Making of a Global World 2 Flashcards
what are 3 types of movements?
Economists identify three types of movement or ‘flows’ within
international economic exchanges. The first is the flow of trade which
in the nineteenth century referred largely to trade in goods (e.g.,
cloth or wheat). The second is the flow of labour – the migration
of people in search of employment. The third is the movement of
capital for short-term or long-term investments over long distances.
how did the 3 flows affect people?
All three flows were closely interwoven and affected peoples’ lives
more deeply now than ever before. The interconnections could
sometimes be broken – for example, labour migration was often
more restricted than goods or capital flows. Yet it helps us understand
the nineteenth-century world economy better if we look at the
three flows together.
what was the change in pattern of food production
A good place to start is the changing pattern of food production
and consumption in industrial Europe. Traditionally, countries liked
to be self-sufficient in food. But in nineteenth-century Britain,
self-sufficiency in food meant lower living standards and social
conflict.
why did self sufficient food production mean lower living standard and social conflict?
Population growth from the late eighteenth century had increased
the demand for food grains in Britain. As urban centres expanded
and industry grew, the demand for agricultural products went
up, pushing up food grain prices. Under pressure from landed
groups, the government also restricted the import of corn. The
laws allowing the government to do this were commonly known as
the ‘Corn Laws’. Unhappy with high food prices, industrialists and
urban dwellers forced the abolition of the Corn Laws.
what happened after abolition of corn laws?
After the Corn Laws were scrapped, food could be imported into
Britain more cheaply than it could be produced within the country.
British agriculture was unable to compete with imports. Vast areas
of land were now left uncultivated, and thousands of men and
women were thrown out of work. They flocked to the cities or
migrated overseas.
what happened after prices in britain fell?
As food prices fell, consumption in Britain rose. From the midnineteenth century, faster industrial growth in Britain also led to higher
incomes, and therefore more food imports. Around the world – in
Eastern Europe, Russia, America and Australia – lands were cleared
and food production expanded to meet the British demand.
for what was land cleared?
It was not enough merely to clear lands for agriculture. Railways
were needed to link the agricultural regions to the ports. New
harbours had to be built and old ones expanded to ship the new
cargoes. People had to settle on the lands to bring them under
cultivation. This meant building homes and settlements. All these
activities in turn required capital and labour.
what flowed from europe to australia and america
Capital flowed from
financial centres such as London. The demand for labour in places
where labour was in short supply – as in America and Australia –
led to more migration.
Nearly 50 million people emigrated from Europe to America and
Australia in the nineteenth century. All over the world some 150
million are estimated to have left their homes, crossed oceans and
vast distances over land in search of a better future.
what happened by 1890?
by 1890, a global agricultural economy had taken shape,
accompanied by complex changes in labour movement patterns,
capital flows, ecologies and technology. Food no longer came from
a nearby village or town, but from thousands of miles away. It was
not grown by a peasant tilling his own land, but by an agricultural
worker, perhaps recently arrived, who was now working on a large
farm that only a generation ago had most likely been a forest. It was
transported by railway, built for that very purpose, and by ships
which were increasingly manned in these decades by low-paid
workers from southern Europe, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean.
what were the changes in west punjba?
Some of this dramatic change, though on a smaller scale, occurred
closer home in west Punjab. Here the British Indian government
built a network of irrigation canals to transform semi-desert wastes
into fertile agricultural lands that could grow wheat and cotton for
export. The Canal Colonies, as the areas irrigated by the new canals
were called, were settled by peasants from other parts of Punjab
how much did the world trade develop in 1820 and 1914
so rapidly did regional
specialisation in the production of commodities develop, that
between 1820 and 1914 world trade is estimated to have multiplied
25 to 40 times. Nearly 60 per cent of this trade comprised ‘primary
products’ – that is, agricultural products such as wheat and cotton,
and minerals such as coal.
What was the role of technology in all this?
? The railways, steamships,
the telegraph, for example, were important inventions without
which we cannot imagine the transformed nineteenth-century world.
But technological advances were often the result of larger social,
political and economic factors. For example, colonisation stimulated
new investments and improvements in transport: faster railways,
lighter wagons and larger ships helped move food more cheaply
and quickly from faraway farms to final markets.
what was the case of meat transport before refrigerators?
Till the 1870s, animals were shipped live from America to Europe
and then slaughtered when they arrived there. But live animals took
up a lot of ship space. Many also died in voyage, fell ill, lost weight,
or became unfit to eat. Meat was hence an expensive luxury beyond
the reach of the European poor. High prices in turn kept demand
and production down until the development of a new technology,
namely, refrigerated ships, which enabled the transport of perishable
foods over long distances.
what happened to meat transport after refrigerated shisp
Now animals were slaughtered for food at the starting point – in
America, Australia or New Zealand – and then transported to
Europe as frozen meat. This reduced shipping costs and lowered
meat prices in Europe. The poor in Europe could now consume
a more varied diet. To the earlier monotony of bread and potatoes
many, though not all, could now add meat (and butter and eggs)
to their diet. Better living conditions promoted social peace within
the country and support for imperialism abroad.
did trade only mean good and prospetiy?
Trade flourished and markets expanded in the late nineteenth
century. But this was not only a period of expanding trade and
increased prosperity. It is important to realise that there was a
darker side to this process. In many parts of the world, the
expansion of trade and a closer relationship with the world
economy also meant a loss of freedoms and livelihoods. Latenineteenth-century European conquests produced many painful
economic, social and ecological changes through which the
colonised societies were brought into the world economy.
