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The Making of a Global World – Class 10 Social Science notes, important questions and MCQs

NCERT Class 10 Social Science, chapter 3. Notes, key terms, important questions with answers and MCQs.

Chapter overview

Globalisation has a long history of trade, migration of people and movement of capital and ideas. From the silk routes to the 19th-century world economy, the Great Depression and the post-war Bretton Woods system, the world became more closely linked, with gains for some and great losses for others.

The pre-modern world

Silk routes linked China, Asia and Europe, carrying silk, spices, textiles, religions and ideas.
Foods travelled: noodles may have gone from China to the west, and potatoes, maize, tomatoes and chillies came from the Americas.
European conquest of the Americas spread germs such as smallpox, which killed large numbers of native people.

The 19th century (1815–1914)

Flows of trade, labour and capital grew; after the Corn Laws were scrapped, cheap food imports flooded Britain.
Railways, steamships and refrigerated ships cut transport costs; meat could be shipped from America and Australia.
European powers divided Africa; the cattle disease rinderpest (1890s) killed most cattle and forced Africans into wage labour.
Indian indentured labourers went to the Caribbean, Fiji, Mauritius and other places; Hosay in Trinidad and chutney music show cultural mixing.

Inter-war economy and after

The Great Depression began in 1929 with falling agricultural prices and the US stock market crash; it hit trade and farmers in India.
The Bretton Woods conference (1944) set up the IMF and the World Bank, with fixed exchange rates linked to the US dollar.
Newly independent countries formed the G-77 and demanded a New International Economic Order; later, MNCs moved production to low-wage Asian countries.

Key terms

Globalisation: an economic system that links the world through trade, investment, technology and migration
Indentured labour: a bonded labourer working under a contract for a fixed period to pay off travel and other costs
Rinderpest: a fast-spreading cattle disease that reached Africa in the late 1880s
Bretton Woods institutions: the IMF and the World Bank, set up in 1944

Important questions with answers

What was the effect of the abolition of the Corn Laws in Britain?2 marks

Food could be imported into Britain more cheaply than it could be produced at home. British agriculture could not compete, vast areas of land were left uncultivated, and many rural workers lost their jobs and moved to cities or migrated overseas.

Explain three ways in which the Great Depression affected India.3 marks

India's exports and imports nearly halved between 1928 and 1934. Agricultural prices fell sharply, but the colonial government refused to reduce revenue demands, so peasants were badly hit and fell into debt. Peasants used up their savings and sold their gold and silver ornaments, and India exported precious metals, notably gold, during this time.

What was indentured labour? Describe the conditions of Indian indentured labourers and how they built new lives.5 marks

Indentured labour was bonded labour under a contract, usually for five years, after which workers could return to India. In the 19th century hundreds of thousands of Indians from eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, central India and Tamil Nadu went to work in the Caribbean islands, Mauritius, Fiji, Ceylon and Malaya. Recruiting agents often gave false information about wages, work and living conditions. On the plantations, living and working conditions were harsh and workers had few legal rights. Yet they found ways to survive by blending old and new cultures: Hosay in Trinidad became a carnival of all races, chutney music developed, and the Rastafarian movement in Jamaica reflected these links. Indentured labour was abolished in 1921.

Quick revision

Silk routes linked Asia, Europe and northern Africa.
Corn Laws scrapped → cheap food imports into Britain.
Great Depression began in 1929.
Bretton Woods (1944) → IMF and World Bank.

Exam tips

Link each event with its effect, for example rinderpest → loss of cattle → Africans forced into wage labour.
Remember the three flows of the world economy: trade, labour and capital.

Practice MCQs

The Bretton Woods conference was held in
1. 1919
2. 1929
3. 1944
4. 1991
Show answer
Answer: (c) 1944. It met in July 1944 in New Hampshire, USA.
Which crop came to Europe from the Americas
1. Potato
2. Wheat
3. Rice
4. Barley
Show answer
Answer: (a) Potato. Potatoes, maize, tomatoes and chillies came from the Americas.
The Great Depression began in
1. 1914
2. 1929
3. 1939
4. 1947
Show answer
Answer: (b) 1929. It began around 1929 and lasted till the mid-1930s.
Rinderpest was a disease of
1. cattle
2. humans
3. wheat crops
4. horses only
Show answer
Answer: (a) cattle. It killed about 90 per cent of cattle in parts of Africa.
The IMF and the World Bank are called
1. Marshall twins
2. Vienna twins
3. Bretton Woods twins
4. Geneva twins
Show answer
Answer: (c) Bretton Woods twins. Both were set up at the Bretton Woods conference.
Hosay in Trinidad was
1. a sugar mill
2. an annual Muharram procession turned into a carnival
3. a type of indentured contract
4. a ship
Show answer
Answer: (b) an annual Muharram procession turned into a carnival. Indian indentured workers turned it into a festival of all races and religions.
Why did Africans join wage labour in large numbers in the 1890s
1. High wages attracted them
2. Rinderpest destroyed their cattle and their means of living
3. European schools trained them
4. The Corn Laws forced them
Show answer
Answer: (b) Rinderpest destroyed their cattle and their means of living. Losing cattle destroyed their livelihood and pushed them into mines and plantations.
The demand for a New International Economic Order was raised by
1. the G-77 countries
2. the IMF
3. the colonial powers
4. the League of Nations
Show answer
Answer: (a) the G-77 countries. Developing countries wanted control over their natural resources and fairer trade.

All chapters of Class 10 Social Science

Written by Kundali IQ from standard, well-established facts to help with revision. This is not an official NCERT publication; always read your textbook too.