1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created

3.99 of 5 stars 3.99 · rating details · 4,196 ratings · 587 reviews

Over 200 million years ago, geological forces split apart the continents. They developed different suites of flora & fauna. When Columbus came to the Americas, he ended that separation. Driven by the goal of establishing trade with China, he accidentally set off an ecological convulsion as European vessels carried thousands of species to new environs. The Columbian Exc...more Over 200 million years ago, geological forces split apart the continents. They developed different suites of flora & fauna. When Columbus came to the Americas, he ended that separation. Driven by the goal of establishing trade with China, he accidentally set off an ecological convulsion as European vessels carried thousands of species to new environs. The Columbian Exchange, as researchers call it, is why there are tomatoes in Italy, oranges in Florida, chocolates in Switzerland & chili peppers in Thailand. More important, creatures colonists knew nothing about hitched along. Earthworms, mosquitoes & cockroaches; honeybees, dandelions & African grasses; bacteria, fungi & viruses; rats of every description—all rushed like eager tourists into lands that had never seen their like, changing lives & landscapes. Eight decades later, a Spaniard named Legazpi succeeded where Columbus had failed. He sailed west to establish continual trade with China, then the richest, most powerful country. In Manila, a city Legazpi founded, American silver, mined by African & Indian slaves, was sold to Asians in return for silk for Europeans. It was the 1st time that goods & people from every part of the globe were connected in a single worldwide exchange. Much as Columbus created a new world biologically, Legazpi & Spain created a new world economically. Columbian Exchange underlies much of subsequent history. Presenting the latest research by ecologists, anthropologists, archeologists & historians, Mann shows how the creation of this worldwide network of ecological & economic exchange fostered the rise of Europe, devastated China, convulsed Africa & for two centuries made Mexico City—where Asia, Europe & the new frontier of the Americas interacted—the center of the world. In such encounters, he uncovers the germ of today’s political disputes, from immigration to trade policy to culture wars.
List of Maps
Prologue
Introduction. In the Homogenocene. Two monuments
1. Atlantic journeys. The tobacco coast; Evil air
2. Pacific journeys. Shiploads of money (Silk for silver 1); Lovesick grass, foreign tubers & jade rice (Silk for silver 2)
3. Europe in the world. The agro-industrial complex; Black gold
4. Africa in the world. Crazy soup; Forest of fugitives
Coda. Currents of life. In Bulalacao
Appendix A. Fighting words
Appendix B. Globalization in beta
Acknowledgments
Notes
Works Cited
Index(less)

Hardcover, 557 pages

Published August 9th 2011 by Alfred A. Knopf (NY)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman

Best History Books

125th out of 943 books — 758 voters

The Horse, the Wheel and Language by David W. Anthony

Temples, Tombs & Hieroglyphs by Barbara Mertz

8th out of 187 books — 59 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Sep 07, 2011 Nancy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, big-ideas, history, anthropology

1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created explores what happened when the New World and Old World came into contact from an ecological, biological, and economic perspective. The result is history not as made by kings and queens and generals, but by the potato, tobacco, the spice trade, and infectious disease. Take this, for instance: West Africans have an inherited immunity to malaria, the disease that beset early colonists and their indentured servants and then the native people of the Am...more

like 6 likes · see review

Dec 03, 2012 Alex rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

Maybe not quite as good as 1491? But probably just because I was more interested in the subject matter there. Once again, Mann has written a kickass book. I really dig this guy.

like 4 likes · see review

Jul 30, 2012 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, history, environment, ecology, colonialism, china, american-history, south-america, slavery, native-american, nature

Well written and mind expanding tour of the economic and ecological changes that were set in motion in the centuries after Columbus' landing in the New World. The interconnectedness of the world is elucidated in Mann's dizzying excursions to the European colonies in the Americas and Caribbean, Africa, and China.

The roots of globalization are to be found in the so-called "Columbian Exchange", the transfer of peoples, plants, domesticated animals, agricultural practices, and diseases between cont...more Well written and mind expanding tour of the economic and ecological changes that were set in motion in the centuries after Columbus' landing in the New World. The interconnectedness of the world is elucidated in Mann's dizzying excursions to the European colonies in the Americas and Caribbean, Africa, and China.

