Q.1 Mention any three effects of the British Government’s decision for the abolition of the Corn Laws. 
Answer 
(i) Food could be imported into Britain at much cheaper rate than it would be produced within the country.(ii) British agriculture was unable to compete with imports. Vast areas of land were left uncultivated and people started migrating to cities or other countries.(iii) As food prices fell, consumption in Britain rose. Faster industrial growth in Britain also led to higher incomes and therefore more food imports.

Q.2 ‘Nineteenth Century indenture has been described as a new system of slavery.’ Explain any three points.
Answer 
(i) Agents did convince migrants by providing false information about final destinations, modes of travel, the nature of the work, and living and working conditions.(ii) Sometimes agents even forcibly abducted less willing migrants. (iii) On arrival at the plantations, labourers found living and working conditions harsh, and there were few legal rights.

Q.3 In what ways did food items offer scope for long distance cultural exchange? Explain. 
Answer(i) Traders and travellers introduced new crops to the lands they travelled. (ii) It is believed that noodles travelled west from China to become spaghetti. (iii) Arabs traders took pasta to fifth-century Sicily, an island now in Italy. (iv) Many of our common foods such as potatoes, soya, groundnuts, maize tomatoes, chillies, sweet potatoes and so on were not known to our ancestors and were only introduced in Europe and Asia after Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas.

Q.4 Why were Europeans attracted to Africa in the late 19th century? Give any three reasons.
Answer
(i) Europeans were attracted due to the resources of land and minerals of Africa. (ii) They came to Africa to establish plantations and exploit mines. (iii) African countries were militarily weak and backward. So, it was easy to conquer them.

Q.5 . State three reasons why Europeans fled to America in the 19th century. 
Answer
(i) Poverty and hunger were common in Europe. (ii) Cities were crowded and deadly diseases were widespread.(iii) Religious conflicts were common, and religious dissenters were persecuted.

Q.6 Explain the effects of the Great Depression of 1929 on the United States.
Answer 
(i) With the fall in prices and the prospect of a depression, the US banks also slashed domestic lending and called back loans. (ii) Farmers were unable to sell their harvests. (iii) Faced with falling income, many households in the US could not repay what they had borrowed, and were forced to give up their homes, cars and other consumer durables.(v) Many factories closed down due to lack of work. Between 1929 and 1932, about 1,10,000 companies had collapsed. (vi) Workers were thrown out of employment. As a result, unemployment, hunger and poverty increased. In USA, the number of unemployed rose to 10 million. (vii) Banks were unable to recover investments, collect loans and repay depositors. Thousands of banks became bankrupt. By 1933, nearly 4000 banks were shut down.

Q.7 Explain how did the abolition of Corn Laws in Britain led to the emergence of a global agricultural economy? 
Answer 
(i) After the Corn Laws were scrapped, food could be imported into Britain more cheaply than it could be produced within the country. (ii) As food prices fell, consumption in Britain rose. From the mid-nineteenth century, faster industrial growth in Britain also led to higher incomes, and therefore more food imports. (iii) In Eastern Europe, Russia, America and Australia, lands were cleared and food production expanded to meet the British demand.(iv) To meet the needs of transportation and housing, capital flowed from financial centres such as London.(v) Thus by 1890, a global agricultural economy had taken shape, accompanied by complex changes in labour movement patterns, capital flows, ecologies and technology.(vi) Food no longer came from a nearby village or town, but from thousands of miles away and grown by an agricultural worker.

Q.8 What was Rinderpest? How did it adversely affect the lives and fortunes of the Africans? 
Answer 
Rinderpest was a fast-spreading disease of cattle plague which had a terrifying impact on people’s livelihoods and the local economy of Africa. It affected the Africans in following ways: (i) Rinderpest moved like forest fire. (ii) Along the way, rinderpest killed 90 percent of the cattle. (iii) The loss of cattle destroyed African livelihoods. Thus, they were forced to work for wages.(iv) Control over the scarce resource of cattle enabled European colonisers to conquer and subdue Africa.

Q.9 Silk routes are a good example of vibrant pre-modern trade and cultural links between distant parts of the world.’ Examine the Statement.
Answer
(i) Historians have identified several silk routes, over land and by sea, knitting together vast regions of Asia, and linking Asia with Europe and northern Africa. (ii) Chinese pottery also travelled the same route, as did textiles and spices from India and Southeast Asia. (iii) In return, precious metals such as gold and silver flowed from Europe to Asia.

Q.10 Mention any three effects of the British Government’s decision for the abolition of the Corn Laws. 
Answer 
(i) Food could be imported into Britain at much cheaper rate than it would be produced within the country.(ii) British agriculture was unable to compete with imports. Vast areas of land were left uncultivated and people started migrating to cities or other countries.(iii) As food prices fell, consumption in Britain rose. Faster industrial growth in Britain also led to higher incomes and therefore more food imports.

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