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UPSC Prelims 2019 · Agriculture · Crops and Where They Grow
Which one of the following groups of plants was domesticated in the ‘New World’ and introduced into the ‘Old World’?
- (a) Tobacco, cocoa, and rubber
- (b) Tobacco, cotton, and rubber
- (c) Cotton, coffee, and sugarcane
- (d) Rubber, coffee, and wheat
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: (a) Tobacco, cocoa, and rubber
Tobacco, cocoa and rubber were all domesticated in the Americas.
Why the others are wrong
(b) Cotton was domesticated in both worlds (India and the Americas).
(c) Coffee is from Ethiopia and sugarcane from New Guinea/South Asia.
(d) Coffee and wheat are Old World crops.
The trap
Cotton grew in the Americas too, but India domesticated it independently — so (b) is not purely “New World”.
🔒 New World: maize, potato, tomato, chilli, tobacco, cocoa, rubber, cashew, groundnut. Old World: wheat, rice, coffee, sugarcane.
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