The roots of globalization are to be found in the so-called "Columbian Exchange", the transfer of peoples, plants, domesticated animals, agricultural practices, and diseases between continents. Mann has a fresh perspective on the blending of peoples and cultures. His coverage of the enslavement of black Africans and subjugation and slaughter of Native Americans by the colonials goes beyond the portrayal of these peoples as passive victims without "agency". He highlights how Indians fought back successfully many times before successful colonies were established, and diseases such as smallpox and influenza and the colonist's exploitation of intertribal competition often sealed their fate. Africans accompanied Europeans from the earliest expeditions, and in most colonies they outnumbered them.

Examples from Santo Domingo, Brazil, Panama, and Florida highlight how from the beginning escape and establishment of guerilla bases with renegade Indians sowed the seeds of their eventual independence. The key role of malaria and yellow fever in the growth of black slavery is a major source of speculative exploration by Mann. The delusion of early explorers to America that China could be readily reached was a pervasive theme that in some senses was soon realized.

Mann balances the story and impact of the transfer of tobacco, corn, and potatoes from the Americas to Europe and Asia with that of the introduction of wheat, sugar, coffee, and domestic animals to the colonies. The new agricultural bounty is associated with population explosions in Europe and China, but at the same time the changes are linked to famines and floods wrought by transferred pests and negative ecological consequences of deforestation and the dependence of industrial agriculture on a few vulnerable crops. The boom-and-bust history of rubber is nicely told, as is the economic bonanza of guano as the first industrial fertilizer.

Overall, this lengthy, but readable, book is a great accomplishment as a synthesis of trends that make the modern world what it is today.(less)

like 3 likes · see review

Jul 14, 2012 Becky Gamble rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: summer-2012-books

So, so glad I was able to get my hands on this during the summer. I read the predecessor, 1491, because Mann came to Wilmington as the Honors Spring Speaker. This book seemed less dry than 1491 but also less mind blowing. Perhaps this was a result of hearing Mann's speech in which he mostly talked about 1493. Perhaps this was a result of taking AP Euro in high school. I knew a lot of what the book talked about based on Mann's speech, though the details he had not included were still interesting....more

like 3 likes · see review

Jan 04, 2012 Tom Lichtenberg rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

Human history no longer belongs to the twin poles of Eurocentricism, which either praise or damn European superiority or dominance, respectively. One consequence of recent globalization and multiculturalism is a redress of the balance of the human story, one which assigns both place and respect (and appropriate blame) to all of the civilizations of size in this world. It reminds us that not only Europeans engaged in the African slave trade, that not only Europeans conquered and settled and trade...more Human history no longer belongs to the twin poles of Eurocentricism, which either praise or damn European superiority or dominance, respectively. One consequence of recent globalization and multiculturalism is a redress of the balance of the human story, one which assigns both place and respect (and appropriate blame) to all of the civilizations of size in this world. It reminds us that not only Europeans engaged in the African slave trade, that not only Europeans conquered and settled and traded and stole. Certainly they did all this as well, and in large measure, but not exclusively. The book 1493, by Charles C Mann, is part of this trend and has many interesting stories to tell, centered around the global ecological consequences of Columbus' voyages to the Caribbean. These tales range from tracking the history of malaria and its attendant socio-political consequences (on slavery and war, among other things), to the suggestion that the mini Ice Age in Europe in the 17th century may have been due to the mass decimation of North American native peoples, which was primarily due to the introduction to the continent of infectious diseases such as smallpox. Apparently the native people engaged in widespread burning as an agricultural practice, and the cessation of this, along with the consequent overgrowth of trees, led to a reduction of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In other words, wherever there have been large numbers of humans, they have impacted the environment, including the realm of climate change. That we are doing such now with the fossil fuel burn-off is undeniable, but it is also not unprecedented. It's a conceit of our time that we are the first to do everything. In fact, all of our actions and their unintended consequences are part of a sequence that has been ongoing since the time of the first large-scale human populations, such as in China, Egypt, Mexico, Peru, and elsewhere. Mann argues that the voyages of Columbus kicked off the process of globalization that we are merely continuing now and have been for more than five hundred years. It's a long and complex story, with lots of fascinating aspects, covering the entire planet, from Asia and Africa to Europe and the Americas. It is a truism that history is the story of the conquerors, but we are all now, in this time, survivors of the past, and merely by survival we are all the victors today. History is becoming more and more a story of us all, a vast and curious tapestry of societies all around the world that have far more in common than they ever had differences. It's about time we were all included.(less)

