NCERT History Class 10 Chapter 4

The Making of a Global World

Introduction
Globalisation is an economic system and it emerges since 50 years.

To understand the making of global world we have to understand the history of

trade, migration and people search for work and the movement of capitals.

Globalisation is an economic system associated with the free movement of

goods, technology, ideas and people across the globe.

The Pre Modern World

Human societies have steadily more interlinked.

Travelers, traders, priest and pilgrims travelled vast distance for carrying goods,
money, ideas, skills, inventions and even germs and disease.

Indus Vally civilisation was linked with West Asia.

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Section I: Pre Modern World
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Silk Routes

• There are several silk routes, over land and by sea, knitting together vast regions of
Asia, and linking Asia with Europe and northern Africa.
→ Famous Chinese silk cargoes used to travel through these routes.

Food Travels: Spaghetti and Potato

• Noodles travelled west from China to become spaghetti.

• Common foods such as potatoes, soya, groundnuts, maize, tomatoes, chillies,

sweet potatoes were only introduced in Europe and Asia after Christopher Columbus
discovered Americas.

Conquest, Disease and Trade

• Precious metals from mines of Peru and Mexico enhanced European trade with
Asia.

• The Spanish conquerors used the germs of smallpox in the conquest of America.

• Until well into the eighteenth century, China and India were among the world’s
richest countries.

• Until the nineteenth century, poverty and hunger were common in Europe.
Section II: The Nineteenth Century (1815-1914)

• In the late eighteenth century, growth in the population increased the demand for food
grains in Britain.

• The imported food into Britain more cheaply than it could be produced within the
country.

• Industrial growth took place in Britain which led to higher incomes meaning more food
imports.

• It was transported by railway and by ships.

• Food is only an example. Products such as cotton, rubber, coal also had same fate.

Role of Technology

• The railways, steamships, the telegraph were important inventions that transformed
nineteenth-century world.

• After the introduction of new technology, namely, refrigerated ships animals were
slaughtered for food at the starting point and then transported to Europe as frozen
meat.
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Late nineteenth-century Colonialism

• European conquests of Asia and Africa as colonies.

• Belgium and Germany became new colonial powers.

• The US became a colonial power in the late 1890s by taking over some colonies
earlier held by Spain.

Rinderpest, or the Cattle Plague

• Rinderpest is a fast spreading cattle plague which hit Africa in the late 1880s.

• It was carried by infected cattle imported from British Asia and destroyed 90
percent of the livestock.

• The colonial governments now strengthen their power and to force Africans into
the labour market.
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Indentured Labour Migration from India

• Indentured Labour was a bonded labourer under contract to work for an employer.

• In the nineteenth century, thousands of Indian and Chinese labourers went to work on
plantations, in mines, and in road and railway construction projects around the world.

• Recruitment was done by agents by providing false information about the work and location.

• On arrival at the plantations, labourers found living and working conditions harsh.

• It was abolished in 1921.

Indian Entrepreneurs Abroad

• Indian entrepreneurs, some bankers like Nattukottai and Chettiars financed export of

agriculture to Central and South-East Asia.
→ They even followed the Europeans to Africa.

• Industrial Revolution in England changed the balance of trade between England and India.

• Indian handicraft and agriculture were destroyed and Britain enjoyed a trade surplus with
India.
→ Their exports increased and imports decreased. Instagram
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Section III: The Inter-war Economy

• The First World war was the first modern industrial war.

• During the war, industries were restructured to produce war-related goods.

• The war transformed the US from being an international debtor to an international creditor.

Post-war Recovery

• After the war was over, the production reduced and unemployment increased.

Rise of Mass Production and Consumption

• In the US, war recovery was quicker.

• ‘Assembly line’ method introduced by Henry Ford soon spread to the US and were also widely
copied in Europe in the 1920s.

• Mass production lowered the costs and prices of engineered goods.

• There was a housing and consumer boom in the 1920s, which ultimately led to the Great
Depression of 1929.

• Markets crashed in 1929 and led to the failure of banks and the crisis affected other countries.
→ By 1933, over 4000 banks closed and between 1929-32 about 110,000 companies collapsed.
India and the Great Depression

• India was also affected by the  Great  Depression.

• Indian exports and imports declined extensively, prices fell.

• Bengal jute growers suffered the most.

• Large scale migration took place from villages to towns

and cities.

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Section IV: Rebuilding a World Economy: The Post-war Era @tireless.study

• The Second World War broke out a mere two decades after the end of the First World War and once
again, it led to destruction.

• After the USA and the USSR emerged as superpowers.

Post-war Settlement and the Bretton Woods Institutions

• To ensure a stable economy a framework was agreed upon at the United Nations Monetary and
Financial Conference held at Bretton Woods in New Hampshire, USA.

• It established the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) to deal with external surpluses and deficits of its member
nations.

• The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (popularly known as the World Bank) was
set up to finance post-war reconstruction.

• The IMF and the World Bank commenced financial operations in 1947.

• Bretton Woods  System was based on a fixed exchange rate.

• National currencies were pegged to the American dollar at a fixed rate.

• Decision-making in these institutions is controlled by the Western industrial powers largely by the US.
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Decolonisation and Independence @tireless.study

•Many countries in Asia and Africa became independent nations, supported

by UNO and NAM.

•Group of 77 or G-77 was organised by developing countries to demand a

new international economic order (NIEO) which would give these countries
real control over their national resources, raw materials, manufactured
goods in their markets.
MNCs:
Multinational corporations are large companies that operate in several
countries at the same time.

The world wide spread of MNCs was a notable feature in the 1950s and
1960s as US business expanded worldwide.

High imports tariffs imposed by different governments forced MNCs to

locate their manufacturing units.
MNCs or multinational companies were established in the 1950s and
1960s and operated in several countries.
Conclusion

In last two decades, the economy of the world has changed

a lot as countries like China, India and Brazil have achieved
rapid economic development.

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