UPSC Prelims 2025 Q75: Fruits Brought by the Portuguese — Explained

Consider the following fruits:

I. Papaya

II. Pineapple

III. Guava

How many of the above were introduced in India by the Portuguese in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

  1. Only one
  2. Only two
  3. All the three
  4. None

Answer: (c) All the three

Statement-wise explanation

  • I: correct — Papaya (Carica papaya) is native to tropical America. Spanish and Portuguese sailors carried its seeds across the oceans in the sixteenth century, and the Portuguese brought it to India's west coast. The Mughal-era record already lists papaya among the new fruits from the New World.
  • II: correct — Pineapple (Ananas comosus) comes from South America. The Portuguese took it to Africa and India in the sixteenth century, and Abul Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari (c. 1595) already mentions it as a fruit from the ports of the Portuguese. NCERT's chapter on the Mughal crop regime names the pineapple and papaya as crops that came to India from the New World.
  • III: correct — Guava (Psidium guajava) is native to tropical America. The Portuguese introduced it to India in the seventeenth century, and it later became naturalised across the country. National Horticulture Board and ICAR sources give this as the standard account.

How to eliminate

You cannot fully eliminate options without knowing the facts, but one rule settles most of the question: all three fruits are native to the Americas. Nothing from the Americas could reach India before Columbus sailed in 1492. The Portuguese, who reached India by sea in 1498 and controlled the sea route for about a century after that, were the main carriers of American plants to India. Once you remember that papaya, pineapple and guava are all American, 'All the three' follows. The fact to remember: the Portuguese brought American crops to India, including chilli, potato, tomato, tobacco, maize, groundnut, cashew, pineapple, papaya, guava, sapota and custard apple. Indian-origin fruits like mango, banana, jackfruit and jamun never belong on such a list.

Know more

New World crops and the Portuguese route to India

After 1492, crops, animals and diseases moved between the Americas and the rest of the world. Historians call this the Columbian exchange. India received its share mainly through the Portuguese. Vasco da Gama reached Calicut in 1498, Goa was captured in 1510, and Portuguese ships linked Brazil, Africa, Lisbon and the Malabar–Konkan coast. Plants spread inland from Goa and Cochin.

These crops changed Indian food and farming. Chilli replaced long pepper as the main source of heat in cooking. Tobacco spread so fast that Jahangir tried to ban smoking. Maize, groundnut and potato later became important field crops. Cashew was planted on the Konkan and Malabar coasts to stop soil erosion and later became an export crop.

Crop Origin Came to India
Chilli Central/South America 16th c., via Goa
Pineapple South America 16th c. (in the Ain-i-Akbari)
Papaya Tropical America 16th c.
Guava Tropical America 17th c.
Cashew Brazil 16th c., Goa/Konkan
Tobacco Americas Late 16th c., Deccan to Mughal court
Potato, tomato Andes / Mesoamerica 17th c. onward
Maize, groundnut Americas 17th c. onward

The exchange also ran the other way. Old World crops such as sugarcane and rice, and animals such as cattle and horses, went to the Americas. Smallpox and measles went with them and killed huge numbers of Indigenous Americans.

Exam tip: UPSC likes to mix American crops with crops native to India, such as mango, jackfruit, brinjal, sesame and black pepper. Ask yourself whether the plant is from the Americas. If it is, it arrived after 1498, usually on Portuguese ships.

NCERT Concepts to Revise

  • New World crops: The question asks about fruits from the Americas, so knowing which crops count as New World crops is the key test.
  • Columbian exchange: The Columbian exchange explains how American plants could spread to Asia only after 1492.
  • Portuguese in India: The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach India by sea, which made them the main early carriers of foreign crops.

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