CBSE X H IV THE MAKING OF A GLOBAL WORLD

Class X

History

Unit IV – The Making of a Global World

Notes

Globalization: This term refers to the process of formation of an economic system that has emerged, roughly, in the last 50 years.

Dissenter: is one who refuses to accept established beliefs and practices

Americas: This term includes North America, South America and the Caribbean.

El Dorado: An imaginary city of gold in South America

Smithfield: An area in London well known for livestock trade

Canal Colonies: Areas in west Punjab which were irrigated by a network of canals built by the then British government in India

David Livingstone (1813 – 73): Scottish missionary and explorer in Africa

Henry Morton Stanley: Welsh-born American journalist and explorer sent to Africa to search for Livingstone; his explorations helped the conquest of Africa by the European powers.

Rinderpest: Cattle plague that killed 90% of the cattle in Africa in the late 19^th century; it forced Africans into the labour market.

Indentured labour: A bonded labourer under contract to work for an employer for a certain period of time to pay off his passage to a new country; it is described as a new system of slavery; abolished in 1921

(V S Naipaul, Nobel Prize-winning writer, and West Indies cricketers Shiv Narayan Chanderpaul and Ram Naresh Sarwan are all descendants of indentured labour migrants from India.)

Hosay: A Shia Muslim celebration in Trinidad and Tobago (in the Caribbean); similar to Muharram

Rastafarianism or Rastafari Movement: A religious and social movement of blacks that started in Jamaica in the 1930s

Bob Marley: Jamaican singer, song-writer and musician who made Rastafarianism famous

Chutney music: It is a form of music indigenous to the southern Caribbean. It originated in Trinidad and derives elements from traditional Indian music.

Indian bankers and traders who financed export agriculture: Shikaripuri shroffs, Nattukottai Chettiars, Hyderabadi Sindhis

Cotton textile export from India:

          1800: 30%

          1815: 15%

          1870: 3%

Raw cotton export from India:

          1812: 5%

1871: 35%

India’s single largest export after 1820s: Opium (to China)

India played a crucial role in the late 19^th century world economy by helping Britain balance its trade deficit.

Home charges: Private remittances home by British officials in India, interest payments on India’s external debt, pensions of British officials

(During 1931 – 35, India exported gold worth Rs. 2,330 million to pay off home charges.)

World War I: Fought during 1914 – 18 between the Allies (Britain, France, Russia, the US) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey); the first modern industrial war using machine guns, tanks, aircraft, chemical weapons etc. on a large scale; 9 million dead and 20 million injured; transformed the US from an international debtor to an international creditor; in 1923, the US became the world’s largest overseas lender

World War II: 1939 – 45; between the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy and Japan) and the Allies (Britain, France, the US and the USSR); 60 million deaths

T-Model Ford: The world’s first mass produced car

Fordist industrial practice: Assembly line method of mass production in which each worker would repeat a single task mechanically and continuously at a pace dictated by the conveyor belt

Car production in the US:

          1919: 2 million

          1929: 5 million

Causes of the Great Depression:

          Agricultural overproduction and falling agricultural prices

          Withdrawal of US loans and collapse of banks and currencies

Collapse of US banking system (4000 banks and 110,000 companies in the US were closed during 1929 – 32)

India’s exports and imports nearly halved and wheat prices fell by 50% during 1928 – 34.

The USSR made rapid economic development and became a world power while the rest of the world was caught in the Great Depression.

Lessons from inter-war economic experiences:

An industrial society based on mass production cannot be sustained without mass consumption.

To ensure mass consumption, peoples’ incomes must be stable.

Economic stability cannot be ensured without government intervention.

