Social Science (087) — AI-generated practice question

Abolition of the Corn Laws and the Global Food Economy

The British government had restricted food grain imports through the Corn Laws to protect landed interests. However, industrialists and urban dwellers, unhappy with high food prices, forced their abolition in the mid-nineteenth century.

Once repealed, cheaper imported food undercut British agriculture. Vast lands were left uncultivated and thousands of agricultural workers lost their livelihoods — they either migrated to British cities or emigrated overseas.

To meet rising British demand, lands were cleared in Eastern Europe, Russia, America, and Australia for food production. This required railways, ports, and settlements — all needing capital, which flowed from financial centres like London, and labour, which came through mass migration. Nearly 50 million Europeans emigrated to America and Australia in the nineteenth century.

By 1890, a fully integrated global agricultural economy had emerged — food grown thousands of miles away was transported by railway and steamship to British consumers.

Source: Chapter 3, Section 2.1 — A World Economy Takes Shape

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• Examiners expect a chain/sequence of causes and effects — not isolated facts.
• Key terms to use: Corn Laws, imports, agricultural displacement, migration, capital flows, global food economy.
• The three "flows" framework (trade, labour, capital) from Section 2 is useful scaffolding here.
• Conclude by naming the outcome: the global agricultural economy by 1890 — this shows you understood the big picture.
• Avoid listing random facts; connect each consequence to the next.