Ch3 - The Making of a Global World - Class 10 History | Top 30 MCQs | GPN

MCQs: The Making of a Global World

Practice these 30 multiple‑choice questions to test your understanding. Each question carries 1 mark. Answers with explanations are provided in highlighted boxes.

📌 PART A: STANDARD MCQs (15 Questions)

Q1. As early as which year did an active coastal trade link the Indus Valley civilisations with present-day West Asia?
(a) 1000 BCE
(b) 2000 BCE
(c) 3000 BCE
(d) 4000 BCE
Ans1. ✅ Answer: (c) 3000 BCE
Explanation: As early as 3000 BCE, an active coastal trade linked the Indus Valley civilisations with present-day West Asia.
Q2. Common foods like potatoes, soya, groundnuts, maize, tomatoes, chillies, and sweet potatoes were introduced in Europe and Asia after which explorer accidentally discovered the Americas?
(a) Vasco da Gama
(b) Marco Polo
(c) Ferdinand Magellan
(d) Christopher Columbus
Ans2. ✅ Answer: (d) Christopher Columbus
Explanation: Christopher Columbus accidentally discovered the Americas, leading to the introduction of new crops like potatoes, maize, tomatoes, and chillies to Europe and Asia.
Q3. Which disease proved to be a deadly killer for America's original inhabitants after European contact?
(a) Chickenpox
(b) Measles
(c) Smallpox
(d) Influenza
Ans3. ✅ Answer: (c) Smallpox
Explanation: Smallpox proved a deadly killer because America's original inhabitants had no immunity against this disease that came from Europe.
Q4. Between 1820 and 1914, world trade multiplied 25 to 40 times. Nearly what percentage of this trade comprised 'primary products'?
(a) 30%
(b) 45%
(c) 60%
(d) 75%
Ans4. ✅ Answer: (c) 60%
Explanation: Nearly 60% of world trade comprised primary products such as wheat, cotton, and minerals.
Q5. Which European power passed the 'Corn Laws' to restrict the import of corn?
(a) France
(b) Great Britain
(c) Germany
(d) Spain
Ans5. ✅ Answer: (b) Great Britain
Explanation: Under pressure from landed groups, the British government restricted the import of corn through laws commonly known as the 'Corn Laws'.
Q6. In which year did the Great Depression begin?
(a) 1929 in USA
(b) 1929 in Britain
(c) 1930 in France
(d) 1928 in Germany
Ans6. ✅ Answer: (a) 1929 in USA
Explanation: The Great Depression began around 1929 in the USA and lasted till the mid-1930s.
Q7. Who adopted the concept of the assembly line to manufacture automobiles?
(a) Henry Ford
(b) Samuel Morse
(c) James Watt
(d) Karl Benz
Ans7. ✅ Answer: (a) Henry Ford
Explanation: Henry Ford adapted the assembly line technique from a Chicago slaughterhouse to manufacture the T-Model Ford, the world's first mass-produced car.
Q8. In Africa, in the 1890s, a fast-spreading disease of cattle plague or ______ had a terrifying impact on people's livelihoods.
(a) Smallpox
(b) Rinderpest
(c) Anthrax
(d) Foot and Mouth disease
Ans8. ✅ Answer: (b) Rinderpest
Explanation: Rinderpest arrived in Africa in the late 1880s and killed 90% of African cattle, destroying livelihoods and enabling European colonisation.
Q9. The main destinations of Indian indentured migrants were:
(a) Caribbean Islands
(b) Mauritius
(c) Fiji
(d) All of the above
Ans9. ✅ Answer: (d) All of the above
Explanation: Indian indentured migrants went to Caribbean islands (Trinidad, Guyana, Surinam), Mauritius, Fiji, Ceylon, and Malaya.
Q10. The system of indentured labour was abolished in:
(a) 1919
(b) 1921
(c) 1931
(d) 1947
Ans10. ✅ Answer: (b) 1921
Explanation: Indian nationalist leaders opposed the system as abusive and cruel, and it was abolished in 1921.
Q11. In 1885, the big European powers met in which city to complete the carving up of Africa between them?
(a) Paris
(b) London
(c) Berlin
(d) Vienna
Ans11. ✅ Answer: (c) Berlin
Explanation: In 1885, the big European powers met in Berlin to complete the carving up of Africa between them.
Q12. What was the impact of the First World War on household incomes in Europe?
(a) Incomes increased due to war production
(b) Death and injuries reduced the number of able-bodied workforce, so incomes declined
(c) Women's employment kept incomes stable
(d) Government compensation maintained incomes
Ans12. ✅ Answer: (b) Death and injuries reduced the number of able-bodied workforce, so incomes declined
Explanation: The First World War killed 9 million and injured 20 million, mostly men of working age, reducing able-bodied workforce and causing household incomes to decline.
Q13. The Bretton Woods Conference was held in which year and place?
(a) 1945, San Francisco
(b) 1944, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire
(c) 1944, Geneva
(d) 1945, New York
Ans13. ✅ Answer: (b) 1944, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire
Explanation: The United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference was held in July 1944 at Bretton Woods in New Hampshire, USA.
Q14. Which country has an effective right of veto over key IMF and World Bank decisions?
(a) United Kingdom
(b) France
(c) USA
(d) Germany
Ans14. ✅ Answer: (c) USA
Explanation: The USA has an effective right of veto over key IMF and World Bank decisions.
Q15. Why did China become an attractive destination for Multi-National Companies (MNCs)?
(a) It had abundant raw materials
(b) China was highly industrialised
(c) Wages were low in China
(d) It had vast land for setting up production units
Ans15. ✅ Answer: (c) Wages were low in China
Explanation: From the late 1970s, MNCs shifted production to low-wage Asian countries like China because of the low-cost structure, most importantly low wages.

