Amazon.com
1491 is not so much the story of a year, as of what that year stands for: the long-debated (and often-dismissed) question of what human civilization in the Americas was like before the Europeans crashed the party. The history books most Americans were (and still are) raised on describe the continents before Columbus as a vast, underused territory, sparsely populated by primitives whose cultures would inevitably bow before the advanced technologies of the Europeans. For decades, though, among the archaeologists, anthropologists, paleolinguists, and others whose discoveries Charles C. Mann brings together in 1491, different stories have been emerging. Among the revelations: the first Americans may not have come over the Bering land bridge around 12,000 B.C. but by boat along the Pacific coast 10 or even 20 thousand years earlier; the Americas were a far more urban, more populated, and more technologically advanced region than generally assumed; and the Indians, rather than living in static harmony with nature, radically engineered the landscape across the continents, to the point that even "timeless" natural features like the Amazon rainforest can be seen as products of human intervention.
Mann is well aware that much of the history he relates is necessarily speculative, the product of pot-shard interpretation and precise scientific measurements that often end up being radically revised in later decades. But the most compelling of his eye-opening revisionist stories are among the best-founded: the stories of early American-European contact. To many of those who were there, the earliest encounters felt more like a meeting of equals than one of natural domination. And those who came later and found an emptied landscape that seemed ripe for the taking, Mann argues convincingly, encountered not the natural and unchanging state of the native American, but the evidence of a sudden calamity: the ravages of what was likely the greatest epidemic in human history, the smallpox and other diseases introduced inadvertently by Europeans to a population without immunity, which swept through the Americas faster than the explorers who brought it, and left behind for their discovery a land that held only a shadow of the thriving cultures that it had sustained for centuries before. --Tom Nissley
A 1491 Timeline
|
Europe and Asia |
Dates |
The Americas |
|
25000-35000 B.C. |
Time of paleo-Indian migration to Americas from Siberia, according to genetic evidence. Groups likely traveled across the Pacific in boats. |
| Wheat and barley grown from wild ancestors in Sumer. |
6000 |
|
|
5000 |
In what many scientists regard as humankind's first and greatest feat of genetic engineering, Indians in southern Mexico systematically breed maize (corn) from dissimilar ancestor species. |
| First cities established in Sumer. |
4000 |
|
|
3000 |
The Americas' first urban complex, in coastal Peru, of at least 30 closely packed cities, each centered around large pyramid-like structures |
| Great Pyramid at Giza |
2650 |
|
|
32 |
First clear evidence of Olmec use of zero--an invention, widely described as the most important mathematical discovery ever made, which did not occur in Eurasia until about 600 A.D., in India (zero was not introduced to Europe until the 1200s and not widely used until the 1700s) |
|
800-840 A.D. |
Sudden collapse of most central Maya cities in the face of severe drought and lengthy war |
| Vikings briefly establish first European settlements in North America. |
1000 |
 |
|
Reconstruction of Cahokia, c. 1250 A.D.* | Abrupt rise of Cahokia, near modern St. Louis, the largest city north of the Rio Grande. Population estimates vary from at least 15,000 to 100,000. |
| Black Death devastates Europe. |
1347-1351 |
|
|
1398 |
Birth of Tlacaélel, the brilliant Mexican strategist behind the Triple Alliance (also known as the Aztec empire), which within decades controls central Mexico, then the most densely settled place on Earth. |
| The Encounter: Columbus sails from Europe to the Caribbean. |
1492 |
The Encounter: Columbus sails from Europe to the Caribbean. |
| Syphilis apparently brought to Europe by Columbus's returning crew. |
1493 |
|
| Ferdinand Magellan departs from Spain on around-the-world voyage. |
1519 |
 |
|
Sixteenth-century Mexica drawing of the effects of smallpox** | Cortes driven from Tenochtitlán, capital of the Triple Alliance, and then gains victory as smallpox, a European disease never before seen in the Americas, kills at least one of three in the empire. |
|
1525-1533 |
The smallpox epidemic sweeps into Peru, killing as much as half the population of the Inka empire and opening the door to conquest by Spanish forces led by Pizarro. |
|
1617 |
Huge areas of New England nearly depopulated by epidemic brought by shipwrecked French sailors. |
| English Pilgrims arrive at Patuxet, an Indian village emptied by disease, and survive on stored Indian food, renaming the village Plymouth. |
1620 |
|
|
*Courtesy Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, Collinsville, Ill., painting by Michael Hampshire. **Courtesy Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Santa Fe, N.M. (Bernardino de Sahagún, Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España, 1547-77). |
Book Description
In this groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology, Charles C. Mann radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492.
