This book scores a blistering revelation that radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492 from Charles C.Mann a remarkably engaging writer. He is exemplary in fusing the union of meaningful facts with good story telling.
1491 at it’s core, is concise and brilliantly entertaining as Mann slips in so many fresh interpretations of American history that almost adds up to a deeply subversive work. Described as provocative, Mann challenges and chronicles prevailing thinking about global development, and perhaps our concept of ‘pure wilderness’ untouched by grubby human hands, may now be jettisoned.
The book presents recent research findings from different fields which suggests human population in the Western Hemisphere- that is, the indigenous peoples of the Americas- were more numerous, had arrived earlier, were more sophisticated culturally, and controlled and shaped the natural landscape to a greater extent than scholars had previously thought. The author notes that, according to these findings, two of the first six independent centres of civilization arose in the Americas; the first, Norte Chico or Caral-Supe, in present-day Northern Peru; and that of formative-era Mesoamerica in what is now Southern Mexico.
Mann acknowledges the controversies of re-assessment about pre-Columbian world based on new findings in biology, pathology, biochemistry, botany, economy, climatology, genetics and demography. He asserts that the general trend amongst scientists currently is to acknowledge that population levels were probably higher than previously believed and that humans had probably arrived earlier in the Americas than traditionally thought, over the course of multiple waves of migration to the New World and not solely by the Bering land bridge.
The level of culturally advanced settlement was higher and broader than previously imagined. The New World was not a wilderness at the time of European contact, but an environment which indigenous peoples had been altering for thousands of years for their benefit, mostly with fire. This forms the main focus of the book: population, culture and environment. Mann challenges the notion that Native Americans lived in small isolated groups and thus had little impact on their environment that even after a millennia of habitation the continents remained mostly wilderness.
The author disagrees with the popular idea that European technologies were superior to those of Native Americans, using guns, for example, could not shoot as far, as accurately as arrows, not to mention the reloading swiftness. Moccasins were more comfortable and durable than the boots Europeans wore because they were padded offering a more silent approach to warfare. The Indian canoe could be paddled faster and were more manoeuvrable than any small European boat, let alone capable of navigation in less depth of water. Mann explores the discussion on the fatal consequences of Conquistador introduced infectious diseases that had a significant role in the decline of native population rather than by warfare. He notes that Europeans probably derived less benefits from horses because the stepped roads of the Incas were impassable for them.
Agriculture is another focus of the book, exploring Andean and Mesoamerican culture. He contends that they did not have the benefits of “stealing” or adopting innovation from other cultures because of their isolation. The agricultural development of maize from the inedible precursors such as teosinte was significant in increasing yield, surpluses, population growth and the rise of complex cultures. Mann discusses the growing evidence that shows how Native America shaped their environment with fire, using slash-and-burn techniques to clear forests and create grasslands for cultivation, encouraging the abundance of game animals. (Interestingly, this is similar to techniques Native Australians used. DARK EMU covers this in depth.)
They constructed elaborate irrigation systems, terraced steep mountains to produce crops and defenceively protected their settlements. Mann concludes that we must look to the past to write the future. Modern nations must do the same as Native Americans ran the continents. He tells a powerful, provocative and important story through 1491 which vividly compells us to re-examine how ancient history of the Americas is taught and how we live with the environmental consequences of colonisation.
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