1491 : the Americas before Columbus

Bibliographic Information

1491 : the Americas before Columbus

Charles C. Mann

Granta Books, 2006

Other Title

Ancient Americans : rewriting the history of the new world

1491 : new revelations of the Americas before Columbus

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Note

First published in Great Britain as: Ancient Americans : rewriting the history of the new world. -- London : Granta Books, 2005

First published in the United States as: 1491 : new revelations of the Americas before Columbus. -- New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2005

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Up until very recently it was believed that in 1491, the year before Columbus landed, the Americas, one-third of the earth's surface, were a near-pristine wilderness inhabited by small roaming bands of indigenous people. But recently unexpected discoveries have dramatically changed our understanding of Indian life. Many scholars now argue that the Indians were much more numerous, were in the Americas for far longer and had far more ecological impact on the land than previously believed. This knowledge has enormous implications for today's environmental disputes, yet little has filtered into textbooks and even less into public awareness. Mann brings together all of the latest research, and the results of his own travels throughout North and South America, to provide a new, fascinating and iconoclastic account of the Americas before Columbus.

Table of Contents

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 Maise (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 Coda 11. The Great Law of Peace Appendixes A. Loaded Words B. Talking Knots C. They Syphillis Exception D. Calendar Math Acknowledgements Notes Bibliography Index

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