Contrary to what so many Americans learn in school, the pre-Columbian Indians were not sparsely settled in a pristine wilderness; rather, there were huge numbers of Indians who actively molded and influenced the land around them. From the astonishing Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán, which had running water, immaculately clean streets, and was larger than any contemporary European city, to the Mexican corn that was so carefully created in a specialized breeding process that it has been called man’s first feat of genetic engineering, Indians were not living lightly on the land but were landscaping and manipulating their world in ways that we are only now beginning to understand. Challenging and surprising, this a transformative new look at a rich and fascinating world we only thought we knew.
Customer Reviews:
a great overview.......2007-10-13
This is a great overview of early American cultures, and the various ways in which they shaped their environments. It is not an encyclopedia of Native American cultures, but uses specific examples to support the notion that the original inhabitants of our country have been misunderstood as lacking in initiative and expertise in manipulating the North American landscape... i.e. it debunks the "Eden" myth. Very well written and entertaining as well as informative.
Highly recommended for anyone looking for a more clear view of America before the arrival of Europeans.
Unputdownable.......2007-09-26
I found this book extremely enjoyable. It contains a wealth of knowledge about Native American cultures in N. and S. America; findings that are apparently well-known in academic circles, but which have remained largely unreported and unknown to mainstream audiences. Mr. Mann clearly admires much about the achievements of these pre-Columbus civilizations, and seeks to redress "common" misconceptions that most Westerners have about "primitive, savage" Indian life. I am glad I read this book. I learned a great deal from this book, and was fascinated by the subject matter.
This book is also beautifully written, and makes the subject matter accessible to laypeople. I was expecting it to be readable buy dry, but it was instead a book that just compelled me to keep turning pages. It helps to bring these ancient civilizations to life, talks frankly about the impact of European colonization on these civilizations, and challenges the reader to set aside his/her textbook knowledge and consider seeing Native Americans in an all new light.
Every now and then a book comes out that makes science "sexy." For example, "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond, or "Krakatoa" by Simon Winchester. To me, this is one of those books. It's both revealing and entertaining. "1491" was just a terrific read - thought provoking, compelling, entertaining, well researched. I even read all the appendices, and that's saying something.
I highly recommend this book.
Excellent insight into the latest research.......2007-09-25
Please don't confuse this excellent book with the poorly researched fantasy "1421: The Year China Discovered America." 1491 is an extremely well researched and documented look into the latest archaelogical findings and theories pertaining to life in North and South America prior to Columbus's landing.
Mann does an excellent job explaining the accuracies and flaws of the multitude of theories surrounding this topic. As he simply exposes the debates and doesn't attempt to resolve them himself, he provides an illustrative lesson that one should not become too entrenched with any particular theory on the pre-history of man as each theory is eventually overturned or modified by new findings.
His writing style seems similar to Jared Diamond. Mann, however, makes his points without getting bogged down in the excruciating details which makes this book much more readable than Guns, Germs, and Steel or Collapse (both of which were excellent books as well). With over 100 pages of notes and references he provides the reader with the necessary information for them to conduct their own level of research based upon their desires.
Fascinating but flawed.......2007-09-23
Henry Ford said that all history was bunk, and he had not even read 1491! What a shock to find that the population of the new world in 1491 was greater than that of the old world! That the natives, said to be long-term farmers, had shaped the landscape to suit themselves, that buffalo roamed in small numbers until old world diseases killed off most (90%) of the native tribes and thus allowed the huge herds to form. What a shock to find that many north American tribes considered themselves libertarian compared with the hierarchy bound Europeans. Yet more than enough evidence is given from old writings long ignored, and new archeological finds.
This is all fast and entertaining reading. There are many maps to help explanations, citations by page number, and an index. Mann traveled to several of the archeological sites.
On the downside, Mann talked of the "balanced diet" as though its desirability has been proven, and does not say how maize provided this "balance" (p18). The battle between Hernán Cortés's men and the Mexica was said to have been described as the costliest battle in history with 100,000 casualties (not deaths), (p129). Why no mention of Verdun in WWI with a million deaths and Stalingrad in WWII with a million deaths? Is a mammoth's molar really the size of a bowling ball? (p152) Mann wrote of winter on the Amazon river. I thought equatorial areas had wet and dry seasons, not the 4 seasons observed far from the equator (pp301,305).
