UPSC Previous Year Question | Prelims GS | 2019

Which one of the following groups of plants was domesticated in the 'New World' and introduced into the 'Old World'?

  1. Tobacco, cocoa and rubber
  2. Tobacco, cotton and rubber
  3. Cotton, coffee and sugarcane
  4. Rubber, coffee and wheat

Answer

Correct Answer

Tobacco, cocoa and rubber

Explanation

Tobacco, cocoa and rubber are New World domesticates that spread to the Old World after 1492. Cotton was domesticated independently in both worlds, coffee originated in Africa (Ethiopia), sugarcane in Asia, and wheat in the Old World.

Topics: agriculture, crop origins and diffusion, geography, new world crops (columbian exchange)