Social Science (087) — AI-generated practice question

Pre-modern globalisation shows that human interconnectedness existed long before the modern era, through both trade and disease.

Trade example: Cowrie shells from the Maldives circulated as currency across China and East Africa for over a millennium, demonstrating established long-distance trade networks linking distant civilisations as early as 3000 BCE.

Disease example: The spread of disease-carrying germs can be traced back to the seventh century. Spanish conquerors carried smallpox to America, wiping out indigenous populations who had no immunity, which ultimately enabled European colonisation.

These examples show that globalisation before the sixteenth century was already real and consequential — involving the movement of goods, people, and germs across continents — though it lacked the speed and scale of modern interconnectedness.

Source: The Pre-modern World; Conquest, Disease and Trade — Chapter 3

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• Examiners expect two distinct examples from different domains — one trade-based, one disease-based works perfectly here.
• Cite specific details (cowries, smallpox, dates) to show textbook grounding — this is what earns marks over vague answers.
• End with a brief inference about the nature of pre-modern globalisation — the question explicitly asks "what does this tell us," so don't skip it.
• Do not over-write; 3 marks = ~70 words in the answer body. The structure above hits that target efficiently.