The goal of full employment cannot be realized unless governments control flow of goods, capital and labour

The Post-War International Economic System (or the Bretton Woods System:

Goal: To preserve economic stability and full employment in the industrial world

Framework: Finalized at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, USA; July 1944

Measures: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established to deal with external surpluses and deficits of its member nations; the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (or the World Bank) was set up to finance post-war reconstruction

The Bretton Woods institutions (or the Bretton Woods twins): The IMF and the World Bank (which commenced operations in 1947)

NIEO: New International Economic Order demanded by G-77 (developing countries)

Demands of NIEO:

          Control over natural resources

          Development assistance

          Fair prices for raw materials

          Better access for manufactured goods in developed markets

Multi-National Corporations (or MNCs): Large companies that operate in several countries at the same time

Tariff: Tax imposed on a country’s imports

Exchange rates: Relative values of national currencies in international trade

Fixed exchange rate: Governments intervene to maintain exchange rates

Floating exchange rate: Rates fluctuate depending on demand and supply of currencies in the international markets

The roots of globalization lay in the history of the world through the centuries, from the perspectives of trade, migration, movement of people and capital etc.

The history of globalization explains how, in the course of time, lives of human communities in different parts of the world have gradually become more and more interlinked.

Who were the people that moved?

Travellers, traders, priests, pilgrims etc.

What did the people carry with them when they moved?

Goods, money, values, traditions, knowledge, skills, ideas, inventions and even germs and diseases.

What were the causes that motivated the movement of people?

Acquiring knowledge, spreading knowledge, search for opportunities of work, employment or business, spiritual fulfillment, propagation of religion, escaping persecution etc.

5000 years ago (in 3000 BC) the people of the Indus Valley Civilization had trade links with the people of west Asia.

Long ago, cowries or seashells were used as a form of currency in the Maldives.

Silk routes: The routes along which trade flourished between Asia and Europe

(Early Christian missionaries and Muslim preachers also reached Asia along the silk route.)

Items of trade in the silk route from Asia to Europe:

Silk and pottery of China; textiles and spices from India and south-east Asia

Items of trade in the silk route from Europe to Asia: Gold and silver

Spaghetti: Italian name for Chinese noodles

Pasta was introduced in Italy (first in Sicily) by Arab traders in the 5^th century.

It was only 5 centuries ago that many of our common foods such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, chillies, soya, groundnut, maize etc. were introduced in Asia and Europe (after the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus). We owe it to the Red Indians or the American Indians, America’s original inhabitants.

The world began to shrink in the 16^th century because of the discovery of sea routes to America and India.

Cotton and sugar plantations came up in America in the 18^th century in which African slaves were used as labourers.

Until the 19^th century, poverty, hunger, crowded cities, deadly diseases, religious conflicts and persecution of religious dissenters were common in Europe, because of which people in large numbers migrated to America.

About 50 million (5 crore) people migrated from Europe to America / Australia in the 19^th century. All over the world, about 150 million (15 crore) people emigrated to other places.

Potato made the poor man’s food in Europe. Meat was a luxury for the poor, till frozen meat began to be transported in the late 19^th century.

Precious metals (particularly silver) from mines in Peru and Mexico greatly enriched Europe.

In the Portuguese and Spanish conquest and colonization of America, the main weapon used was smallpox.

In 1885, the big European powers met in Berlin to discuss the ‘scramble’ of Africa.

The US became a colonial power in the last decade of the 19^th century by taking over some former Spanish colonies.

Until the 18^th century, China and India were among the world’s richest countries.

After China’s self-imposed isolation in the 15^th century and India’s colonization, the center of world trade shifted to Europe.

In the mid 19^th century India, decline of cottage industries, debt and rising land rents forced the poor to become indentured labour, mainly in eastern UP, Bihar, central India and dry districts of Tamil Nadu.

The three flows of trade in the 19^th century:

          Flow of goods

          Flow of labour

          Flow of capital

During 1820 – 1914, the volume of world trade multiplied 25 – 40 times. About 60% of it comprised primary products (agricultural commodities like wheat and cotton; minerals like coal).

The US economy in the 1920s was based on mass production.