Social Science (087) — AI-generated practice question

Chain of Events:

1. Italian soldiers invaded Eritrea in East Africa and needed food supplies.
2. Britain (thousands of kilometres away) imported infected cattle from British Asia to feed these troops.
3. Rinderpest arrived in Africa in the late 1880s via this infected cattle.
4. The disease swept westward "like forest fire," reaching the Atlantic coast by 1892 and the Cape by 1897, killing 90% of Africa's cattle.
5. African livelihoods collapsed since land and livestock had sustained their self-sufficient way of life; Africans had previously had little reason to work for wages.
6. European planters, mine owners, and colonial governments monopolised the scarce surviving cattle, forcing Africans into the labour market — achieving what heavy taxes and inheritance law changes had only partially done.

What it reveals: A military decision in Europe triggered a biological catastrophe in Africa, showing how colonies, trade routes, and imperial armies were tightly linked. Events in one part of the world instantly reshaped lives thousands of kilometres away — a defining feature of late-nineteenth-century interconnectedness.

Source: Chapter 3, Section 2.4 — Rinderpest, or the Cattle Plague

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• Examiners expect a clear chain: Italian invasion → infected cattle from British Asia → rinderpest spreads → cattle destroyed → Africans forced into wage labour → European colonial control strengthened.
• The final paragraph linking this to "interconnected world" is essential for full marks on a "explain what it reveals" question.
• Specific facts (90% cattle killed, 1892 Atlantic coast, 1897 Cape) show textbook knowledge and earn marks.
• Keep cause-and-effect tight; don't pad with general globalisation theory.