Aadishesh/ncerts · Datasets at Hugging Face

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system that has emerged since the last 50 years or so. But as you will
see in this chapter, the making of the global world has a long
history – of trade, of migration, of people in search of work, themovement of capital, and much else. As we think about the dramatic
and visible signs of global interconnectedness in our lives today,
we need to understand the phases through which this world inwhich we live has emerged.
All through history, human societies have become steadily more
interlinked. From ancient times, travellers, traders, priests andpilgrims travelled vast distances for knowledge, opportunity and
spiritual fulfilment, or to escape persecution. They carried goods,
money, values, skills, ideas, inventions, and even germs and diseases.As early as 3000
BCE an active coastal trade linked the Indus valley
civilisations with present-day West Asia. For more than a millennia,cowries (the Hindi c owdi or seashells, used as a form of currency)
from the Maldives found their way to China and East Africa. The
long-distance spread of disease-carrying germs may be traced as
far back as the seventh century. By the thirteenth century it hadbecome an unmistakable link.
The Making of a Global World Chapter IV The Making of a Global World
Fig. 1 – Image of a ship on a memorial stone,
Goa Museum, tenth century CE.
From the ninth century, images of shipsappear regularly in memorial stones found inthe western coast, indicating the significanceof oceanic trade.
India and the Contemporary World
781.1 Silk Routes Link the World
The silk routes are a good example of vibrant pre-modern trade
and cultural links between distant parts of the world. The name ‘silkroutes’ points to the importance of West-bound Chinese silk cargoes
along this route. Historians have identified several silk routes, over
land and by sea, knitting together vast regions of Asia, and linkingAsia with Europe and northern Africa. They are known to haveexisted since before the Christian Era and thrived almost till thefifteenth century. But Chinese pottery also travelled the same route,as did textiles and spices from India and Southeast Asia. In return,precious metals – gold and silver – flowed from Europe to Asia.
Trade and cultural exchange always went hand in hand. Early
Christian missionaries almost certainly travelled this route to Asia, asdid early Muslim preachers a few centuries later. Much before allthis, Buddhism emerged from eastern India and spread in severaldirections through intersecting points on the silk routes.
1.2 Food Travels: Spaghetti and Potato
Food offers many examples of long-distance cultural exchange.Traders and travellers introduced new crops to the lands theytravelled. Even ‘ready’ foodstuff in distant parts of the world mightshare common origins. Take spaghetti and noodles. It is believedthat noodles travelled west from China tobecome spaghetti. Or, perhaps Arab traderstook pasta to fifth-century Sicily, an island nowin Italy. Similar foods were also known in Indiaand Japan, so the truth about their origins maynever be known. Yet such guesswork suggeststhe possibilities of long-distance cultural contact
even in the pre-modern world.
Many of our common foods such as potatoes,
soya, groundnuts, maize, tomatoes, chillies,sweet potatoes, and so on were not known toour ancestors until about five centuries ago.These foods were only introduced in Europeand Asia after Christopher Columbusaccidentally discovered the vast continent thatwould later become known as the Americas.
Fig. 3 – Merchants from Venice and the Orient exchanging goods,
from Marco Polo, Book of Marvels , fifteenth century.Fig. 2 – Silk route trade as depicted in aChinese cave painting, eighth century, Cave217, Mogao Grottoes, Gansu, China.
79
The Making of a Global World(Here we will use ‘America’ to describe North America, South
America and the Caribbean.) In fact, many of our common foods
came from America’s original inhabitants – the American Indians.
Sometimes the new crops could make the difference between life
and death. Europe’s poor began to eat better and live longer withthe introduction of the humble potato. Ireland’s poorest peasants
became so dependent on potatoes that when disease destroyed the
potato crop in the mid-1840s, hundreds of thousands died
of starvation.
1.3 Conquest, Disease and Trade
The pre-modern world shrank greatly in the sixteenth century after
European sailors found a sea route to Asia and also successfullycrossed the western ocean to America. For centuries before, the
Indian Ocean had known a bustling trade, with goods, people,
knowledge, customs, etc. criss-crossing its waters. The Indian
subcontinent was central to these flows and a crucial point in their
networks. The entry of the Europeans helped expand or redirectsome of these flows towards Europe.
Before its ‘discovery’, America had been cut off from regular contact
with the rest of the world for millions of years. But from the sixteenth
century, its vast lands and abundant crops and minerals began to
transform trade and lives everywhere.
Precious metals, particularly silver, from mines located in present-
day Peru and Mexico also enhanced Europe’s wealth and financedits trade with Asia. Legends spread in seventeenth-century Europe
about South America’s fabled wealth. Many expeditions set off in
search of El Dorado, the fabled city of gold.
The Portuguese and Spanish conquest and colonisation of America
was decisively under way by the mid-sixteenth century. Europeanconquest was not just a result of superior firepower. In fact, the
most powerful weapon of the Spanish conquerors was not a
conventional military weapon at all. It was the germs such as those
of smallpox that they carried on their person. Because of their long
isolation, America’s original inhabitants had no immunity against
these diseases that came from Europe. Smallpox in particular proved
a deadly killer. Once introduced, it spread deep into the continent,ahead even of any Europeans reaching there. It killed and decimated
whole communities, paving the way for conquest.
Fig. 4 – The Irish Potato Famine, Illustrated
London News , 1849.
Hungry children digging for potatoes in a field that
has already been harvested, hoping to discoversome leftovers. During the Great Irish PotatoFamine (1845 to 1849), around 1,000,000people died of starvation in Ireland, and double thenumber emigrated in search of work.
‘Biological’ warfare?
John Winthorp, the first governor of the
Massachusetts Bay colony in New England,wrote in May 1634 that smallpox signalled God’sblessing for the colonists: ‘… the natives … wereneere (near) all dead of small Poxe (pox), so asthe Lord hathe (had) cleared our title to whatwe possess’.
Alfred Crosby,
Ecological Imperialism .Box 1India and the Contemporary World
80Explain what we mean when we say that the
world ‘shrank’ in the 1500s.DiscussGuns could be bought or captured and turned against the invaders.
But not diseases such as smallpox to which the conquerors weremostly immune.
Until the nineteenth century, poverty and hunger were common in
Europe. Cities were crowded and deadly diseases were widespread.
Religious conflicts were common, and religious dissenters were
persecuted. Thousands therefore fled Europe for America. Here,
by the eighteenth century, plantations worked by slaves captured
in Africa were growing cotton and sugar for European markets.
Until well into the eighteenth century, China and India were among
the world’s richest countries. They were also pre-eminent in Asian
trade. However, from the fifteenth century, China is said to have
restricted overseas contacts and retreated into isolation. China’sreduced role and the rising importance of the Americas gradually
moved the centre of world trade westwards. Europe now emerged
as the centre of world trade.
New words
Dissenter – One who refuses to accept
established beliefs and practices
Fig. 5 – Slaves for sale, New Orleans, Illustrated London News , 1851.
A prospective buyer carefully inspecting slaves lined up before the auction. You can see two
children along with four women and seven men in top hats and suit waiting to be sold. To attractbuyers, slaves were often dressed in their best clothes.81
The Making of a Global WorldThe world changed profoundly in the nineteenth century. Economic,
political, social, cultural and technological factors interacted in
complex ways to transform societies and reshape external relations.
Economists identify three types of movement or ‘flows’ within

