Class x history - 4 the making of the global world

8/5/2015 sonawane11jan@rediffmail.com 1

• ‘Globalisation’ started with trade, migration of
people in search of work and the movement of
capital.
• The ‘Silk Route’ are good examples of pre-
modern trade and the cultural links between
remote parts of the world.
• The ‘Silk Route’ were the routes through which
trade and cultural mingling of far flung parts of
the world took place. China was known for the
trade of the silk since ancient period.

• Chinese silk cargoes used to travel through these
routes and from there it got its name ‘silk routes’.
• Later Chinese pottery, textiles and spices from
India and Southeast Asia also travelled the same
routes. In return, precious metals like gold and
silver flowed from Europe to Asia.
• Trade and cultural exchange always went hand in
hand. Several silk routes helped in linking Asia
with Europe and N Africa.
• Buddhism which emerged from eastern India also
spread the same routes through interconnecting
points of the silk route.

• Food is a good example of long distance cultural
exchange.
• Traders and travellers introduced new crops of the
land they travelled.
• For instance, spaghetti and noodles. It is believed
that noodles travelled West from China to become
spaghetti. Pasta of Arab travelled to Italy.
• Many of our common food such as potatoes, soya,
groundnuts, maize, tomatoes, chillies, sweet
potatoes were introduced in Europe and Asia after
America was discovered.

• For centuries before, the Indian Ocean
had known a vibrant trade with goods,
people, knowledge, customs, etc.
• But the introduction of new sea route to
Asia found by European sailors in the
sixteenth century adversely affected the
trade through Indian Ocean.

• By the mid-sixteenth century Europe defeated
America.
• The European conquests was not just a result of
superior fire power, in fact it were the germs such
as those of small pox that they carried on their
person that killed America’s original inhabitants
on a large scale.
• These people had had no immunity against these
diseases. Small pox in particular proved to be a
deadly killer. It devastated the whole community,
thus paving the way for European conquest.

• Three types of movements or ‘flows’ were
identified by the economist within
international economic exchanges.
The flow of trade(trade in goods)
The flow of labour (migration)
The movement of capital (investment)
• All the three flows were closely interlinked
and affected peoples’ life.

• The nineteenth century Britain lacked self
sufficiency in food. It was because of the
uncontrolled growth of population and
expansion of urban centres and industries. As a
result –
Prices of food grains increased
People started importing food from other
countries where it was cheaper.
The government restricted the import of corn
under the provision of laws called ‘Corn laws’.

• The industrialist and urban dwellers opposed the
corn laws and demanded their abolition. Finally the
corn laws were abolished which brought a lot of
changes in the British economy.
• Food could be imported in Britain at much cheaper
rate than before.
• British agriculture failed to compete with imports.
• Vast areas of land were left uncultivated.
• Thousands of men and women became
unemployed.
• This led to migration of people to the cities or
overseas

• As food prices fell, the consumption in Britain
rose. It further led to faster industrial growth
in Britain, higher incomes and more food
imports. To meet the high demand of Britain
several steps were taken.
• Lands were cleared and food production was
expanded in Eastern Europe, Russia, America
and Australia.

• Railways were needed to link agricultural regions
to the ports.
• New harbours were built and old ones were
expanded to ship the new cargoes.
• New homes and settlements were built to settle
the workers.
• Capital flowed from financial capital like London.
• The demand of labour led to more migration.
(Nearly 50 million people emigrated from Europe
to America and Australia in the nineteenth
century)

• Thus by the 1890, a global agricultural economy started
with some complex changes in labour movement patterns,
capital flows ecologies and technology.
• Food was now brought from thousands of miles away.
• It was grown by agricultural workers on lands after
clearing the forests.
• Lands were cultivated not by peasants owning this land
but by hired workers brought from distant lands.
• Railways, ships, new ports, etc were introduced or built
for transportation.
• Food was transported by railways and by ships.
• The workers were paid very low and were from Asia,
Africa or the Caribbean.

