New World crops
Topic: Mughal Agrarian Society and Economy · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Peasants, Zamindars and the State"
Meaning
New World crops were food plants from the Americas that reached India in the 17th century. They included maize, which came via Africa and Spain, along with tomato, potato, chilli, pineapple and papaya. They were not known in India before this time. They show that Mughal farming was open to the wider world. Soon they changed what Indians grew and ate.
Example
By the 17th century, maize had become one of the main crops of western India. It had travelled to India through Africa and Spain.
Don't confuse with
- Jins-i kamil: these "perfect crops" were cotton, sugarcane, oilseeds and lentils, grown for sale and revenue. They were long-established Indian crops, not new arrivals.
- Ain-i Akbari crop lists (1598): these come from before most New World crops spread. So they are not a guide to what was grown in the 17th century. For example, tobacco is missing from the Ain's lists for northern India.