📚 Quick Access to Other Class 10 SST Chapters:

📌 PART B: ASSERTION‑REASONING QUESTIONS (10 Questions)

Directions: In each of the following questions, two statements are given – Assertion (A) and Reason (R). Choose the correct option:
(a) Both A and R are true and R explains A.
(b) Both A and R are true but R does NOT explain A.
(c) A is true but R is false.
(d) A is false but R is true.

Q1. Assertion (A): From ancient times, travellers, traders, priests and pilgrims travelled vast distances.
Reason (R): These journeys were for purposes like knowledge, opportunity, spiritual fulfilment, or to escape persecution.
Ans1. ✅ Answer: (a) Both A and R are true and R explains A.
Explanation: People travelled for these exact purposes, carrying goods, ideas, and even diseases across the world.
Q2. Assertion (A): The pre-modern world became shrunken due to the discovery of sea routes to Asia and the western ocean to America in the 16th century.
Reason (R): Before the sixteenth century, there was no form of trade in the Indian Ocean.
Ans2. ✅ Answer: (c) A is true but R is false.
Explanation: A is true, but R is false because the Indian Ocean had known bustling trade for centuries before the 16th century, with goods, people, and knowledge criss-crossing its waters.
Q3. Assertion (A): Common food items of today like potatoes, soya, tomatoes, maize, chillies were not known in India five centuries ago.
Reason (R): Christopher Columbus had not discovered India yet, so they didn't travel through with voyagers.
Ans3. ✅ Answer: (c) A is true but R is false.
Explanation: A is true, but R is false because Columbus discovered the Americas, not India. These crops came from the Americas after Columbus's voyages.
Q4. Assertion (A): In Africa, in the 1890s, a fast-spreading disease of cattle plague or rinderpest had a terrifying impact on people's livelihoods and the local economy.
Reason (R): This is a good example of the widespread European imperial impact on colonised societies.
Ans4. ✅ Answer: (b) Both A and R are true but R does NOT explain A.
Explanation: Rinderpest arrived through infected cattle imported from British Asia to feed Italian soldiers. While both statements are true, the reason simply states it's an example of imperial impact, not explaining how rinderpest actually spread.
Q5. Assertion (A): During the Great Depression of 1929, agricultural regions and communities were the worst affected.
Reason (R): The fall in agricultural prices was greater and more prolonged than that in the prices of industrial goods.
Ans5. ✅ Answer: (a) Both A and R are true and R explains A.
Explanation: Agricultural regions were worst affected precisely because agricultural prices fell more sharply and for longer than industrial prices.
Q6. Assertion (A): Most of the TVs, mobile phones and toys we see in the shops seem to be made in China.
Reason (R): Industries are relocated to China due to the low-cost structure of the Chinese economy, most importantly its low wages.
Ans6. ✅ Answer: (a) Both A and R are true and R explains A.
Explanation: MNCs relocated production to China because of low wages, making it attractive for investment.
Q7. Assertion (A): In ancient times, there was a flow of precious metals from Europe to Asia.
Reason (R): Chinese pottery, Indian textiles, and spices were sold to Africa and Europe.
Ans7. ✅ Answer: (a) Both A and R are true and R explains A.
Explanation: Asian goods like textiles, spices, and pottery were in high demand, and in return, precious metals (gold and silver) flowed from Europe to Asia.
Q8. Assertion (A): Thousands migrated to America from Europe in the nineteenth century.
Reason (R): Poverty, hunger, and deadly diseases were widespread in European cities during the nineteenth century.
Ans8. ✅ Answer: (a) Both A and R are true and R explains A.
Explanation: Until the 19th century, poverty, hunger, disease, and religious persecution were common in Europe, leading thousands to flee to America.
Q9. Assertion (A): Until the eighteenth century, China and India were among the world's richest countries.
Reason (R): Europe was emerging as a center of world trade due to slavery, plantations, and colonisation of America.
Ans9. ✅ Answer: (b) Both A and R are true but R does NOT explain A.
Explanation: Both statements are true, but Europe's emergence as a trade center does not explain why China and India were rich – they had pre-eminent positions in Asian trade for centuries.
Q10. Assertion (A): The British Indian government built a network of irrigation canals in Punjab, India.
Reason (R): These Canal Colonies transformed semi-desert wastes into fertile agricultural lands that could grow wheat and cotton for export.
Ans10. ✅ Answer: (a) Both A and R are true and R explains A.
Explanation: The Canal Colonies were built specifically to create agricultural lands for growing wheat and cotton for export, transforming semi-desert areas.

