Which one of the following groups of plants was domesticated in the 'New World' and introduced into the 'Old World'?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (a) Tobacco, cocoa and rubber
The 'New World' is the Americas; the 'Old World' is Asia, Africa and Europe. Tobacco, cacao (cocoa) and Para rubber are all American plants that Europeans carried across the Atlantic after 1492. Every other option contains at least one Old World crop.
- ✓ (a) Tobacco was used by Native Americans before Europeans adopted it; cacao is native to the Amazon and Orinoco basins; the rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) is native to the Amazon basin and was later planted in Asia.
- ✗ (b) Cotton was domesticated independently in South Asia as well — traces are found at Harappan sites — so it is not solely a New World gift.
- ✗ (c) Coffee comes from Ethiopia and sugarcane from South and Southeast Asia, both Old World crops.
- ✗ (d) Wheat was domesticated in West Asia, and coffee in Africa; only rubber here is American.
Remember · Columbian Exchange, Americas → Old World: tobacco, cocoa, rubber, maize, potato, tomato, chilli, groundnut, pineapple, papaya. Old World → Americas: wheat, sugarcane, coffee.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Themes in World History, Ch 6 (practise this chapter) · Class 10 India and the Contemporary World – II, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Ch 1 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Themes in World History, Ch 1 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- NCERT Class 11 · Themes in World History, Chapter 6 “(The Europeans acquired from the natives an addiction to tobacco.)”
- NCERT Class 10 · India and the Contemporary World – II, Chapter 3 “These foods were only introduced in Europe and Asia after Christopher Columbus accidentally discovered the vast continent that would later become known as the Americas.”
- ICAR-CPCRI, Cocoa Guide (2018) ↗ “It is native to Amazon region of South America and consumed as a bitter energy drink ‘xocoatl’ by Mayans and Aztecs”
- FAO, Rubberwood: 2. The rubber tree (2.1 The rubber plantation resource) ↗ “The rubber tree , Hevea brasiliensis Muell. Arg is indigenous to the Amazon basin. During the nineteenth century, Brazil was the main supplier of hevea latex”
- NCERT Class 12 · Themes in Indian History, Part I, Chapter 1 “though there are traces of cotton at some Harappan sites, to find out about clothing we have to depend on indirect evidence”
- NCERT Class 11 · Themes in World History, Chapter 1 “In West Asia, wheat and barley, peas and various kinds of pulses were grown.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·