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1491 : New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann (2005, Hardcover)

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A groundbreaking study that radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans in 1492. Traditionally, Americans learned in school that the ancestors of the people who inhabited the Western Hemisphere at the time of Columbus's landing had crossed the Bering Strait twelve thousand years ago; existed mainly in small, nomadic bands; and lived so lightly on the land that the Americas was, for all practical purposes, still a vast wilderness. But as Charles C. Mann now makes clear, archaeologists and anthropologists have spent the last thirty years proving these and many other long-held assumptions wrong. In a book that startles and persuades, Mann reveals how a new generation of researchers equipped with novel scientific techniques came to previously unheard-of conclusions. Among them: - In 1491 there were probably more people living in the Americas than in Europe. - Certain cities-such as Tenochtitl n, the Aztec capital-were far greater in population than any contemporary European city. Furthermore, Tenochtitl n, unlike any capital in Europe at that time, had running water, beautiful botanical gardens, and immaculately clean streets. - The earliest cities in the Western Hemisphere were thriving before the Egyptians built the great pyramids. - Pre-Columbian Indians in Mexico developed corn by a breeding process so sophisticated that the journal Science recently described it as "man's first, and perhaps the greatest, feat of genetic engineering." - Amazonian Indians learned how to farm the rain forest without destroying it-a process scientists are studying today in the hope of regaining this lost knowledge. - Native Americans transformed their land so completely that Europeans arrived in a hemisphere already massively "landscaped" by human beings. Mann sheds clarifying light on the methods used to arrive at these new visions of the pre-Columbian Americas and how they have affected our understanding of our history and our thinking about the environment. His book is an exciting and learned account of scientific inquiry and revelation.

Product Identifiers

Publisher
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
ISBN-10
140004006x
ISBN-13
9781400040063
eBay Product ID (ePID)
18038602386

Product Key Features

Book Title
1491 : New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus
Author
Charles C. Mann
Format
Hardcover
Language
English
Topic
Archaeology, Ecosystems & Habitats / General, United States / General, Native American
Publication Year
2005
Genre
Nature, History, Social Science
Number of Pages
480 Pages

Dimensions

Item Length
9.5in
Item Height
1.4in
Item Width
6.5in
Item Weight
29.3 Oz

Additional Product Features

Lc Classification Number
E61.M266 2005
Reviews
"A superbly written and very important book: by far the most comprehensive synthesis I've ever seen of the growing body of evidence that our most deep-rooted ideas about the peopling of the Western hemisphere and the kinds of societies that had developed there by the time of European contact are fundamentally wrong. Charles C. Mann is one of those rare writers who can make scholarly concepts exciting and accessible without trivializing them. In 1491 he has integrated the latest research in many different areas with his own insights and experiences to produce a fascinating and addictively readable tour through the 'New World' before its 'discovery.' His book is, above all, a wonderful, unsentimental act of restitutionchallenging centuries of cultural contempt and willful blindness to show just how vigorous, various, densely populated and profoundly human the pre-Columbian Americas really were." James Wilson, author of The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America "In the tradition of Jared Diamond and John McPhee, a transforming new vision of pre-Columbian America." Richard Rhodes "Every American knows it was a vast new world that Columbus found in 1492, and most imagine it was a thinly peopled paradise of plants, animals, and hunter-gatherers waiting for civilization. The reality, Charles C. Mann tells us in his startling new book about the world before Columbus, is very differenttwo continents teeming with languages, cultures, and mighty cities as big, as rich, and even more populous than the capitals of Europe. But there was one thing the new world lackedresistance to the diseases of the old. This is a lively book, filled with excitements and sorrowsa major contribution to our understanding of the achievements and the fate of the people we call Indians." Tom Powers "Charles C. Mann takes us into a complex, fascinating, and unknown world, that of the Indians who lived in this hemisphere before Columbus. He gently demolishes entrenched myths, with impressive scholarship, and with an elegance of style which that makes his book a pleasure to read as well as a marvelous education." Howard Zinn "When does American history begin? The old answer used to be 1492, with the European arrival in the Americas. That answer is no longer politically or historically correct. For the last thirty years or so historians, geographers, and archaeologists have built up an arsenal of evidence about the residents of North America after the ice receded and before the Europeans arrived. Mann has mastered that scholarship and written the most elegant synthesis of the way we were before the European invasion." Joseph J. Ellis, author of His Excellency: George Washington
Table of Content
List of Maps Preface INTRODUCTION / Holmberg's Mistake 1. A View from Above PART ONE / Numbers from Nowhere? 2. Why Billington Survived 3. In the Land of Four Quarters 4. Frequently Asked Questions PART TWO / Very Old Bones 5. Pleistocene Wars 6. Cotton (or Anchovies) and Maize (Tales of Two Civilizations, Part I) 7. Writing, Wheels, and Bucket Brigades (Tales of Two Civilizations, Part II) PART THREE / Landscape with Figures 8. Made in America 9. Amazonia 10. The Artificial Wilderness 11. The Great Law of Peace Appendixes A. Loaded Words B. Talking Knots C. The Syphilis Exception D. Calendar Math Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index
Copyright Date
2005
Target Audience
Trade
Lccn
2004-061547
Dewey Decimal
970.01/1
Dewey Edition
22
Illustrated
Yes

