowded, and religious conflicts frequent. Many Europeans migrated to America seeking better opportunities.

2. The Nineteenth Century (1815-1914): A World Economy Takes Shape

• Three Flows (Identified by Economists):
  1. Flow of Trade: Primarily in goods (e.g., cloth, wheat).
  2. Flow of Labour: Migration of people seeking employment.
  3. Flow of Capital: Short-term and long-term investments over distances.
• Factors Shaping the 19th Century World Economy:
  • Industrial Revolution & Food Demand: Industrial growth in Britain led to higher incomes and increased food demand. Urbanisation also fueled this demand. Pressure from landed groups forced the government to restrict corn imports initially (Corn Laws).
  • Abolition of Corn Laws: Industrialists and urban dwellers forced the abolition of these laws. This led to cheaper food imports into Britain.
    • Consequences: British agriculture couldn't compete; vast lands were left uncultivated, people migrated to cities or overseas (America, Australia).
  • Global Agriculture: To meet British demand, lands were cleared, and food production expanded in Eastern Europe, Russia, America, and Australia. This required capital and labour, leading to increased capital flow (from London) and migration (nearly 50 million Europeans emigrated).
  • Role of Technology: Key inventions transformed the 19th-century world:
    • Railways: Linked agricultural regions to ports, facilitated internal movement.
    • Steamships: Moved goods and people across oceans faster and in larger volumes.
    • Telegraph: Instant communication across continents.
    • Refrigerated Ships (late 1870s): Allowed transport of perishable foods like meat over long distances. This made meat cheaper and more accessible in Europe, improving diets.
• Late Nineteenth-Century Colonialism:
  • While trade expanded, the late 19th century saw increased European colonial expansion, bringing pain and loss of freedom to colonized societies.
  • Scramble for Africa: European powers raced to carve up Africa. The Berlin Conference (1885) formalized this division, drawing arbitrary borders that ignored existing ethnic and cultural lines.
  • Impact on Colonised Societies: Integration into the world economy often meant loss of livelihoods and traditional ways of life (e.g., Rinderpest cattle plague in Africa).
• Indentured Labour Migration from India:
  • Context: Abolition of slavery led to labour shortages on plantations (Caribbean, Mauritius, Fiji) and in mines.
  • Indentured Labour: A system where workers were bonded by contract to work for an employer for a specific time (usually 5 years) in a foreign country. Often described as a 'new system of slavery'.
  • Source Regions: Mainly eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, central India, and dry districts of Tamil Nadu.
  • Causes for Migration: Decline of cottage industries, rising land rents, land clearing for mines/plantations pushed peasants into debt and poverty.
  • Recruitment: Agents often used false information about destinations, work nature, and living conditions.
  • Conditions: Harsh work, low wages, deductions, severe punishment for escape, limited legal rights.
  • Cultural Fusion: Migrants created new cultural forms blending their traditions with new environments (e.g., Hosay festival in Trinidad, Chutney music, Rastafarianism).
  • Abolition: Nationalist leaders opposed the system; it was abolished in 1921.
• Indian Entrepreneurs Abroad:
  • Indian bankers and traders financed export agriculture even in Central and Southeast Asia.
  • Shikarpuri Shroffs & Nattukottai Chettiars: Among the most prominent banking and trading groups. They developed sophisticated systems for transferring money over large distances and even had their own indigenous corporate structures.
  • Hyderabadi Sindhi traders established flourishing businesses at busy ports worldwide.
• Indian Trade, Colonialism, and the Global System:
  • Historically, India exported fine cotton textiles.
  • British Industrialisation Impact:
    • British manufacturers pressured the government to impose import duties on Indian textiles into Britain.
    • British machine-made textiles flooded the Indian market, leading to the decline of Indian weavers and textile exports.
    • India became a major exporter of raw materials (raw cotton, indigo, opium, wheat) and importer of British manufactured goods.
  • Trade Surplus & 'Home Charges': India often had a trade surplus with Britain (exported more than imported). However, this surplus was used by Britain:
    • To balance its trade deficits with other countries (multilateral settlement system).
    • To pay for 'Home Charges' – payments for British officials' salaries/pensions in India, office expenses in London, and costs of British wars. This constituted a significant 'drain of wealth' from India.

