Class 10 The Making of a Global World

Every single second that passes by makes a history. Class 10 Social Science generally consists of 4 disciplines, i.e. History, Geography, Economics, and Politics. Class 10 history teaches about how a present world of existence was made, how our current status of life has come into existence. Wars, revolution, and reforms that took place in different parts of the world and the struggles led out by courageous people are the overall essences of what we learn in this discipline. Amongst the important chapters of Class 10 history, The Making of a Global World explores the major historical era of human history from the pre-modern world to the current global era. If you are searching for a comprehensive summary of this chapter, this blog has collated all the major sections covered in the Class 10 History unit titled the Making of a Global World and important pointers you must revise.

The Pre-modern World

The first section of the Class 10 History chapter on the Making of a Global World is about the history of the pre-modern world. The world is interlinked with the customs, traditions, skills, technologies, and even germs passing down from one to the other. Here are some of the major aspects covered under the Pre-modern World:

Silk Route Linking the World

There was a very interesting story of how the Chinese accidentally discovered the use of silkworms and kept it as a secret among their royal empires. But years passed by and the cat finally got out of the box. The silk started its journey from China to different countries and hence the name silk route. It is believed to have originated before the Christian empire until the 15th century. The Class 10 History chapter on the Making of a Global World also elucidates that other cargoes like pottery and spices also travelled the silk route in exchange for gold and silver as consideration to Chinese.

Food Travels

Amongst the most common examples of long-distance cultural exchange, food travels is also an essential aspect of the history of the Pre-modern World. Ready to eat food like pasta, noodles, spaghetti is some among them. Travellers introduced these varieties in each new place they would visit. However, their area of origin is quite difficult to claim as similar food existed in some or the other part of the world in different timelines. While the studying this chapter on the Making of a Global World in Class 10 History, you will get to know that many of the common vegetables such as potatoes, tomatoes were all discovered only five centuries before when Christopher Columbus accidentally discovered Europe. Many of our foods came from original American-Indians. 

Conquest, Disease, and Trade

The next concept you will study in the chapter on the Making of a Global World is how conquest, disease and trade impact the Pre-modern World. In the sixteenth century, the discovery of sea routes by European sailors to Asia changed the entire scenario. India was a central point in their trade network. India and China, which were rich nations in the 18th century, were completely looted by greedy Europeans. Europeans went around different countries grabbing gold, silver, capturing the vast lands and crops turning Europe into a more prosperous continent. On their route, they carried with them a deadly disease called Smallpox, which almost wiped off the less immune inhabitants of America. Apart from all these, they even started purchasing slaves from far apart. This is how Europe emerged as the centre of world trade.

The Nineteenth Century(1815-1914)

After the pre-modern world, the next crucial point in the history of making fo the global world was the 19th century. During this century, the world was reshaped by social, economic, political, cultural, and technological factors. The three flows which interconnected lives of people formulating the reforms were

1. Flow of goods
2. Flow of labours
3. Movement of capital for short and long investments.

With the increasing population of Britain from the 18th century, there was a growing demand for food which in turn shot up the price of consumable commodities. The Government took off the corn law restriction, and more corn produce was poured into the country at a cheaper rate. The chapter on the Making of a Global World in Class 10 Social Science elucidates that these restrictions were a challenge for the native agriculturists, and cultivation lands were left barren due to incompetence in the market. Available at a lower price, the consumption went up. To meet the growing demand in Britain, more food was produced in other countries. It required capital, labour, and infrastructure like railways and harbours. In 1890, a global agricultural economy was developed, reshaping the lives of people. A similar development took place in India to feed a growing demand for British textile mills.

Technology also transformed with time. As we say necessity is the mother of invention, to preserve the perishable food for a long period of time refrigerated ships were developed. The meat which was a luxury item so offer could be afforded by the European poor also. Under the chapter on the Making of a Global World, it is also mentioned that when the flourishing of the market was the brighter side colonisation was the shadow. France, Britain and the US became the major colonial powers at the end of 1890s.