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4 out of 5 stars
by kingofhurricaneJul 31, 2006
1491 offers new insights into Americas before Columbus
This is mostly a good book which sheds new light on the history of the Americas before the European conquest. The author shows convincing evidence that the Americas were not simply sparsely populated by groups of primitive hunter gatherers, but contained sophisticated civilizations that developed agriculture, cities and governments. Strong evidence is presented that the Indians had developed large scale agriculture based on corn, beans and squash in North America and potatos and manioc in South America, and that they transformed large areas of land for agricultural use. The old world didn't have as much of a monopoly on the development of large scale agriculture as was previously thought. However, the old world had a considerable head start timewise in that regard, and that allowed them to become considerably more advanced in many areas of technology in the year 1491, a fact that the author seems to dismiss. I feel that the author has made some exagerations. He assumes that smallpox and other European diseases wiped out 90 to 99 percent of the indigenous population then he extrapolates that to a preconquest American population of 100 million. The population was certainly much larger than previously supposed. But looking at current archeological evidence, and the fact that crop yields per acre at that time were much lower than in modern times, I don't see a population of more than 50 million. When Cortez arrived in Tenochtitlan, the city had an estimated population of 400,000, The best estimate is that one third of them died of smallpox, and although that was devastating, it was certainly not a rate of 90 to 99%, although no doubt the death rate was considerably higher in other places. Also the author suggests that if it were not for smallpox reducing the population that the Europeans could not have conquered the new world. What? Does that mean that there would still be Aztecs performing human sacrifice today in the 21st century? A large population alone doesn't imply superior power. Cortez only had at most 400 men on horses and yet they defeated the Aztecs who probably still had a population of 250,000 in Tenochtitlan even after the smallpox deaths. Pizarro and others were also overwhelmingly outnumbered and still inevitably prevailed. The reason is that stone weapons are no match for steel swords and armor and guns. A large Indigenous population would probably have taken a lot longer for the Europeans to subdue but the end result would have been the same. Why didn't the Inca chief Athualpa and his men travel across the sea and defeat the king of Spain instead of the reverse? It is because the Eurasians had at their disposal a larger knowledge base. They knew how to build steel swords, guns and ships. The Incas didn't make full use of the wheel and they made metal ornaments instead of steel weapons. In short the Eurasians had developed a more technically superior civilization at that time. It is deplorable how the Europeans killed and enslaved the indigenous peoples. I don't justify what they did. That was just the mentality at the time. The strong subdued the weak and took over their resources. I highly recommend "Guns, germs and Steel", an excellent book that discusses many of these points in detail, and also another fascinating book "The Conquest of New Spain."Read full review
5 out of 5 stars
by iyyPEgb7Taq@Del...Jul 04, 2006
1491 New Revelations of The Americas. a review.
This book goes a long way to repudiate long held, erroneous and even dogmatic assertions by leading researchers that Native Americans before European conquest were thinly populated, unsophisticated nomads living in harmony with the natural world. The author convincingly argues that indigenous American peoples built very large, settled agricultural cities and villages, impacted the environment in profound and even transformitive ways, and in general were more sophisticated than commonly believed. This is a book that is long overdue. Along the way the author exposes the sad spectacle of academic specialists who cling to cherished pet theories with a dogmatic, almost religious conviction. Needles to say, long held, academically entrenched beliefs are hard to overcome; young turks beware, the