Foreign Contacts, Trade & Cultural Expansion (Ancient): 19 previous year questions

UPSC has asked 19 questions on Foreign Contacts, Trade & Cultural Expansion (Ancient) between 1992 and 2026: CSE 9 · CDS 6 · CAPF 2 · NDA 1 · EPFO (APFC) 1. 7 of them came after 2015, so this is a live topic examiners keep returning to. 9 were set in Civil Services Prelims; the rest come from UPSC's other papers, which draw on the same question bank.

Practise these 19, one at a time Read the questions

Tap an option to check yourself. Answers follow the official UPSC key; where the key was dropped or disputed the question is not shown.

CDS2026 · 1Foreign Contacts, Trade & Cultural Expansion (Ancient)On card AMH 5·3

During the period 100 BCE – 200 CE, valuable evidence of India‟s maritime trade links has been identified from which of the following sites on the Coromandel Coast?

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Answer A (official UPSC key)Coromandel maritime trade evidence (100 BCE – 200 CE) → Arikamedu

CDS2026 · 1Foreign Contacts, Trade & Cultural Expansion (Ancient)On card AMH 5·2

With reference to the Indo-Roman trade in ancient India, the term „aurei‟ refers to :

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Answer D (official UPSC key)Aurei (Indo-Roman trade) → Coins

CAPF2025Foreign Contacts, Trade & Cultural Expansion (Ancient)On card AMH 5·2

With reference to the Indo-Roman trade, who among the following referred to the drain of Roman gold into India? 1. Strabo 2. Pliny 3. Ptolemy 4. Dio Chrysostom Select the answer using the code given below.

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Answer C (official UPSC key)Drain of Roman gold into India → Pliny and Dio Chrysostom

NDA2024 · 1Foreign Contacts, Trade & Cultural Expansion (Ancient)On card AMH 5·2

Which of the following statements with regard to the famous „silk routes‟ are correct ? 1. Silk routes refer to East-bound European silk cargoes along these routes. 2. There were several silk routes, over land and by sea, joining together vast regions of Asia with Europe and northern Africa. 3. They are known to have existed since before the Christian Era and thrived almost till the fifteenth century. 4. Besides silk, Chinese pottery, textiles and spices from India and South-east Asia travelled the same route. Select the answer using the code given below :

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Answer C (official UPSC key)Silk routes → several, over land and sea, joining Asia with Europe and northern Africa | Existed before the Christian Era, thrived almost till the fifteenth century | Also carried Chinese pottery, textiles, spices | NOT: East-bound European silk cargoes (trade was West-bound)

CSE2020Foreign Contacts, Trade & Cultural Expansion (Ancient)On card AMH 5·2

With reference to the period of the Gupta dynasty in ancient India, the towns Ghantasala, Kadura, and Chaul were well known as

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Answer A (official UPSC key)Ghantasala, Kadura, Chaul (Gupta period) → ports handling foreign trade

CDS2019 · 2Foreign Contacts, Trade & Cultural Expansion (Ancient)On card AMH 5·3

Name the site that gives us valuable information about India‟s maritime links on the Coromandel coast.

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Answer C (official UPSC key)Maritime links on the Coromandel coast → Arikamedu

CDS2018 · 2Foreign Contacts, Trade & Cultural Expansion (Ancient)On card AMH 5·2

In the first century AD, which among the following was not a major item of Indian exports to Rome?

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Answer D (official UPSC key)Not an Indian export to Rome (first century AD) → Nutmeg (of: Pepper, Spikenard, Tortoiseshell, Nutmeg)

CAPF2013Foreign Contacts, Trade & Cultural Expansion (Ancient)On card AMH 5·3

The ancient trade route, popularly called the Dakshinapatha, connected

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Answer D (official UPSC key)Dakshinapatha → connected Ajanta with Pataliputra

CDS2013 · 2Foreign Contacts, Trade & Cultural Expansion (Ancient)On card AMH 5·2

Among the precious stones, the most extensive foreign trade during the Gupta age was that of

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Answer C (official UPSC key)Most extensive precious-stone export in Gupta age → pearl

CDS2012 · 2Foreign Contacts, Trade & Cultural Expansion (Ancient)On card AMH 5·3

Silk routes are a good example of vibrant pre-modern trade and cultural links between distant parts of the world. Which one among the following is not true of silk routes?

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Answer D (official UPSC key)Silk routes → gold and silver flowed from Europe to Asia, not Asia to Europe

EPFO (APFC)2012Foreign Contacts, Trade & Cultural Expansion (Ancient)On card AMH 5·2

Which term is used to describe the spread of Buddhism from India through Southeast Asia?

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Answer B (official UPSC key)Spread of Buddhism from India through Southeast Asia → cultural diffusion

CSE2011Foreign Contacts, Trade & Cultural Expansion (Ancient)On card AMH 5·3

India maintained its early cultural contacts and trade links with Southeast Asia across the Bay of Bengal. For this pre-eminence of early maritime history of Bay of Bengal, which of the following could be the most convincing explanation/explanations?

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Answer D (official UPSC key)Bay of Bengal maritime pre-eminence → India's better ship-building technology and south Indian rulers' patronage of traders, Brahmin priests, Buddhist monks

CSE2006Foreign Contacts, Trade & Cultural Expansion (Ancient)On card AMH 5·2