Notes based on the chapter “The making of the Global World” from CBSE Class 10 NCERT History. These Notes are based on the latest CBSE Syllabus for Class 10 Social Science. ‘The Making of the Global World’ chapter syllabus for Board Exams is only the first Topic ‘The Pre-modern World’ up to Point 1.3.
Notes: The Making of a Global World
1. The Pre-modern World:
- Globalisation is often associated with the economic system of the last 50 years, but the process of creating a global world has a much longer history.
- Key factors in the making of the global world include:
- Trade
- Migration
- Movement of people in search of work
- Movement of capital
- Exchange of ideas, skills, and goods
- Historical interconnectedness:
- Ancient travellers, traders, priests, and pilgrims travelled vast distances for knowledge, opportunity, spiritual fulfilment, or to escape persecution.
- They carried goods, money, values, skills, ideas, inventions, and even germs and diseases.
- Examples of early global connections:
- 3000 BCE: Coastal trade linked the Indus Valley civilizations with West Asia.
- Cowries (seashells used as currency) from the Maldives reached China and East Africa.
- Disease-carrying germs spread over long distances as early as the 7th century, with clear links by the 13th century.
1.1 Silk Routes Link the World:
- The Silk Routes are a prime example of pre-modern trade and cultural connections between distant regions.
- Key features of the Silk Routes:
- Named after the Chinese silk that was a major commodity traded along these routes.
- Consisted of multiple routes, both overland and by sea, connecting Asia, Europe, and northern Africa.
- Existed since before the Christian Era and thrived until the 15th century.
- Goods traded:
- From China: Silk, pottery.
- From India and Southeast Asia: Textiles, spices.
- From Europe to Asia: Precious metals like gold and silver.
- Cultural exchange:
- Early Christian missionaries and Muslim preachers travelled these routes.
- Buddhism spread from eastern India to various regions through the Silk Routes.
- The Silk Routes were not just trade networks but also channels for the exchange of ideas, religions, and cultures.
1.2 Food Travels: Spaghetti and Potato
- Food as a medium of cultural exchange:
- Traders and travellers introduced new crops to the lands they visited.
- Many foods consumed today have origins in distant parts of the world, highlighting long-distance cultural connections.
- Examples of food exchange: Spaghetti and noodles:
- It is believed that noodles travelled from China to the West, evolving into spaghetti.
- Alternatively, Arab traders may have brought pasta to Sicily (Italy) in the 5th century.
- Similar foods existed in India and Japan, making the exact origins uncertain.
- This suggests the possibility of extensive cultural contact in the pre-modern world.
- Introduction of new crops:
- Many common foods today, such as potatoes, soya, groundnuts, maize, tomatoes, chillies, and sweet potatoes, were unknown in Europe and Asia until about five centuries ago.
- These foods were introduced after Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas (North America, South America, and the Caribbean).
- These crops were originally cultivated by the American Indians (indigenous peoples of the Americas).
- Impact of new crops:
- The introduction of new crops significantly improved diets and living conditions.
- For example, the potato became a staple for Europe’s poor, improving nutrition and increasing life expectancy.
- However, dependence on a single crop could lead to disaster:
- In the mid-1840s, a potato disease caused widespread crop failure in Ireland, leading to the Great Famine.
- Hundreds of thousands of Ireland’s poorest peasants died of starvation due to their heavy reliance on potatoes.
1.3 Conquest, Disease, and Trade
- In the 16th century, European sailors discovered sea routes to Asia and successfully crossed the Atlantic to America.
- This marked a significant shift in global trade and connectivity.
- Indian Ocean trade before European entry:
- The Indian Ocean had a thriving trade network for centuries, with goods, people, knowledge, and customs moving across its waters.
- The Indian subcontinent was a central hub in this network.
- Impact of European entry:
- Europeans redirected and expanded trade flows towards Europe.
- The discovery of America (previously isolated for millions of years) transformed global trade and lives due to its vast lands, abundant crops, and minerals.
- Role of precious metals:
- Silver from mines in present-day Peru and Mexico enriched Europe and financed its trade with Asia.
- Legends of South America’s wealth, such as the fabled city of El Dorado, spurred many European expeditions.
- European conquest and colonization:
- By the mid-16th century, the Portuguese and Spanish had begun conquering and colonizing America.
- European conquest was not solely due to superior firepower but also because of diseases like smallpox.
- America’s indigenous populations had no immunity to European diseases, leading to devastating epidemics.
- Smallpox spread rapidly, decimating entire communities and making conquest easier.
- Migration to America:
- In the 18th century, many Europeans fled poverty, hunger, disease, and religious persecution in Europe to settle in America.
- Plantations in America, worked by enslaved Africans, produced crops like cotton and sugar for European markets.
- Shift in global trade:
- Until the 18th century, China and India were among the world’s richest countries and dominated Asian trade.
- However, China retreated into isolation from the 15th century, reducing its role in global trade.
- The rise of the Americas and Europe’s growing influence gradually shifted the centre of world trade westward, making Europe the new hub of global trade.
