Which one of the following groups of plants was domesticated in the 'New World' and introduced into the 'Old World'?
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Answer: A. Tobacco, cocoa and rubber are all native to the Americas (the New World) and were taken to Europe, Asia and Africa (the Old World) after Columbus. Cotton, coffee, sugarcane and wheat were already grown in the Old World.
Watch for: Students know rubber and tobacco came from America and stop checking the third crop in each set.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Wrong because cotton was also grown in the Old World, for example in the Indus Valley.
- C. Wrong because coffee (Ethiopia) and sugarcane (South/South-East Asia) are Old World crops.
- D. Wrong because coffee and wheat are Old World crops.
Source to check: NCERT Class 12 Themes in World History, chapter 'Displacing Indigenous Peoples' / NCERT Class 10 India and the Contemporary World II, Chapter 'The Making of a Global World' (food travels)
Answer from the official UPSC key. Written and fact-checked by AI against the official key. Spotted a mistake? Report it.