Chapter : 1. The Making of a Global World
A World Economy Takes shape
A World Economy Takes shape :
(i) Pattern of food production and consumption in industrial Europe changed. Traditionally, countries linked to be self-sufficient in food. But in nineteenth-century Britain, self-sufficiency in food meant lower living standards and social conflict.
(ii) Population growth from the late eighteenth century had increased the demand for food grains in Britain, pushing up food grain prices, Under pressure from landed groups, the government restricted the import of corn, the laws allowing the government to do this were commonly known as "Corn Laws". Unhappy with high food prices, industrialists and urban dwellers forced the abolition of the Corn Laws. After the Corn Laws were scrapped, import of food was cheaper than producing it in the country itself. it resulted in farmers leaving their land uncultivated, thousands of men and women thrown out of work flocked to the cities or migrated overseas.
(iii) From the mid nineteenth 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.
(iv) Transportation has to be improved, 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. Capital flowed from financial centres such as London.
(v) In mid-nineteenth century nearly 50 million people emigrated from Europe to America and Australia. 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.
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