Ans) Asia – China is an important nation in Asia. The name ‘Silk Route’ reflects the importance of Chinese silk goods traveling westward along this route. Porcelain came along this route, as did textiles and spices from India and South-East Asia. In return, precious metals – gold and silver – flowed from Europe to Asia.

America – Many common foods like potatoes, soya, peanuts, maize, tomatoes, chillies, sweet potatoes etc. were not known to our ancestors until about five centuries ago. These foods came to Europe and Asia only when Christopher Columbus accidentally discovered the vast continent that later came to be known as America. Many of our common foods actually came from the original inhabitants of America, i.e. the American Indians.

Ans) Here is a detailed explanation –

1. By the middle of the 16th century, the conquest and colonization of America by the Portuguese and the Spanish had begun decisively. They began to colonize the Americas.
2. The European armies did not win simply by their superior firepower. In fact, the most powerful weapon of the Spanish conquerors was not any traditional military weapon. But rather the germs like smallpox brought with the Spanish soldiers and officers.
3. Having been isolated for millions of years, the natives of the Americas had no immunity to these diseases coming from Europe. Therefore, smallpox in particular proved to be a deadly disease for this new place.
4. Once entered, the disease spread deep into the continent, even before the Europeans reached there. It killed and destroyed entire communities. Thus, it paved the way for conquest.

Ans) Decision to abolish the grain laws by the British government- In the second half of the 18th century, the population of Britain had increased rapidly. As a result, the demand for food grains in the country also increased. As cities expanded and industries developed, the demand for agricultural products also increased. The prices of food grains rose. On the other hand, under pressure from landowner groups, the government also banned the import of grain. The laws that allowed the government to do this were commonly called the grain laws. Unhappy with the high food prices, industrialists and urban residents forced the abolition of the grain laws.

After the grain laws were abolished, food grains could be imported, which was much cheaper than being produced in the country. Thus, the situation of British farmers began to deteriorate, as they were unable to compete with imports. Vast areas of land now remained barren.

Ans) Arrival of rinderpest in Africa –

1. In Africa, the first symptoms of rinderpest disease were found in the 1880s. The disease, which spread rapidly in cattle like plague, had a terrible impact on people’s livelihoods and the local economy.
2. At the time, cattle were imported from Asia to feed Italian troops invading Eritrea in East Africa. The disease was spread by these infected cattle imported from British Asia.
3. After entering Africa from the east, the disease spread ‘like wildfire’ in West Africa.
4. In 1892, it reached the Atlantic coast of Africa. Five years later, it reached the Cape (the southernmost tip of Africa). Along the way, rinderpest killed 90 percent of the cattle.

Ans) Death of working-age men in Europe due to World War- When the war began in 1914, many governments thought it would be over by Christmas but the war lasted for more than four years. It was a war never seen before in the history of human civilization. This war caused death and destruction on a scale that was unimaginable before the industrial age without the use of industrial weapons. More than 9 million people died and 20 million were injured in this war.

Most of the people killed and maimed were working-age men. This massive destruction reduced the number of able-bodied workers in Europe. With fewer members within the family, household income declined after the war. Keeping the needs of the war in mind, entire societies were reorganized.

Ans) Decision by multinational companies to shift production to Asian countries – Large companies that operate in several countries at the same time are called multinational corporations (MNCs). The earliest MNCs were established in the 1920s. Many more came into being in the 1950s and 1960s as US business expanded worldwide and Western Europe and Japan also emerged as powerful industrial economies.

Unemployment began to rise from the mid-1970s and remained high until the early 1990s. From the late 1970s MNCs also began to shift production to low-wage Asian countries. Wages in countries such as China were comparatively low. Thus, foreign MNCs competing to capture world markets began to invest in these destinations.

Ans) Example (1) – Colonization prompted major improvements in transportation. Faster rail, lighter wagons, and larger ships helped move food from farms to distant markets more cheaply and quickly.

Example (2) – Until the 1870s, meat was not exported from the Americas to Europe. Animals were shipped alive and then slaughtered upon arrival in Europe. But live animals took up a lot of space. New technology changed the scenario. Refrigeration technology was installed on ships, making it possible to transport perishable foods over long distances.

Ans) In the 16th century, when European sailors discovered the sea route to Asia and crossed the western ocean to reach the Americas, the pre-modern world seems to have shrunk considerably. For centuries before, there had been a vibrant trade across the Indian Ocean, with goods, people, knowledge and customs flowing across its waters. The Indian subcontinent was the centre of these flows and an important point in their network. The entry of Europeans helped to expand or redirect some of these flows towards Europe.

Before its ‘discovery’, America had been cut off from regular contact with the rest of the world for millions of years. But from the 16th century onwards, its vast lands and abundant crops and minerals began to transform trade and life everywhere.

Ans) “Chutney music” was popular among indentured labourers in Trinidad and Guyana (Caribbean islands). It was a form of cultural blending that is part of the creation of a global world, where things from different places mix together, lose their original characteristics and become something entirely new.