system that has emerged since the last 50 years or so. But as you will

see in this chapter, the making of the global world has a long

history – of trade, of migration, of people in search of work, themovement of capital, and much else. As we think about the dramatic

and visible signs of global interconnectedness in our lives today,

we need to understand the phases through which this world inwhich we live has emerged.

All through history, human societies have become steadily more

interlinked. From ancient times, travellers, traders, priests andpilgrims travelled vast distances for knowledge, opportunity and

spiritual fulfilment, or to escape persecution. They carried goods,

money, values, skills, ideas, inventions, and even germs and diseases.As early as 3000

BCE an active coastal trade linked the Indus valley

civilisations with present-day West Asia. For more than a millennia,cowries (the Hindi c owdi or seashells, used as a form of currency)

from the Maldives found their way to China and East Africa. The

long-distance spread of disease-carrying germs may be traced as

far back as the seventh century. By the thirteenth century it hadbecome an unmistakable link.

The Making of a Global World Chapter IV The Making of a Global World

Fig. 1 – Image of a ship on a memorial stone,

Goa Museum, tenth century CE.

From the ninth century, images of shipsappear regularly in memorial stones found inthe western coast, indicating the significanceof oceanic trade.

India and the Contemporary World

781.1 Silk Routes Link the World

The silk routes are a good example of vibrant pre-modern trade

and cultural links between distant parts of the world. The name ‘silkroutes’ points to the importance of West-bound Chinese silk cargoes

along this route. Historians have identified several silk routes, over

land and by sea, knitting together vast regions of Asia, and linkingAsia with Europe and northern Africa. They are known to haveexisted since before the Christian Era and thrived almost till thefifteenth century. But Chinese pottery also travelled the same route,as did textiles and spices from India and Southeast Asia. In return,precious metals – gold and silver – flowed from Europe to Asia.

Trade and cultural exchange always went hand in hand. Early

Christian missionaries almost certainly travelled this route to Asia, asdid early Muslim preachers a few centuries later. Much before allthis, Buddhism emerged from eastern India and spread in severaldirections through intersecting points on the silk routes.

1.2 Food Travels: Spaghetti and Potato

Food offers many examples of long-distance cultural exchange.Traders and travellers introduced new crops to the lands theytravelled. Even ‘ready’ foodstuff in distant parts of the world mightshare common origins. Take spaghetti and noodles. It is believedthat noodles travelled west from China tobecome spaghetti. Or, perhaps Arab traderstook pasta to fifth-century Sicily, an island nowin Italy. Similar foods were also known in Indiaand Japan, so the truth about their origins maynever be known. Yet such guesswork suggeststhe possibilities of long-distance cultural contact

even in the pre-modern world.