3. The Inter-War Economy (1914-1939):

• First World War (1914-1918):
  • A modern industrial war involving leading industrial nations. Used machine guns, tanks, aircraft, chemical weapons on a massive scale.
  • Economic Impact: Devastating. Led to huge loss of life and property. Disrupted established economic links. Britain borrowed heavily from the US, transforming the US from an international debtor to an international creditor. India also faced economic hardship due to war expenditure.
• Post-War Recovery:
  • Difficult. Britain struggled to recapture its pre-war economic dominance. Faced competition from Japan and the US. High unemployment.
  • Agricultural economies suffered from overproduction as European production revived, leading to falling prices.
  • US Economy Boom: The US experienced a brief post-war boom, driven by mass production techniques pioneered by Henry Ford (assembly line). This led to higher wages and mass consumption (cars, refrigerators, radios). US resumed exporting capital.
• The Great Depression (Starting 1929):
  • Causes:
    1. Agricultural Overproduction & Falling Prices: Farmers tried to increase production to maintain income, worsening the glut and price crash.
    2. Withdrawal of US Loans: US lenders panicked in 1928, cutting loans, especially to Europe, crippling economies dependent on them.
    3. Stock Market Crash (Oct 1929): Led to bank failures in the US and globally.
  • Global Impact: Catastrophic decline in production, employment, incomes, and trade worldwide. US banking system collapsed. Unemployment soared (reaching 33% in the US).
  • Impact on India:
    • Immediately affected Indian trade. Exports and imports nearly halved between 1928-1934.
    • Agricultural prices plummeted, hitting peasants and farmers hard, especially those producing for the world market (e.g., jute growers in Bengal). Peasants fell deeper into debt.
    • Urban India felt the pinch less severely.
    • India became an exporter of precious metals, notably gold, during the Depression, which ironically helped Britain's recovery but drained Indian wealth.
    • The Depression fueled discontent and strengthened the Indian nationalist movement.

4. Rebuilding a World Economy: The Post-War Era (After 1945):

• Second World War (1939-1945): Even more devastating than WWI. Vast civilian casualties and economic destruction. USA and USSR emerged as superpowers.
• Lessons from Inter-War Period: Economists and politicians learned two key lessons:
  1. An industrial society based on mass production needs mass consumption, requiring stable incomes and employment. Governments must intervene to manage economic fluctuations.
  2. A country's economic links with the outside world require stable international economic systems.
• Bretton Woods Institutions:
  • Framework: Agreed upon at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference held in July 1944 at Bretton Woods (New Hampshire, USA).
  • Aim: Preserve economic stability and full employment in the industrial world.
  • Institutions Established:
    • International Monetary Fund (IMF): To deal with external surpluses and deficits of member nations.
    • International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) / World Bank: To finance post-war reconstruction and later, development projects.
  • Bretton Woods System: Based on fixed exchange rates (currencies pegged to the US dollar at a fixed price, US dollar pegged to gold). Decision-making controlled by Western industrial powers (US had veto power).
• The Early Post-War Years (1950s-1960s):
  • An era of unprecedented economic growth for Western industrial nations and Japan. World trade grew significantly. Technology and enterprise spread worldwide. Developing countries tried to catch up.
• Decolonisation and Independence:
  • Many countries in Asia and Africa gained independence after WWII but remained economically weak, burdened by poverty and lack of resources, often dependent on former colonial powers.
  • Group of 77 (G-77): Developing countries organised themselves into this group to demand a New International Economic Order (NIEO).
    • NIEO Demands: Real control over their natural resources, fairer prices for raw materials, better access for their manufactured goods in developed countries' markets.
• End of Bretton Woods and the Beginning of 'Globalization':
  • Collapse of Fixed Exchange Rates: From the 1960s, the US dollar's value weakened due to rising overseas involvements and deficits. It could no longer maintain its value pegged to gold. This led to the collapse of the fixed exchange rate system in the early 1970s and the introduction of floating exchange rates.
  • Shift in International Finance: International financial systems changed. Developing countries increasingly relied on Western commercial banks and private lenders (less concessional loans). This led to debt crises in the 1970s/80s.
  • Rise of MNCs (Multinational Corporations): Large corporations started shifting production operations to low-wage Asian countries (like China) from the late 1970s onwards to cut costs.
  • China's Transformation: Post-revolution isolation ended. Low wages made it an attractive destination for investment, driving world trade and capital flows.
  • 'Globalization' (as commonly understood today): Refers largely to this recent phase driven by MNCs relocating production, the rise of economies like China, India, Brazil, and the collapse of Soviet-style communism.

Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs):

1. Which of the following routes served as a prime example of vibrant pre-modern trade and cultural links between distant parts of the world?
   a) The Grand Trunk Road
   b) The Spice Route
   c) The Silk Routes
   d) The Appian Way

2. The introduction of which food crop significantly improved the diet and lifespan of Europeans, but also led to the devastating Irish Famine when it failed?
   a) Maize
   b) Potato
   c) Tomato
   d) Soya Bean

3. What was the most powerful weapon used by Spanish conquerors in the colonization of America?
   a) Gunpowder
   b) Advanced naval ships
   c) Germs like smallpox
   d) Superior military tactics

4. The abolition of the 'Corn Laws' in Britain led to:
   a) Higher food prices and protection for local farmers.
   b) Increased food imports, lower food prices, and displacement of British farmers.
   c) A ban on the import of corn from America.
   d) The rapid industrialization of British agriculture.

5. Indentured labour migration from India primarily supplied workers for:
   a) Factories in Britain
   b) Railway construction in Europe
   c) Plantations, mines, and railway projects mainly in the Caribbean, Fiji, Mauritius, and Malaya
   d) Textile mills in India

6. Which of the following technologies played a crucial role in connecting world markets and facilitating trade in the 19th century?
   a) Aeroplanes and Radio
   b) Railways, Steamships, and Telegraph
   c) Automobiles and Telephones
   d) Satellites and Computers

7. The Bretton Woods Conference (1944) led to the establishment of which two international institutions?
   a) WTO and UNESCO
   b) IMF and World Bank (IBRD)
   c) UN Security Council and WHO
   d) NATO and ASEAN

8. The Great Depression, starting in 1929, originated primarily in which country?
   a) Great Britain
   b) Germany
   c) France
   d) The United States

9. The term 'Home Charges' during British rule in India referred to:
   a) Taxes paid by Indians for housing.
   b) Payments made by India for British administrative and military expenses incurred in Britain.
   c) The cost of importing goods from Britain.
   d) Loans taken by Indian entrepreneurs from British banks.

10. The Group of 77 (G-77) was formed by developing countries after World War II primarily to:
    a) Create a military alliance against superpowers.
    b) Promote cultural exchange programs.
    c) Demand a New International Economic Order (NIEO) for fairer economic terms.
    d) Establish a separate fixed exchange rate system.

Answer Key for MCQs:

1. c) The Silk Routes
2. b) Potato
3. c) Germs like smallpox
4. b) Increased food imports, lower food prices, and displacement of British farmers.
5. c) Plantations, mines, and railway projects mainly in the Caribbean, Fiji, Mauritius, and Malaya
6. b) Railways, Steamships, and Telegraph
7. b) IMF and World Bank (IBRD)
8. d) The United States
9. b) Payments made by India for British administrative and military expenses incurred in Britain.
10. c) Demand a New International Economic Order (NIEO) for fairer economic terms.

Make sure you revise these notes thoroughly. Pay attention to the causes and consequences of major events like the abolition of Corn Laws, the Great Depression, and the establishment of the Bretton Woods system. Good luck with your preparation!