Question

Give three examples to show that the pre-modern world changed with the discovery of
new sea routes to America.
OR
Why did women workers in Britain attack the Spinning Jenny ? Give any three reasons.
OR
State any three characteristics of the ancient cities.

CBSE Class X Social Science SA ( 3 marks)

Answer 1

Three examples are as follows :
(i) Many common foods, e.g. potatoes, soya, tomatoes, maize, etc., were introduced to Europe from America. These crops made a difference between life and death. The poor began to eat better and live longer in England with the introduction of potatoes.
(ii) Religious dissenters from Europe fled due to the fear of persecution in Europe and migrated to America.
(iii) Slave trade was started. European traders captured slaves in Africa and took them to America where they worked on plantations. Europe became the centre of the world trade.
(iv) Precious metals, e.g., silver from mines located in present day Peru and Mexico also enhanced Europe’s wealth and financed its trade.
OR
(i) The Spinning Jenny speeded up the spinning process and reduced labour demands.
(ii) Many workers were left without any job and became unemployed.
(iii) By the use of this machine, a single worker could make a number of spindles and spin several threads. That is why the women workers attacked Spinning Jenny.
OR
(i) Ancient towns and cities appeared along river valleys such as Ur, Nippur and Mohenjodaro.
(ii) They were large in scale than other human settlements, performances and exchange of news related to jobs, strikes, riots etc.
(iii) These cities were centres of political power, administrative network, trade and industry, religious institutions and intellectual activities.

Answer 2

(i) Before the discovery of the sea routes, 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.
(ii) Precious metals, particularly silver, from mires located in present day Peru and Mexico also enhanced Europe’s wealth and financed its 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
(iii) With the discovery of sea routes three types of movements or flows became prominent. i.c\. the flow of goods, labour and capital.