Prelims · Modern India & the freedom struggle · 12 questions

Europeans & the East India Company

Every UPSC Prelims question on this topic, 2016–2026, newest first. Tap an option to check yourself; the answer and explanation open below it.

Asked in 5 of 11 years · most in 2023 (2)

UPSC syllabus: “History of India and Indian National Movement.” See the full syllabus →

Prelims 2019 · Q4

Medium

Consider the following statements about 'the Charter Act of 1813':

1.It ended the trade monopoly of the East India Company in India except for trade in tea and trade with China.
2.It asserted the sovereignty of the British Crown over the Indian territories held by the Company.
3.The revenues of India were now controlled by the British Parliament.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

Answer & explanation

Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

The 1813 charter opened the India trade to private British merchants while the Company kept its China (tea) trade monopoly, and it declared the Crown's sovereignty over the Company's territories. It did not hand India's revenues to Parliament: the Company went on governing and collecting revenue until the Crown took over in 1858.

✓ 1. In 1813 the Company's exclusive right to trade with India was removed and private traders were admitted, but its exclusive right to the China trade (chiefly tea) was retained until 1833.
✓ 2. The 1813 charter contained a clause asserting the Crown's undoubted sovereignty over all the Company's territories in India.
✗ 3. The Company kept its political and administrative role, including revenue administration; direct Crown control of Indian government came only in 1858.

Remember · Charter Act 1813: India trade opened to all British merchants (China/tea monopoly kept till 1833), Crown sovereignty asserted, missionaries allowed. Company rule itself ended only in 1858.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Ch 4 (practise this chapter)

Sources

UK Parliament, Hansard (House of Commons, 19 April 1852): East India Company's Charter ↗ · reference work “private traders were admitted to a full and complete competition with them in regard to the trade with India. At the same time, the exclusive right of trading with China was retained by the Company.”
UK Parliament, Living Heritage: East India Company and Raj 1785-1858 ↗ · reference work “Parliament allowed the Company to maintain its political and administrative duties in India, but the charter of 1813 included a clause asserting the Crown's undoubted sovereignty over all of the Company's territories”
NCERT Class 8 · Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Chapter 4 “in 1858, the British Crown took direct control of India from the East India Company, initiating the period of the British Raj.”

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). Permalink ·

Prelims 2019 · Q21

Easy

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). Permalink ·

The same topic in Mains

Modern Indian historyGS 1 syllabus

Read it in NCERT

Class 8 Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part 1), Chapter 4cited in 1 explanation
Class 11 Themes in World History, Chapter 6cited in 1 explanation
Class 10 India and the Contemporary World – II, Chapter 3cited in 1 explanation
Class 12 Themes in Indian History, Part I, Chapter 1cited in 1 explanation
Class 11 Themes in World History, Chapter 1cited in 1 explanation