Ans) Stanley was a journalist and explorer. He was sent by the New York Herald to find a missionary and explorer named Livingston, who had been in Africa for many years. Like other European and American explorers of the time, Stanley also went with weapons. He organized local hunters, warriors and laborers. He fought local tribes, surveyed African terrain and made maps of various regions. These explorations later helped in the conquest of Africa. Geographical explorations were not motivated by the innocent search for scientific information. They were directly linked to imperialist projects.

Ans) Effects of the Great Depression on the Indian Economy –

1. The Great Depression immediately affected Indian trade. India’s exports and imports fell by almost half between 1928 and 1934. As international prices fell, prices in India also fell.
2. Peasants and agriculturalists suffered more than urban dwellers. Although prices of agricultural products fell sharply, the colonial government refused to grant revenue exemptions. Peasants who produced for the world market were the worst hit.
3. Throughout India, peasant indebtedness increased. They spent their savings, mortgaged lands, and sold whatever jewellery they had to meet their expenses. In these years of the Great Depression, India became an exporter of precious metals, especially gold.
4. Eventually, American banking also collapsed. Unable to recover investments, thousands of banks went bankrupt and were forced to close. By 1933, over 4,000 banks had closed, and between 1929 and 1932, approximately 110,000 companies had shut down.

Ans) New crops could often make the difference between life and death. With the introduction of the humble potato, life changed for the poor in Europe. They began to eat better and live longer. The poorest peasants in Ireland became so dependent on potatoes that when disease destroyed the potato crop in the mid-1840s, thousands died of starvation.

Ans) The British Indian government laid a network of irrigation canals to turn semi-desert wastelands into fertile agricultural land to grow wheat and cotton for export. These new canal-irrigated areas were settled by peasants from other parts of Punjab and came to be known as canal colonies.

Ans) In the late 19th century, Europeans were attracted to Africa because of its vast land and mineral resources. They came to Africa hoping to set up plantations and mines to produce crops and minerals for export to Europe. But an unexpected problem arose—a shortage of workers willing to work for wages.

Employers used several methods to recruit and retain workers. Heavy taxes were imposed that could only be paid by working for wages on plantations and mines. Inheritance laws were changed to force peasants off the land. Only one member of a family could inherit the land, pushing them into the labor market. Mine workers were also confined to compounds and not allowed to move freely.

Ans) The First World War had the following effects on Britain –

1. Industrial production in Britain fell, and unemployment rose.
2. It became difficult for Britain to counter the growing power of Japan in Asia.
3. The war made Britain indebted to American banks as well as the American public.
4. After the war, it became difficult for Britain to regain its old position in the Indian market.

Ans) New System of Slavery – In the 19th century, bonded labourers from India and China were sent to work around the world under contract for a fixed period of time. Labourers were recruited by agents appointed by employers and were paid a small commission. Many migrants agreed to work in the hope of escaping poverty or persecution in their villages. Agents also lured potential migrants by providing them with false information about their final destination, mode of travel, nature of work, and living and working conditions. Often migrants were not even told that they were going on a long sea voyage. Sometimes agents would forcibly abduct less willing migrants. This 19th century bonded labour has been called by many as the ‘New System of Slavery’.

Ans) From the beginning of the 19th century, British cotton textile manufacturers began to look for foreign markets for their textiles. Excluded from the British market due to tariff barriers, the Indian textile industry faced stiff competition in other international markets. If we look at the export figures from India, we see a steady decline in the share of cotton textiles. Around 1800, the percentage of cotton textile exports was 30%, which fell to 15 percent by 1815. By the 1870s, the proportion had fallen below 3 percent.

Ans) Economists and politicians learned two major lessons from the economic experiences of war after war. First, an industrial society based on mass production could not survive without mass consumption. High and stable incomes were needed to ensure mass consumption. If employment were unstable, incomes could not remain stable. Thus, full employment was also necessary for stable incomes.

But the market alone could not guarantee full employment. Hence, the government had to take steps to reduce fluctuations in prices, production, and employment. Thus, economic stability could be ensured only through the intervention of governments.
The second lesson concerned the country’s economic relations with the outside world. The goal of full employment could be achieved only if governments had the power to control the flow of goods, capital, and labour.

Thus, in short, the main objective of the post-war international economic order was to maintain economic stability and full employment in the industrial world.

Ans) Exchange Rates – Exchange rates are the rates at which one currency is exchanged for another. It is the value of a currency in terms of another currency. In other words, exchange rates link national currencies for the purpose of international trade. There are mainly two types of exchange rates-

1. Fixed exchange rates – When exchange rates are fixed and governments intervene to prevent fluctuations in them, these exchange rates are called fixed exchange rates.
2. Flexible or floating exchange rates – These rates fluctuate depending on the demand and supply of currencies in the foreign exchange markets, in principle without any intervention by governments.