Introduction to The 19th Century Globalisation

Madhu visited a museum.

In the museum she saw lots of things that were from some foreign land.

Her mother said that there are many Indian things like this in museums of foreign countries too.

She wanted to know more...

Just like Madhu’s curiosity, it is very interesting to know how things travelled this far and wide.

They travelled through Trade.

In the 19th Century the world changed quite fast due to economic,social, cultural and technological reasons.

There were three kind of flow in the economic zone: 1.Flow of trade 2.Flow of labour 3.Flow of capital or investment

These flows affected the way economy was on the global level.

All three flows were inter-connected and affected everyone.

Traditionally, countries liked to be self-sufficient in food.

When Industrialisation took place in the 19th century, many people left agriculture and turned to factories.

Food crisis started in Britain

The prices of food grains rose up.Under pressure from certain groups, import of grains had become limited in Britain.

The laws that restricted the import of corn came to be known as the ‘Corn Laws’.

As the prices rose high, many industrialist and city people forcefully stopped the ‘Corn Laws’.

As ‘Corn Laws’ were banned, Britain imported food grain in bulk.

Surprisingly importing grains was cheaper than producing them in Britain.

Many farmers left their land and went to cities in search of work.

In Britain the food prices fell and people started consuming more.

As Industrial growth was high, people also started earning more,and import of food increased.

In countries like Eastern Europe,Russia,America and Australia agriculture grew quite fast to meet the British demands.

Not only lands were cleared to make space for agriculture but Railways also came up.

Railways were connected to the agricultural regions. New harbours were also built.

Shipping business grew rapidly.People who started agriculture in this countries also settled down

As people started settling down to new places, the construction business grew.

Capital for these came from centres like London.Capital was basically the money required to do something.

Demand of labour became high.

In places where the labour were short in supply, they got labourers from far away places.

Nearly 50 million people came from Europe to America and Australia in the nineteenth century

This is how the global agricultural network setup. Everything was now on a global level.

Food came from far away places and not from local areas.

The food was transported using Railways and Ships. Labourers came from Southern Europe, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean

In India also such changes occurred. Semi desert areas of Punjab were converted into fertile lands for farming.

Canals for irrigation were set up by the British for agriculture.

Food was only an example. Global exchanges started in many more areas like rubber, cotton etc.

Most of the global exchange took place in agricultural goods.

By 1914, trade had gone beyond the boundaries and reached out far and wide.

The End.