leading experts in your field will go out of the way to ignore the facts and try to demolish your research as well! This aspect of the book is the most revealing and, arguably the most likely observation to endure over time. The information presented is up to date, and sufficiently supported to make for an engaging and educational read, yet brief enough to allow the layman to grasp the points made. There is enough color and just straight out good writing to make this an enjoyable read as well. Behind the author’s efforts to help the reader understand the achievements of pre-Columbian civilizations is the notion that some of them, at least, deserve a place in the time-honored pantheon of ‘great civilizations’ such as Greece and China. Nevertheless how we collectively arrive at such views has a lot to do with what constitutes a ‘great civilization’ in the first place. My own view is that it’s about the degree that the ‘great civilizations’ have contributed to contemporary civilization. The level of influence that cultures such as Greece, and China, for example, have had on global dominating western civilization is enormous. Norte Chico is an example of a civilization the author highlights as being greater, that is, bigger and more complex than previously thought. Although deserving of more dignity and respect, I’m not convinced it is ‘great’ in its enduring legacy in the history of humanity. The same can be said of a number of meaningful, and yet admittedly obscure ‘important’ civilizations described in nice detail in the book.Read full review
5 out of 5 stars
by donrangerMay 02, 2007
Correcting misconceptions about pre-Columbus America
This book of 360 pages is a scholarly, thoughtful correction to the prevailing North and South American history we were taught in grammar school. With details of names and places the author presents a picture of thriving, powerful and warring cultures that precede the European onslaught. It is not European superior intelligence or technology that eventually conquers the Americas, but disease, invasive plants and animals, and poor care of the land. The native populations were reduced and weakened by disease and death. European hordes eventually overpowered them with sheer force of numbers. This book, recommended by a friend and cited on a recent tour in Peru, is not an easy bedtime read and requires some concentration, but more importantly, it is a significant work in the history of the Americas.Read full review
5 out of 5 stars
by lose-794Dec 13, 2022
The Americas before 1491
This is a great synthesis on the state of science [ethnobotany, mathematics, archaeology, history, anthropology, linguistics] on the state of the Americas BEFORE Colombus' arrival in 1492. It's brilliant on many levels and goes from North to Central to South America. Written with wit and prodigious knowledge by Charles C. Man. I taught history and Latin American Studies at UC Berkeley, and this was one of, if not THE, favorite book. Highly recommend it!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
5 out of 5 stars
by johnvinylJul 04, 2007
Truth in History
An old and respected friend asked if I had any concept of how the actual land looked like in America when Columbus landed. I naively answered that it must have been a "pristine wilderness". How completely wrong was my thinking. I won't give away what the lands along the Eastern Seaboard actually looked like, because I feel curious readers should find out for themselves. Reading of the book raises doubts about our attempts to stop the harvesting of modern forests strictly to save the esthetic quality of forests. Mother Nature is unbelievably resilient. The book led me to believe we should harvest her bounty rather than mistakenly think we're preserving our forests by simply watching them grow. I don't think preservation by doing nothing is the correct master plan. johnvinyl

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1491 : New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann (2005, Hardcover)

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Most relevant reviews

1491 offers new insights into Americas before Columbus

1491 New Revelations of The Americas. a review.

Correcting misconceptions about pre-Columbus America

The Americas before 1491

Truth in History

Best Selling in Books

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