Consider the following statements about the arrival of tobacco in India : 1. Tobacco plant arrived first in the Deccan. 2. Tobacco spread to northern India in the early years of the seventeenth century. Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
- (a)1 only
- (b)2 only
- (c)Both 1 and 2
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2
Correct — C, both 1 and 2. Tobacco is native to the Americas and reached the Old World only after the Columbian Exchange. It was brought to India by the Portuguese around the turn of the seventeenth century, entering first through the Deccan and the western coast, so statement 1 is correct. From there it spread to northern India in the early years of the seventeenth century, reaching the Mughal heartland by the early 1600s, so statement 2 is correct. Both statements hold, giving the answer both 1 and 2.
- (a)1 only — Understates the spread — tobacco did arrive first in the Deccan, but it also reached northern India in the early seventeenth century, so statement 2 is equally correct.
- (b)2 only — The northward spread is right, but this ignores that tobacco arrived in the Deccan first, which statement 1 correctly records.
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — Both statements are historically accurate — arrival first in the Deccan and spread to the north in the early seventeenth century — so 'neither' is wrong.
Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) is one of the American crops that spread across the Old World after Columbus's voyages, part of the two-way movement of plants, animals and people known as the Columbian Exchange. In India it was introduced by Portuguese traders on the western seaboard and quickly became a valued commercial crop.
The point being tested is that tobacco is not indigenous to India but a foreign introduction, and that its path ran from the Deccan and western coast towards the north. Both details are correct, so the trap is to reject one of them out of doubt about which region received it first.
- Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) is native to the Americas and reached the Old World after the Columbian Exchange.
- The Portuguese introduced tobacco to India around 1600, entering first through the Deccan and the western coast.
- It spread to northern India in the early seventeenth century, reaching the Mughal heartland by the early 1600s.
- Emperor Jahangir issued an order against tobacco smoking in 1617.
- Assuming tobacco is native to India — it is an American plant introduced by the Portuguese.
- Thinking tobacco entered northern India first — it arrived in the Deccan and the west before moving north.
A two-statement correctness item on the arrival and spread of tobacco — both the Deccan-first and early-seventeenth-century-north points are correct.
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
Answer(a) Tobacco, cocoa and rubber — all three are native to the Americas and reached the Old World after the Columbian Exchange.
Directly the same concept — tobacco as a New World crop that spread to the Old World through the Columbian Exchange, the exact background to its arrival in India tested here.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following crops is native to the New World (the Americas)?
- (a)Wheat
- (b)Tobacco
- (c)Rice
- (d)Sugarcane
Answer(b) Tobacco — Nicotiana tabacum originated in the Americas and reached the Old World after the Columbian Exchange.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Tobacco was introduced into India mainly by which European power?
- (a)The Portuguese
- (b)The British
- (c)The Dutch
- (d)The French
Answer(a) The Portuguese — they brought tobacco to India's western coast around 1600.