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Old World... or New World?

Can you guess whether these plants or animals originally came from the Old World or the New World?
Old World = Africa, Europe, Asia
New World = Americas
Quiz by interopia
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Last updated: June 16, 2021
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First submittedJune 16, 2021
Times taken15,863
Average score75.0%
Rating4.52
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1. Cocoa
Old World
New World
2. Coffee
Old World
New World
3. Smallpox
Old World
New World
4. Turkey
Old World
New World
5. Banana
Old World
New World
6. Corn
Old World
New World
7. Cow
Old World
New World
8. Chicken
Old World
New World
9. Opium
Old World
New World
10. Vanilla
Old World
New World
11. Tomato
Old World
New World
12. Apple
Old World
New World
13. Llama
Old World
New World
14. Carrot
Old World
New World
15. Pig
Old World
New World
16. Guinea pig
Old World
New World
17. Cat
Old World
New World
18. Horse
Old World
New World
19. Cannabis
Old World
New World
20. Tobacco
Old World
New World
21. Rice
Old World
New World
22. Potato
Old World
New World
23. Chili peppers
Old World
New World
24. Avocado
Old World
New World
+5
Level 68
Jun 16, 2021
Nice quiz! Both fun and challenging.
+5
Level 84
Jun 16, 2021
Great quiz, as always!

The horse one is debatable. From the wiki page Evolution of the horse for example - "Paleozoologists have been able to piece together a more complete outline of the evolutionary lineage of the modern horse than of any other animal. Much of this evolution took place in North America, where horses originated but became extinct about 10,000 years ago."

Seems that they originated and spread from the New World, went extinct there, and were then reintroduced again from the Old World when the Spanish arrived.

+4
Level 71
Jun 17, 2021
I agree with 'overtired', the horse originated in the Americas and after extinction there was re-introduced back into the 'New World' by the Spanish.
+8
Level 85
Jun 17, 2021
We should add a caveat that explains we are talking about immediately before the Columbian Exchange and not ancient history.
+1
Level 79
Jan 11, 2022
Perhaps you could change it to domestic horse or put Equus ferus caballus in brackets?
+8
Level 77
Jun 18, 2021
This would also mean that the horse wasn't domesticated in the New World so the answer seems pretty straightforward.
+3
Level 70
Jul 15, 2021
It's very clear in the context of the quiz IMO.
+1
Level 62
Jul 15, 2021
Yeah, I got horse wrong because of this. I don't think it's common sense to assume ~1500 as a starting point.
+2
Level 78
Jul 19, 2021
I got "horse" correct on this quiz, even though I knew that it originally evolved in the Americas before going extinct there. The way the quiz instructions were worded apparently implied to me that since all horses that exist today are of old world ancestry, that was likely the correct answer.

That said, the wording of the instructions could stand to be clearer. Or, it may make sense to simply change "horse" to some other plant or animal for which there's no potential ambiguity.

+8
Level 71
Jun 18, 2021
Really cool quiz! Definitely challenging. It's really interesting to think that things we now consider major crops of many countries didn't even exist in those countries before the Columbian Exchange (no potatoes in Europe, no chili peppers in Asia, no bananas in Central or South America).
+5
Level 77
Jun 18, 2021
It would be great if you could add extra information to each answer to identify where each of these comes from. Where is coffee originally from? I could look it up... but I think it is Ethiopia, so I won't bother. Would be nice to have that little bit of information after submitting your response.
+4
Level 59
Jun 27, 2021
Great quiz! I had to stop myself clicking old world on the Turkey question when I realised you meant the bird, not the country!
+1
Level 43
Jul 15, 2021
I had the same thought
+4
Level 66
Jul 5, 2021
Smallpox is neither an animal nor a plant
+2
Level 40
Jul 17, 2021
No, but we can't bash the colonization of America by Europeans if we don't bring it up. If we're politicizing these quizzes, where did Slavery originate?
+5
Level 57
Jul 19, 2021
That's honestly a really good question that I don't think is answerable. Slavery has long existed in both the new and old worlds, the oldest recorded instances occur in Mesopotamia, where the first civilizations occurred. It should be acknowledged that slavery came with civilization in both lands. It's not something that originated in one or the other as it wasn't bought from one to the other.
+1
Level 66
Jul 5, 2021
Was surprised by Bananas being from the Old World. Thought they were from like Mexico or something
+2
Level 82
Jul 15, 2021
Corn and Turkey could both be old world or new world, depending on what you mean by Corn and Turkey.
+2
Level 70
Jul 16, 2021
"Corn" maybe should be replaced by "maize". I'm not sure what you mean about "turkey".
+1
Level 81
Sep 26, 2021
The country maybe? :)
+2
Level 77
Jul 16, 2021
Good quiz. I think your definition of New World is incorrect. It should include Oceania and probably Antarctica as well (not that the latter has many native plants).
+1
Level 70
Jul 16, 2021
All I can think of is what the hell were people eating in Europe all that time.. I always thought of potatoes as the most basic food there
+1
Level 71
Dec 14, 2021
Turnips and cabbage that had the be cooked for a whole day.
+1
Level 65
Jul 17, 2021
Most people don't know where cannabis originated? I guess folks were thrown off by the name "marijuana," which sounds Mayan. On the other hand, "cannabis" sounds very Greek, not to mention Indian hemp / ganja makes it Old World.
+1
Level 29
Jul 17, 2021
lmfao i thought turkey meant the country so i put old world
+1
Level 62
Jul 25, 2021
you're not alone
+1
Level 72
Jul 17, 2021
Nice quiz! I got all except Vanilla.
+1
Level 71
Dec 14, 2021
Isn't the banana a little questionable? According to Wikipedia it was first cultivated in New Guinea (New World) from which it spread to elsewhere.
+4
Level 71
Jan 21, 2022
I believe New Guinea to be Old World not New World.
+1
Level 57
Sep 15, 2022
I feel like "Turkey" wasn't specific enough. It could refer to the bird, or the country, or the bird from the country named Turkish hen which is where the North American bird got its name from...
+1
Level 64
Feb 17, 2024
Suggestion: rephrase "Corn" as "Maize"