The Making of a Global World Class 10 NCERT Solutions 2026 PDF Download

Ans:
(1) Asia (Silk Routes): The Silk Routes are a prime example of pre-modern exchange. Chinese silk and pottery, along with Indian spices and textiles, traveled to Europe. In return, gold and silver flowed from Europe to Asia. Buddhism also traveled along these routes.
(2) Americas (Food): Many common foods we eat today (potatoes, maize, tomatoes, chillies) were unknown to our ancestors until Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas. These foods were then introduced to Europe and Asia.

Ans: The Portuguese and Spanish conquest of America was not just due to superior firepower but due to germs.
1. Europeans carried the Smallpox virus.
2. The native inhabitants of the Americas had been isolated from the rest of the world and had no immunity against these diseases.
3. Smallpox spread deep into the continent ahead of the troops, killing whole communities and paving the way for conquest without a single shot being fired.

Ans: 1. Food Security: Crops like potatoes from the Americas became staple foods in Europe. The poor in Ireland became so dependent on them that during the Irish Potato Famine (1840s), thousands died of starvation.
2. Wealth & Trade: Precious metals, particularly silver from mines in Peru and Mexico, enhanced Europe's wealth and financed its trade with Asia.
3. Slave Trade: The demand for labor in American plantations led to the triangular slave trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas.

Ans: Economists identify three flows:
1. Flow of Trade: Largely referred to trade in goods (e.g., cloth or wheat).
2. Flow of Labour: Migration of people in search of employment (e.g., indentured laborers moving to plantations).
3. Flow of Capital: Investment of money for short-term or long-term over long distances (e.g., British loans for Indian railways).

Ans: 1. Agricultural Overproduction: Prices slumped, leading farmers to produce even more to maintain income, which flooded the market and crashed prices further.
2. US Loans: Many countries depended on US loans. In the late 1920s, US lenders panicked and withdrew capital, causing banks to collapse in Europe.
3. Stock Market Crash: The US stock market crashed in 1929, leading to bank failures and unemployment in the US, which had a ripple effect globally.

Ans: The Bretton Woods conference was held in July 1944 at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, USA.
Aim: To preserve economic stability and full employment in the industrial world.
Outcome: It established two institutions:
1. IMF (International Monetary Fund): To deal with external surpluses and deficits of its member nations.
2. World Bank (IBRD): To finance post-war reconstruction.
These are known as the Bretton Woods twins.

Ans: The laws allowing the British government to restrict the import of corn were called 'Corn Laws'. They were abolished because industrialists and urban dwellers were unhappy with the high food prices caused by these restrictions.

Ans: Because of poverty, hunger, overcrowding in cities, deadly diseases, and religious persecution in Europe.

Ans: He is a Nobel Prize-winning writer whose ancestors were indentured labourers from India. His writings explore the dislocation and loss of identity felt by the descendants of indentured workers.

Ans: Rinderpest was a fast-spreading cattle plague brought to Africa by infected cattle from British Asia. It killed 90% of the cattle, destroying the African livelihood and forcing them into the labor market, thus helping Europeans colonize Africa.

Ans: A trade surplus occurs when the value of exports is higher than the value of imports. Britain exported manufactured goods to India (high value) and imported raw materials from India (low value), leading to a huge surplus.

Ans: 1. Railways: Linked agricultural regions to ports, making it easier to transport food and raw materials.
2. Steamships: Allowed goods to be transported in bulk across the Atlantic more cheaply and quickly.
3. Refrigerated Ships: Enabled the transport of perishable foods (like meat) over long distances. Animals were slaughtered at the starting point (America/Australia) and frozen meat was shipped to Europe, lowering meat prices for the European poor.

Ans: The G-77 was a group of developing nations. They demanded NIEO because:
1. The Bretton Woods institutions (IMF/World Bank) were controlled by Western powers and focused on their own interests.
2. Developing nations wanted real control over their natural resources.
3. They wanted fairer prices for raw materials.
4. They wanted better access for their manufactured goods in the markets of developed countries.

Ans: 1. Trade: India's exports and imports nearly halved between 1928 and 1934.
2. Prices: Wheat prices in India fell by 50%.
3. Farmers: They suffered the most. While prices crashed, the colonial government refused to reduce revenue demands. Peasants fell deeper into debt.
4. Gold Export: Distressed farmers sold their gold jewelry to survive. India became a net exporter of precious metals, which arguably helped the global economic recovery.

Ans: 1. Agents often provided false information to laborers about the destination and nature of work to recruit them.
2. On arrival, living conditions were harsh, and there were few legal rights.
3. Laborers were often beaten or imprisoned if they tried to run away.
4. Deductions were made from their wages, trapping them in debt bondage similar to slavery.

Ans: They were scrapped due to pressure from industrialists and urban dwellers who faced high food prices.
Result: Food could be imported into Britain more cheaply than it could be produced within the country. British agriculture could not compete with imports; vast areas of land were left uncultivated, and thousands of men and women lost their jobs and flocked to cities or migrated overseas.

Ans: In British India, semi-desert wastes in the Punjab were transformed into fertile agricultural lands by building a network of irrigation canals to grow wheat and cotton for export. The settlements of peasants in these areas were called Canal Colonies.

Ans: El Dorado (a mythical city in South America).

Ans:
Axis Powers: Nazi Germany, Japan, Italy.
Allies: Britain, France, Soviet Union, USA.

Ans: The Silk Route.

Ans: By the 1890s, the US took over some colonies earlier held by Spain (like the Philippines), expanding its influence and becoming a colonial power.