But there is another, bigger fly in the ointment. Mann accepts the carbon dioxide from combustion hypothesis of global warming (pp300,308). Solar cycles of changing heat output and the sun's influence on cosmic ray effects on the Earth's clouds determine climate, not CO2 levels. [Jaworowski Z, Solar cycles, not CO2, determine climate, 21st Century Science and Technology, Winter 2003-2004, pp52-65. Accessed as a PDF on 5 Jul 07 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Jaworowski or at: http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/] According to Laurence Hecht, Editor of 21st Century Science & Technology: "Of all the hypotheses [on Earth climate], that of human-produced carbon dioxide as the forcing mechanism for warming is the most deeply and extensively studied, and by far the most discredited. No other hypothesis rests on such flagrant and lying disrepect for data as...on the falsification of the historical CO2 record." [Hecht L, What Really Causes Climate Change? EIR Science, 2 Mar 07, pp6-9. Accessed as a PDF on 5 Jul 07 at: http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/] The other big falsification in this hypothesis, skyrocketing temperatures in the last 50 years to levels not seen in 1300 years, is exemplified by the temperature graph of Michael Mann, which was shown to be a fraud, not just a mistake [McIntyre, S., McKitrick, R. (2005). Hockey sticks, principal components, and spurious significance. Geophysical Research Letters, 32, L03710; doi:10.1029/2004GL021750], [Soon, W., Baliunas, S. (2003). Proxy climatic and environmental changes of the past 1000 years. Climate Research, 23, 89-110].
So for historical controversies Charles C. Mann appeared to do balanced work, with opposing ideas neatly cited. But by failing to look up the "other side" on global warming, he missed effects of giant volcanic eruptions and solar output changes on temperature. The Roman era warming and Medieval Climate Optimum, both with temperatures higher than now and the Little Ice Age (1500-1800) were ignored, thus their effects on migration and population sizes was missed. Now it seems that the crop failures of the Little Ice Age were a main reason for northern Europeans to try to move to a warmer climate.
As always with with non-fiction, some errors make the entire work suspicious. Still a worthwhile book with its limitations in mind.
Great history, great archeology, great read.......2007-09-23
I love fresh looks on old topics. This book delivers on that theme. As a history teacher I find the same mundane, lopsided, and inaccurate truths presented in textbooks about this era time and time again. Mann's book is a counterweight to that miseducation and shed's light on often under appreciated and misrepresented Native American societies.
Average customer rating:
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
- Pants on fire?
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
- History as Science Fiction
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History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
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Similar Items:
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History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
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History: Fiction or Science? Astronomical methods as applied to chronology. Ptolemy's Almagest. Chronology III
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They Cast No Shadows: A Collection of Essays on the Illuminati, Revisionist History, and Suppressed Technologies
ASIN: 2913621058 |
Book Description
Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.
Customer Reviews:
Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03
Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.
Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19
Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10
Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.
I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.
Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.
Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.
I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.
This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
Customer Reviews:
A fun book for a sailor.......2005-04-10
A lot of great adventurers came back to write a book--Marco Polo, Julius Caeser, William Bligh, Neil Armstrong (well, with the help of Life Magazine). People seem to be the same throughout history. They'll go off on a great adventure, come home, and write a book about it. While Columbus' book (his log) as well as his body, evidently, are currently lost, this book sure seems realistic. It was a lot of fun trying to duplicate his voyage with modern charts to see if I could figure out his first landfall and any sailor will have fun doing the same since Columbus discovered the sailing routes still used.
I thought Columbus portrayed himself as an adventurer out for the discovery of gold and working for the king and queen who hired him, but what's so surprising about that? He was trying to substantiate the worth of his first trip and to convince Ferdinand and Isabella to send him again wasn't he?
indispensable for the student of the voyage...........2002-04-11
....and very easy to read. The English translation is very clear and put together from sources other than Las Casas, whose facts weren't always straight. For some reason the paragraphs are all center-justified and taper out oddly. Various theories about Columbus's landfall are discussed.
The one flaw is the introductory pieces that whitewash the man himself. Made out to be a bold, great hero, he was in actuality a gold-obsessed sailor, a poor mariner, a perpetual whiner whose crew could barely stand him, an intolerant European who assumed every land he touched belong to his King back in Spain, and of course the initiator of the slavery system in Espanola. His men built the first fortress in the so-called New World, and they brought several Native captives back to Spain. Fortunately, some of these events are mentioned in the Log itself.