• Some changes occurred in Punjab also.
Irrigation canals were built by the British
Indian government to transform desert lands
into fertile agricultural lands in order to grow
wheat and cotton for export.
• The Canal Colonies were settled by peasants
from other parts of Punjab. Cotton cultivation
expanded worldwide to feed the British textile
mills.

The Role of Technology
• The important inventions like the railways,
steamships and the telegraph triggered
economic growth in the nineteenth century.
• Colonisation stimulated new investments and
improvement in transport: faster railways,
lighter wagons and large ships helped move
food cheaply and quickly from faraway farms
to the final markets.

• Meat which was an expensive luxury beyond
the reach of the European poor became
affordable and its demand increased.
• Development of new technology namely
refrigerated ships made this possible. Animals
were now slaughtered for food at the starting
point (America, Australia or New Zealand)and
then transported to Europe as frozen meat.
• This reduced shipping costs and lowered meat
prizes.

Late Nineteenth Early Colonialism
• Late 19th century Europe conquests produced
many painful economic, social and ecological
changes through which the colonised societies
were brought into the world economy.
• In 1885, the big European powers met in Berlin to
complete the carving up of Africa between them.
• Britain and France made vast additions, Germany
and Belgium became new colonial powers.
• The US also became a colonial power in the late
1890’s

Rinderpest or the Cattle Plague
• In the 1880’s, in Africa Rinderpest, a fast
spreading disease of the cattle had a terrifying
impact on the people’s livelihoods and the local
economy.
• Rinderpest killed 90 percent of the cattle. The
loss of cattle destroyed African livelihoods.
• It strengthened colonial governments power and
Africans were forced into the labour market.

Indentured labour – Migration from India
• Migration from India started in the 19th century.
• Thousands of Indian and Chinese labour migrated to
work in plantations, in mines and in road and railway
construction project around the world.
• Most of the Indians were hired under contracts for
five years in the Caribbean Islands, Mauritius and
Fiji.
• They came from the present day eastern UP, Bihar,
Central India and dry districts of Tamil Nadu.

• Indenture labour was nothing but a new system of
slavery.
• Living and working conditions were harsh with
few legal rights.
• But workers discovered their own way of
surviving. They developed new forms of
individual and collective self expression by
blending different cultural forms.
• For eg. In Trininad the annual Muharram
procession became a riotous carnival called
‘Hosay’ for Imam Hussian in which workers of all
religions and races joined.

• Most indentured labours preferred to stay back
after their contracts ended.
• For eg. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh
Sarvan etc. Nobel Prize winner V. S. Naipaul.
• India’s nationalist leaders opposed the system
of indenture labour calling it abusive and cruel
and after a long wait it was abolished in 1921.

Indian Entrepreneurs Abroad :
• With the increase in demand of growing food and
other crops the need of capital arose.
• Large plantations borrowed it from banks and
markets. But the poor farmers couldn't do so.
• Shikaripuri Shroffs and Nattukottai Chettiars were
amongst the many groups of bankers and traders
who financed export agriculture in Central and
southeast Asia, using either their own funds or
those borrowed from European banks.

• They had a sophisticated system to transfer
money over large distances and developed
indigenous forms of corporate organisations.

Indian Trade, Colonialism and the Global system –
• Due to the economic policy of the British
imposition of tariffs on cloth imports into Britain
the inflow of fine Indian cotton began to decline
and British manufacturers flooded the Indian
market.
• Food grain and raw material export from India to
Britain and rest of the world increased.
• The value of British export to India was much
more higher than the value of British imports
from India.

• Thus, Britain had a trade a trade surplus with
India.
• Britain used this trade surplus to balance trade
deficit with other countries – that is with
countries from which Britain was importing
more than it was selling to.
• Thus India played a crucial role in the late
nineteenth century world economy by helping
Britain balance its defecit.

The Interwar Economy –
• The impact of the World War I on the world
was widespread.
• During this period the whole world
experienced economic ad political instability
and another disastrous war.
• It was the first modern industrial war as it saw
the use of machine guns, tanks, aircrafts,
chemical weapons etc on a large scale.

