Before and after Columbus: disaster and reinvention
Reviews of 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus and 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann
These books are predominantly based on archaeological and scientific evidence, a deep look at the way that Amerindians lived before and after the encounter with Europeans; the degree to which they controlled and shaped their environment; how the entire world changed when it entered the Homogenocene era, according to which man and not nature predominantly shaped global ecology.
1491 is in 3 parts. First, Mann analyses the great dying that occurred from the extensive contacts with Europeans. According to archaeological remains and some eye witness accounts, estimates of death rates range between 80 and 98% of the native populations, probably at the upper end. If indeed the rate of deaths was so high, the depopulation of the American continents is perhaps the most extreme in human history, emptying areas that were abundantly full of societies and cultures of far greater complexity than is currently acknowledged. This section was a revelation to me. The reasons for this were apparently two-fold: not only did Amerindians come into contact with new diseases, but due to a fatally unlucky lack of genetic diversity, their immune systems were largely unable to cope with European microbes – even had they been inoculated, these genetic peculiarities would have rendered vaccines ineffective. This great dying caused unimaginable social and political disruption, which also explains, as Mann argues, how the Europeans were able to beat the Amerindians so easily: their societies were imploding.
Second, the origins of the native populations are covered. This too is full of surprises, questioning whether it was one group or many that crossed the Bering Strait over several varying times. Mann argues that the Clovis culture was not the first and principal group, but was preceded by perhaps tens of thousands of years. A fascinating debate. The size of various populations and their civilizations are also covered to a degree here. I had no idea that the Inca Empire may have been the largest in existence during its time, yet Europeans underestimated their accomplishments and sophistication as a civilization. A comprehensive history of the Amerindians is not provided, aspects are presented solely to supplement the scientific themes.
Third, in the most interesting section, the impacts on the environment of Amerindian organization are examined in great detail. Rather than the stereotype of “good savages” living in “harmony” with their environment, Mann argues that they shaped their environment to their needs by design, employing practices as widely varying as shepherding bison to the invention of some of the most sophisticated irrigation systems yet conceived, etched so deeply into the landscape that many of the contours are visible even centuries after their custodians had disappeared. This has set me on a quest to find and appreciate what can still be seen, though information on specific sites is very difficult to come by. For example, there is plenty to information on the massive Cahokia mounds near St. Louis - 80 surviving man-made structures that were dispersed over 6 square miles from 1000 CE - but very little about the spaces near my home in the Hudson River Valley.
This involves not only understanding underlying environmental conditions, but the way of life that they developed, e.g. burning in the plains allowed bison herds to proliferate far more than they would have done had the forests been allowed to grow naturally. Every single page offers up details that are as fascinating as they are unexpected. For example, the Mayas lived on a peninsula of limestone, which rendered local underground water too salty to drink or use for irrigation purposes, necessitating the development of extensive artificial water sources over hundreds of miles; the Empire apparently fell when the political will failed to maintain the system, i.e., it wasn't a simple pushing of the environment beyond its capacity. Even much – perhaps even all – of the Amazon region was originally shaped as a food source by man. The Incas also appear to have developed a system to scientifically experiment with potatoes, peppers, and fruits for agricultural purposes.
Along the way, in a flowing narrative, many civilizations are covered in some detail. As new evidence emerges, the historical view is often unexpected. For example, the Yanamamo Indians may have been farmers who were driven into the Amazon forests in order to avoid Europeans, a step down on the ladder of technological sophistication; they could develop their slash and burn agriculture only through the possession of steel axes (provided by missionaries and European traders), which enabled them to cut down trees efficiently – and that life style may be responsible today for a full third of the deforestation that is eating the away at the Amazon.
In 1493, the “Columbian Exchange” brought the planet together into an integrated whole for the first time, initiating the Homogenocene era. The start was the discovery by Cristóbal Colón of a new continent. With the spur of slaves and precious metals, Spain became the first truly global empire, running trade routes from Europe to the Americas to China. As Mann sees it, there are several principal transmissions: 1) disease, 2) foodstuffs (and silver), 3) humans. The consequences, of course, went far beyond anything envisioned.
While Mann covered the disease angle in 1491, he goes into far greater detail about how things worked themselves out, more or less to present day. Beyond the decimation, he describes how malarial immunity encouraged the use of African slaves as well as served as a defense against invaders once the slaves had established themselves in the American tropics, e.g., Haiti, where maroons withdrew during “fever season”, leaving Napoleon's forces to die in droves from malaria.
Far more interesting to me were the stories about the agricultural revolution: potatoes, corn, and a variety of other crops were exchanged worldwide for the first time, virtually doubling global calorie intake, hence sparking a massive increase in population. The population of China, for example, may have doubled to 300 million in less than 100 years. However, with the introduction of sweet potatoes in mountainous regions previously unable to produce food (i.e., rice), vast areas were denuded of trees, which created an ecological catastrophe, to the extent that the resulting economic turmoil may have led directly to the end of the Ming Dynasty. Such exchanges also created the conditions for the better known potato famine in Ireland (the microbe in question may have come from guano imported from South America to serve as fertilizer). Other important trade items included silver, tobacco, and sugar, which shaped landscapes to such an extent that they altered the ecology of continents.
A large portion of the book covers the shifts in demographics. With the Amerindian populations diminished by 90% or more, Europeans and Africans (who dwarfed all other population movements by a factor of 10 in the 16th-17th centuries!) moved to fill the spaces. Mann offers up a fascinating narrative of the many escaped-slave quasi-states that sprung up all over the Americans, from Florida to the southern tip of Brazil.
These ex-slave states were of particular interest to me because decades ago I read about them in a VS Naipal essay and had been curious about them ever since. I believe that many readers will find similar sections in this book of areas that personally strike a chord with them. For example, Mann posits that Thomas Jefferson was served fried potatoes in the court of Louis XVI, which he then served in the White House – yes, that is the origin of “French fries”!
1491 and 1493 offer the best kind of reading experience, transmitting a sense of wonder beyond the ideas and concepts. These are the rare kinds of book with which I feel in intimate dialogue with a great and original mind. I might be familiar with many of the details, distrust their method, even anticipate I will strongly disagree with much of it, but know the benefit would be immeasurable.