Columbus Log.......2000-08-09
Fuson translated (and reconstructed where necessary) the logs of Columbus. Loaded with pictures, maps and explanatory comments this work gives us a look at the famous explorer in his own words. I'd guess this is the best and closest one could get to a primary source for Columbus's journals. This would be a great resource for teachers and students who cover the Discovery. Too bad it's out of print
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|
Nature in the New World: From Christopher Columbus to Gonzalo Fernandez De Oviedo
Antonello Gerbi
Manufacturer: Univ of Pittsburgh Pr (Txt)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0822935163 |
Customer Reviews:
Columbus as a logical outcome.......2003-03-18
It is hard to use, in the same sentence, logic and a man who believed both in the basic sphericity of the earth and the existence of the Earthly Paradise. But, all hero-villain dichotomies aside, we shall always be confronted with the fact that it was Columbus who started the inexorable process that produced America as we know it, to the exclusion of all who may have preceded him to these shores.
I doubt seriously that, even today, you can find any book in English containing as much of the process (speaking historically) that produced Columbus. The patchwork of overlapping interests that constituted the Medieval and Renaissance Mediterranean has to be one of the truly difficult places to begin on the globe. Just when you think Venice has emerged safely ahead of Genoa, and the Portuguese have shut the gate on Spain, then everything changes. Too bad the expression "sea change" wasn't yet invented when this book was written.
The African leg of the process has had some coverage, but not any more competently than here. I have some reservations about the claim that gold was the Italian merchants' only motive for trading in North Africa. And this claim is somewhat mitigated by the author's own observation that the attraction of the Canaries was a certain dyestuff easily obtained there. His explanation of
the crucial role of the Canaries, while Morisonesque, certainly explains much.
A chronological list of major steps would have been helpful. This book is, however, a "keeper," and will be for some time to come.
Product Description
500 year ago, Christopher Columbus "disovered" the Americas" that was to change radically the lives of all indigenous Americans and shape their subsequent histories. In the second edition, the author details the clash of cultures and considers the impact of the exploration and conquest of America
Customer Reviews:
Great and Interesting Book.......2007-09-30
I read "In the Wake of Columbus" in a class Arthur Schlesinger was teaching at Washington State University a few years ago. This book is absolutely mindblowing; it is rare to hear anything about the effect which discovering America had on Europe...and it was a gigantic one. This book gives a concise history of the cultural, economic, biological, and political changes associated with the discovery of America. Did you know syphilis most likely came from America? The the gold coming in from the Americas causes the Spanish economy to collapse due to inflation three times in one hundred years?
This book is an interesting and well written history on a subject which we often don't think about.
Great book.......1999-06-27
this book describe the european renaissance and the new land america.. so we can know how effect to the new land from eropean renaissance.
Book Description
The five hundredth anniversary of Columbus's first transatlantic voyage has provoked an outpouring of scholarship on how European exploration and colonization affected America. This book of eleven essays from leading scholars in the fields of intellectual and cultural history reverses that trend by focusing on the ways in which contact with the Americas transformed European thought.
The result of an international conference sponsored by the John Carter Brown Library, this collection addresses the impact of Spanish, French, and English experiences in the New World. The essays consider whether and how knowledge of America changed the mental world of European thinkers as reflected in their understanding of history, literature, linguistics, religion, and the sciences.
In assessing the process by which Europeans sought to understand America, this volume responds to issues raised by Sir John Elliott nearly a generation ago, and the collection concludes with an essay in which Elliott reflects on the scholarship of the last twenty-five years on this subject.
The contributors are David Armitage, Peter Burke, Luca Codignola, J. H. Elliott, Christian Feest, Roland Greene, John M. Headley, Karen Ordahl Kupperman, Henry Lowood, Sabine MacCormack, David Quint, and Richard C. Simmons.
Average customer rating:
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At Issue in History - The Conquest of the New World (hardcover edition) (At Issue in History)
Manufacturer: Greenhaven Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Board book
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ASIN: 0737712740 |
Book Description
When Columbus arrived in the New World, he unleashed a set of extraordinary forces of change. He opened the New World to exploration and exploitation, and initiated an exchange of culture, food, language, and disease that was to change the world forever. In this anthology, conquistadors, missionaries, and Indians provide firsthand accounts of events during the period of conquest and colonization, and historians analyze Columbus's legacy.
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