Which one of the following crops was introduced by the Portuguese in India?
- A.Opium
- B.Coffee
- C.Betel leaf
- D.Chilli
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is D, Chilli. Chilli is native to the Americas and reached India through the Portuguese in the sixteenth century, after their voyages linked the New World with Asia.
Before the chilli arrived, Indian food got its heat from black pepper and long pepper. The Portuguese, who held Goa from 1510, brought chilli from their American and Brazilian trade, and within a century it spread across India and became a staple of its cooking. The Portuguese are also credited with bringing tobacco, potato, tomato, maize, pineapple, papaya, cashew and groundnut to India, most of them American crops.
A is wrong because the opium poppy was grown in India long before the Portuguese and was later a major export under the English company. B is wrong because coffee is linked with the Sufi saint Baba Budan, who is said to have brought seven beans from Yemen to the Chandragiri hills of Karnataka. C is wrong because betel leaf is native to South and South-East Asia and appears in ancient Indian texts.
Exam tip: Portuguese brought tobacco, chilli, potato, cashew and pineapple; coffee came with Baba Budan.
Practice Questions
View allWhich one of the following was not included in the terms and conditions of Subsidiary Alliance System of Lord Wellesley?
- A.The British would protect their ally.
- B.The ally was free to enter into agreements with other rulers or engage in warfare.
- C.In the territory of the ally, a British armed contingent would be stationed.
- D.The ally would have to provide resources for the maintenance of the British armed contingent.
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Under the Subsidiary Alliance, introduced by Lord Wellesley (Governor-General 1798–1805), the Indian ruler gave up exactly this freedom: he could not make war, sign treaties or even employ other Europeans without the Company's consent, and he had to keep a British Resident at his court.
Read the full explanation →The Sahajiya Cult, which can be traced back to 10th and 11th centuries, is usually associated with:
- A.early Bhakti traditions
- B.a kind of early Sufism
- C.early Upanishadic philosophy
- D.Buddhism
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The Sahajiya cult grew out of late Tantric Buddhism in eastern India, especially Bengal, and is often called Sahajayana, a branch of Vajrayana.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements about the Sayyid brothers during the period of Later Mughals is not true?
- A.They brought Jahandar Shah to power.
- B.They wielded administrative power.
- C.They followed a tolerant religious policy.
- D.They reached an agreement with King Shahu.
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Jahandar Shah won the throne in 1712 with the help of Zulfiqar Khan, and the Sayyid brothers, Abdullah Khan and Husain Ali Khan, helped his nephew Farrukhsiyar defeat and kill him in 1713.
Read the full explanation →Who were Alvars ?
- A.Those who immersed in devotion to Vishnu
- B.Devotees of Shiva
- C.Those who worshipped abstract form of God
- D.Devotees of Shakti
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The Alvars were twelve Tamil poet-saints, active roughly between the 6th and 9th centuries, whose name means 'those who are immersed' in devotion to Vishnu.
Read the full explanation →Who was the author of the Gwalior Prashasti of Mihira Bhoja ?
- A.Nagabhata
- B.Vatsaraja
- C.Baladitya
- D.Kakkuka
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The Gwalior Prashasti is a Sanskrit eulogy of the Gurjara-Pratihara king Mihira Bhoja (Bhoja I, about 836–885 CE), and its composer was the poet Baladitya.
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