Rinderpest (Cattle plague)

Africa was a land with plenty of resources and a limited population. They didn’t have the need to work for meagre wages. In the chapter on the Making of a Global World in Class 10 History, it is elaborated that the Europeans seeing the varied resources in Africa took over their land. Heavy taxes were imposed, and inheritance laws were changed to bring more labourers in the front line to work for Europeans. In the late 1880’s infected cattle shipped from Britain to feed the Italian soldiers marked the beginning of the rinderpest. Cattle plague spread like a forest fire and 90%of the cattle population were lost for Africans. This affected the livelihood of the native people. It thus became an opportunity to subdue the African continent completely.

Indentured Labour Migration from India

Coming to the start of the 18th century as we progressed towards the Making of a Global World, colonisation became prevalent. Indentured labourers are slaves hired on a contract basis for passage into a new country. In the 19th century, many Indian states faced a very tough time. People started migrating in search of job opportunities. They ended up in situations worse, which they never expected. The workers started forming their own community raising voice for their rights. From the 1920s Indian national leaders started protesting against the system until it was finally abolished in 1921. The indentured labourers were shackled from the cruelties and abusements.

Indian Entrepreneurs Abroad

The Class 10 History chapter on the Making of a Global World also highlights the Indian entrepreneurs who went abroad. Shikaripuri shroff and nattukottai chettiars are bankers who finance trade with their own funds and borrow funds from European banks. The Hyderabadi Sindhi traders flourished selling their goods at the busy ports worldwide. These are the prominent entrepreneurs set up abroad.

Indian Trade, Colonialism, and the Global System

With the diminishing value of Indian cotton, an alternative was adopted to capture the market. This was the export of raw cotton, which fetched a share of 5%-35% from 1812-1871. In the chapter on the Making of a Global World, it has been mentioned that Britain also grew indigo and opium in India under their colonisation which was exported to China in return for tea imported from China. The export surplus to India was used to balance the trade deficit in other countries with Britain.

The Inter-War Economy

Moving to the next section of the chapter on the Making of a Global World, you will get to know about the inter-war economy and the impact of the world wars across different countries. Here are some of the major pointers you should know about the inter-war and post-war economy:

• The first world war (1914-18) was the first industrial modern war which used massive scale weapons. Many soldiers were recruited from different parts of the world. 
• Statistics reported 9 million deaths and 20 million injured civilians. It took 30 years to recover the after-effects of the war. This was a turning point making it more powerful. 
• Britain turned out to be a debtor of the US, agricultural production ran out, and they faced unemployment. 
• The recovery was quick in the US. They used the technique of massive scale production to come out of this. The Assembly line system of massive scale production pioneered by Henry Ford became their model. 
• Hire purchase systems fuelled up the sale of electronic commodities.
•  In 1923 the US became the biggest international lender. 
• The factors that pushed up the Great depression in 1923 were mainly Agricultural overproduction, Borrowings from the US, and ultimately the fall of US banking. The impact of the Great Depression in India affected exports and imports. 
• The prices for agricultural commodities fell. However, the country started exporting gold which somehow helped in the recovery process.

Rebuilding a World Economy

As the world wars came to an end, the rebuilding of a global economy began. The chapter on the Making of a Global World mentions the following key pointers on how the world economy was restored after the wars:

• Second world war broke out in 1939, killing 60 million people. The vast areas of Europe and Asia were affected. It caused economic and social disruption, which was hard to recover. 
• The US and Nazi Germany became dominant political powers. 
• In the post-war period, the Government brought economic stability by offering full employment. The conference held at Bretton woods formulated a body organization International Monetary Fund (IMF) to deal with the surplus and deficits of its member nations. 
• The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development(IBRD) was set up to finance post-war reconstruction needs. 
• IMF and IBRD are referred to as Bretton Woods twins and two decades after the second world war colonies started gaining independence from colonial powers. 
• To reduce the dependence upon previous colonial powers, the newly independent nations together formed a Group called G-77, which granted them exclusive rights over their natural resources. 
• Later the policies protecting the recently turned independent countries were removed, opening up the market for international trade. 
• Thus, the beginning of globalization prevailed from the 1990s. 

Hence, we hope that this summary of the Class 10 History unit on the Making of a Global world provided you with an overview of this chapter. Unsure about finding the best stream after 10th? Our Leverage Edu experts are just a click away from helping you find the right stream of study as per your interests and aspirations! Sign up for a free session with us today!