• The scale of death and destruction was beyond
imagination. Household income declined.
• After the war Britain failed to recapture its earlier
position of dominance in the Indian market and to
compete with Japan internationally.
• Britain had a huge debt, borrowed from US.
• Unemployment increased because of the closure of
many industries.
• Agricultural economies were also in crisis.

• Wheat production in Canada, America and
Australia expanded dramatically and declined in
Eastern Europe.
• Grain prices fell, rural incomes declined and
farmers fell in to debt.
• However, recovery was quicker in America. The
war helped boost the US economy.
• One important feature of the US economy was
‘Mass Production’.
• A well known pioneer of ‘Mass Production’ was
Henry Ford.
• The housing and consumer boom in the 1920s
created the basis of US prosperity.

The Great Depression –
• The Great Depression began from 1929 and
lasted till the mid 1930s.
• During this period agricultural production,
employment, incomes and trade declined
drastically.
• Agricultural regions and economies were the
worst affected.
• This was because of the fall of agricultural
prices than the prices of industrial goods.

• When the crisis started US began to withdrew
loans which affected the rest of the world.
• Several major banks failed and currencies
collapsed such as the British pound sterling.
• In Latin America the agricultural and raw
material prices declined.
• In order to protect its economy US doubled the
import duties which gave a severe blow to the
world trade.

• Indian exports and imports nearly halved
between 1928 and 1934.
• Prices in India fell terribly.
• Between 1928 and 1934, wheat prices fell by
50 percent.
• Though agricultural prices fell sharply but
colonial government did not reduce revenue
demands. It eventually affected the peasants.
• The depression proved less grim for urban
India. Middle class salaried employees found
themselves better off.

• US banks cut the domestic lending and called
back loans.
• As a result, farmers failed to sell their harvests,
household ruined and business collapsed. Thus
the Great Depression affected the society, politics
and international relations.
• The impact of the Great Depression was
widespread. In the nineteenth century, as colonial
India was an exporter of agricultural goods and
importer of manufacturers , Indian trade
immediately got affected due to the Great
Depression.

• The Second World War was fought between the
Axis powers (JIG) and the Allied powers (BFRA),
it continued for six years. It caused enormous
destruction and 60 million people killed and
millions injured.
• In order to preserve economic stability and full
employment in the industrial world, the post war
economic system was established.
• To execute the same, the United Nations
monetary and Financial Conference was held in
July 1944 at Bretton Woods in New Hampshire,
USA.

• The Bretton Woods conference established the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) to deal
with external surpluses and shortages of its
member nations.
• The International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (World Bank) was set up to
finance postwar reconstruction.
• The IMF and the World Bank are referred to as
Bretton Woods Institutions or sometimes the
Bretton Woods Twins.

• Decision making authority was given to the
Western Industrial Powers. The US was given
the right to Veto over key IMF and World
Bank decisions.
• The Bretton Woods system was based on fixed
exchange rates.
• The Bretton Woods system opened a new era
of unique growth of trade and incomes for the
western industrial nations and Japan. World
trade grew annually with stability and without
large fluctuations.

• Developing countries invested in large
amounts of capital, importing industrial plant
and equipment featuring modern technology.
• After the Second World War, many parts of the
world were still under colonial rule and it took
over two decades to decolonise Asia and
Africa.
• When they became free they faced many
problems such as poverty, lack of resources.

• The IMF and the World Bank were designed to
meet the financial needs of the industrial
countries and so no attention was paid towards
the newly Independent Asian and African
countries.
• As most of the developing countries were not
much benefited from the fast growth they
formed a group called ‘The Group of 77 (G-
77).
• They demanded a New International Economic
Order(NIEO) with actual control over their
natural resources.

• Their other demands were more developmental
assistance, fairer prices for raw materials and better
access to their manufactured goods in developed
countries markets.
• The Bretton Woods ultimately ended and globalisation
began.
• Multinational Corporations are large companies that
operate in several countries at the same time.
• The first MNC’s were established in the 1920’s . Its
spread world wide in the 1950’s and 60’s.
• Now most of the MNC’s have shifted their attention
towards India and China because of the cheap labour and
huge market in these countries.

Thank you …
Have a nice day ..

Class x history - 4 the making of the global world

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