1491

Description

Charles C. Mann reopens the question of what the Americas were like before European arrival, challenging the familiar picture of a sparsely populated wilderness occupied by simple societies. Drawing together findings from archaeology and other scientific fields, he argues that Indigenous populations were larger, their civilizations older and more culturally complex, and their environmental influence more extensive than conventional accounts allowed. His survey moves through early centers in northern Peru and formative Mesoamerica, major cities, sophisticated crop development, rainforest farming, and landscapes reshaped by settlement. By showing how new techniques overturned established assumptions, 1491 presents the hemisphere as a place of long histories, ambitious social organization, and sustained human intervention rather than an untouched backdrop to conquest.

Themes