📖 Continue Your Journey: Explore Chapter 4 – The Age of Industrialisation – to understand how industrialisation transformed economies and societies.

📌 PART C: CASE‑BASED QUESTIONS (5 Questions)

Case Study 1: Read the given source carefully and answer the questions that follow:

Source: "The Portuguese and Spanish conquest and colonisation of America was decisively under way by the mid-sixteenth century. European conquest 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."

Q1. What was the most powerful weapon of the Spanish conquerors?
(a) Guns
(b) Swords
(c) Smallpox germs
(d) Horses
Ans1. ✅ Answer: (c) Smallpox germs
Explanation: The source states that the most powerful weapon was not conventional military weapons but germs like smallpox.
Q2. Why did smallpox kill a large number of native Americans?
(a) They did not know about the disease
(b) They had no immunity against the disease because of long isolation
(c) Smallpox was a deadly killer disease
(d) Smallpox spread throughout the continent
Ans2. ✅ Answer: (b) They had no immunity against the disease because of long isolation
Explanation: Due to their long isolation, America's original inhabitants had no immunity against diseases that came from Europe.
Q3. From where did the disease used as a weapon by Spanish conquerors come from?
(a) Portugal
(b) Spain
(c) America
(d) Europe
Ans3. ✅ Answer: (d) Europe
Explanation: The diseases came from Europe, carried by Spanish conquerors on their person.

Case Study 2: Read the given source carefully and answer the questions that follow:

Source: "The silk routes are a good example of vibrant pre-modern trade and cultural links between distant parts of the world. The name 'silk routes' 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 linking Asia with Europe and northern Africa. They are known to have existed since before the Christian Era and thrived almost till the fifteenth 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."

Q1. What does the name 'silk routes' point to?
(a) The importance of Indian textiles
(b) The importance of West-bound Chinese silk cargoes
(c) The importance of European gold
(d) The importance of Southeast Asian spices
Ans1. ✅ Answer: (b) The importance of West-bound Chinese silk cargoes
Explanation: The name 'silk routes' points to the importance of West-bound Chinese silk cargoes along this route.
Q2. What flowed from Europe to Asia in return for Asian goods?
(a) Spices and textiles
(b) Silk and pottery
(c) Gold and silver
(d) Cotton and indigo
Ans2. ✅ Answer: (c) Gold and silver
Explanation: Precious metals – gold and silver – flowed from Europe to Asia in exchange for goods like silk, textiles, and spices.
Q3. Till when did the silk routes thrive?
(a) Till the 10th century
(b) Till the 12th century
(c) Till the 15th century
(d) Till the 17th century
Ans3. ✅ Answer: (c) Till the 15th century
Explanation: The silk routes are known to have existed since before the Christian Era and thrived almost till the fifteenth century.

Practice these MCQs repeatedly. Assertion‑reason questions require understanding cause‑effect relationships – don't just memorise, analyse why the reason explains (or doesn't explain) the assertion.

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