I. Papaya
II. Pineapple
III. Guava <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How many of the above were introduced in India by the Portuguese in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nAnswer: (c) All the three<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The European \u2018discovery\u2019 of America in 1492<\/strong> led to the global diffusion of several New World crops<\/strong> to Asia, Africa and Europe. The Portuguese<\/strong>, who were among the earliest Europeans to establish maritime contacts with India in the 16th century<\/strong>, played a crucial role in introducing many American crops and fruits<\/strong> into the Indian subcontinent. These included crops such as maize, sweet potato and capsicum<\/strong>, as well as fruits like pineapple, papaya, sapodilla and guava<\/strong>, which gradually became integrated into Indian agriculture and food culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Pineapple<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Pineapple<\/strong>, native to the Americas<\/strong>, was brought to India by the Portuguese during the sixteenth century<\/strong>, most likely from Brazil<\/strong>. The Dutch traveller Jan Huyghen van Linschoten<\/strong>, who visited India in the 1580s<\/strong>, recorded the presence and cultivation of pineapple in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fruit was initially considered rare and expensive<\/strong>, but with the spread of cultivation its price declined and it became more widely available. Abul Fazl\u2019s Ain-i-Akbari (1590s)<\/strong> refers to pineapple as one of the \u201csweet fruits\u201d cultivated in India. He described it as resembling an elongated orange in shape<\/strong> and mango in taste and aroma<\/strong>. Pineapples were also referred to as \u201cKathal-i-safari\u201d or \u201cjackfruit for travels\u201d<\/strong>, as young plants could be transported easily and grown elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Papaya<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Another fruit introduced to India was the papaya<\/strong>, which reached India via the Philippines and Malacca through Portuguese trade networks<\/strong>. Early European travellers recorded its spread in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Italian traveller Pietro Della Valle<\/strong>, who visited India in 1623<\/strong>, observed papaya growing in Portuguese Daman<\/strong>. He described the fruit as similar in appearance to European melons but much sweeter<\/strong>. Since Abul Fazl did not mention papaya in the Ain-i-Akbari<\/strong>, historians infer that the fruit was not widely available in North India during the late sixteenth century<\/strong> and probably spread more widely in the early seventeenth century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. Guava<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Guava (Psidium guajava)<\/strong>, native to Central America<\/strong>, was also introduced into India by Portuguese traders in the early seventeenth century<\/strong>. Over time it adapted well to Indian climatic conditions and became one of the most widely cultivated tropical fruits in the country<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus, pineapple, papaya and guava<\/strong> were all introduced into India by the Portuguese during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I. Papaya II. Pineapple III. Guava How many of the above were introduced in India by the Portuguese in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries? Answer: (c) All the three The European \u2018discovery\u2019 of America in 1492 led to the global diffusion of several New World crops to Asia, Africa and Europe. The Portuguese, who were among the earliest Europeans to establish maritime…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[41],"years":[63],"class_list":["post-2886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prelims","category-upsc","tag-medieval-history","years-63"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":3,"label":"Prelims"},{"value":1,"label":"UPSC"}],"post_tag":[{"value":41,"label":"Medieval History"}],"years":[{"value":63,"label":"2025"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"LotusArise","author_link":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/author\/team-lotusarise"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":3,"name":"Prelims","slug":"prelims","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":1,"count":1251,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":3,"category_count":1251,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Prelims","category_nicename":"prelims","category_parent":1},{"term_id":1,"name":"UPSC","slug":"upsc","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":1269,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":1,"category_count":1269,"category_description":"","cat_name":"UPSC","category_nicename":"upsc","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":41,"name":"Medieval History","slug":"medieval-history","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":41,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":38,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2886\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2886"},{"taxonomy":"years","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lotusarise.com\/qna\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/years?post=2886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}