Many of our common foods such as potatoes,

soya, groundnuts, maize, tomatoes, chillies,sweet potatoes, and so on were not known toour ancestors until about five centuries ago.These foods were only introduced in Europeand Asia after Christopher Columbusaccidentally discovered the vast continent thatwould later become known as the Americas.

Fig. 3 – Merchants from Venice and the Orient exchanging goods,

from Marco Polo, Book of Marvels , fifteenth century.Fig. 2 – Silk route trade as depicted in aChinese cave painting, eighth century, Cave217, Mogao Grottoes, Gansu, China.

79

The Making of a Global World(Here we will use ‘America’ to describe North America, South

America and the Caribbean.) In fact, many of our common foods

came from America’s original inhabitants – the American Indians.

Sometimes the new crops could make the difference between life

and death. Europe’s poor began to eat better and live longer withthe introduction of the humble potato. Ireland’s poorest peasants

became so dependent on potatoes that when disease destroyed the

potato crop in the mid-1840s, hundreds of thousands died

of starvation.

1.3 Conquest, Disease and Trade

The pre-modern world shrank greatly in the sixteenth century after

European sailors found a sea route to Asia and also successfullycrossed the western ocean to America. For centuries before, the

Indian Ocean had known a bustling trade, with goods, people,

knowledge, customs, etc. criss-crossing its waters. The Indian

subcontinent was central to these flows and a crucial point in their

networks. The entry of the Europeans helped expand or redirectsome of these flows towards Europe.

Before its ‘discovery’, America had been cut off from regular contact

with the rest of the world for millions of years. But from the sixteenth

century, its vast lands and abundant crops and minerals began to

transform trade and lives everywhere.

Precious metals, particularly silver, from mines located in present-

day Peru and Mexico also enhanced Europe’s wealth and financedits trade with Asia. Legends spread in seventeenth-century Europe

about South America’s fabled wealth. Many expeditions set off in

search of El Dorado, the fabled city of gold.

The Portuguese and Spanish conquest and colonisation of America

was decisively under way by the mid-sixteenth century. Europeanconquest was not just a result of superior firepower. In fact, the

most powerful weapon of the Spanish conquerors was not a

conventional military weapon at all. It was the germs such as those

of smallpox that they carried on their person. Because of their long

isolation, America’s original inhabitants had no immunity against

these diseases that came from Europe. Smallpox in particular proved

a deadly killer. Once introduced, it spread deep into the continent,ahead even of any Europeans reaching there. It killed and decimated

whole communities, paving the way for conquest.

Fig. 4 – The Irish Potato Famine, Illustrated

London News , 1849.

Hungry children digging for potatoes in a field that

has already been harvested, hoping to discoversome leftovers. During the Great Irish PotatoFamine (1845 to 1849), around 1,000,000people died of starvation in Ireland, and double thenumber emigrated in search of work.

‘Biological’ warfare?

John Winthorp, the first governor of the

Massachusetts Bay colony in New England,wrote in May 1634 that smallpox signalled God’sblessing for the colonists: ‘… the natives … wereneere (near) all dead of small Poxe (pox), so asthe Lord hathe (had) cleared our title to whatwe possess’.

Alfred Crosby,

Ecological Imperialism .Box 1India and the Contemporary World

80Explain what we mean when we say that the

world ‘shrank’ in the 1500s.DiscussGuns could be bought or captured and turned against the invaders.

But not diseases such as smallpox to which the conquerors weremostly immune.

Until the nineteenth century, poverty and hunger were common in

Europe. Cities were crowded and deadly diseases were widespread.

Religious conflicts were common, and religious dissenters were

persecuted. Thousands therefore fled Europe for America. Here,

by the eighteenth century, plantations worked by slaves captured

in Africa were growing cotton and sugar for European markets.

Until well into the eighteenth century, China and India were among

the world’s richest countries. They were also pre-eminent in Asian

trade. However, from the fifteenth century, China is said to have

restricted overseas contacts and retreated into isolation. China’sreduced role and the rising importance of the Americas gradually

moved the centre of world trade westwards. Europe now emerged

as the centre of world trade.

New words

Dissenter – One who refuses to accept

established beliefs and practices

Fig. 5 – Slaves for sale, New Orleans, Illustrated London News , 1851.

A prospective buyer carefully inspecting slaves lined up before the auction. You can see two

children along with four women and seven men in top hats and suit waiting to be sold. To attractbuyers, slaves were often dressed in their best clothes.81

The Making of a Global WorldThe world changed profoundly in the nineteenth century. Economic,

political, social, cultural and technological factors interacted in

complex ways to transform societies and reshape external relations.

Economists identify three types of movement or ‘flows’ within