like 10 likes · see review

May 29, 2012 Scott Smith rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was a fascinating work of synthesis, wherein Mann draws on a variety of current scholarly sources to chronicle the genesis of globalization after 1492 and the forces unleashed by it, both constructive and destructive. He examines the impact of the spread of different microbes, animals, insects, foodstuffs, and ultimately, people, into and out of the Western Hemisphere, and how it transformed ecologies and economies. Some examples: he shows how the spread of maize and sweet potatoes from the...more This was a fascinating work of synthesis, wherein Mann draws on a variety of current scholarly sources to chronicle the genesis of globalization after 1492 and the forces unleashed by it, both constructive and destructive. He examines the impact of the spread of different microbes, animals, insects, foodstuffs, and ultimately, people, into and out of the Western Hemisphere, and how it transformed ecologies and economies. Some examples: he shows how the spread of maize and sweet potatoes from the Americas into China resulted in the ecological destruction of much of China, primarily due to deforestation, erosion, and exhaustion of land fertility from the 1500s even unto the present day; the spread of Africans into the Americas and the plight of slaves and creation of communities of escaped slaves ("Maroons"), and the legacy of these communities forming a permanent underclass of the dispossessed in Brazil and elsewhere. He shows the spread of the potato and also the spread of the potato blight and the Colorado potato beetle. They say that history is written by the victors, but this is history from the other side. Even more admirable is how he brings the history forth into the present time, showing how the extractive and exploitative actions of governments and corporations, continue to exploit the dispossessed, to ruinous effect. Mankind still seems prone to the same kind of selfish barbarities that have inflicted untold suffering over the centuries. No armchair scholar is Mann - he writes of his trips to China, Brazil, Mexico, and the Philippines and his interviews of native scholars, officials, and peasants, together with his visits to the actual sites. One of my favorite lines describes the inequality of a Laotian village elder (who is 30 years old), in negotiating a contract with a large Chinese company for rubber tree production - that the contract showed that 'one side had lawyers to maximize its contractual rights, and the other side didn't know what a lawyer was.' Mann's writing style is engaging and erudite. He maintains a certain sense of humor throughout the book. His footnotes and list of sources is extensive, comprising perhaps the last 20% of the book. Over the years, my tastes have become somewhat jaded, so I am drawn to and prize originality. This is a very original work of a vast scope - the exploration of the Columbian Exchange and its legacy. It is much greater than the sum of its parts. I give it 5 stars for this.
(less)

like 2 likes · see review

Dec 28, 2012 Chungsoo Lee rated it 5 of 5 stars

The subtitle is noteworthy: "Uncovering the New World Columbus Created," not "Discovered." In arriving at the New World, Charles C. Mann proposes, Columbus created a new world of globalization and modernization. The author carries the readers through a breathtaking geological scope and time span stretching from Spain, England, Americans (north and south), Africa, China, and Philippines and from the 15th through 21st centuries in a truly global and cosmic scale, providing an account of trade, dis...more The subtitle is noteworthy: "Uncovering the New World Columbus Created," not "Discovered." In arriving at the New World, Charles C. Mann proposes, Columbus created a new world of globalization and modernization. The author carries the readers through a breathtaking geological scope and time span stretching from Spain, England, Americans (north and south), Africa, China, and Philippines and from the 15th through 21st centuries in a truly global and cosmic scale, providing an account of trade, diseases, ecological booms and busts, piracy, slavery, wars, and many more topics. This is not a history of the past but a compelling genealogical account of how the present came about. I now understand the present Americans, Philippines, and China better than ever, thanks to this book. This book tells the history told not by the winners but by the victims of the inevitable "Columbus exchange" that changed everyone's life forever all around both in individual and societal scare and both the victims and the perpetrators alike who are affected by the "Columbus exchange." Like a careful archeologist and a genealogist, Mann uncovers the hidden, repressed, ignored, or otherwised forgotten facts which account for the genealogy of the present in the Nietzschean sense. Betweens the lines in many pages of the book one can hear the cries of the victims who fell at the hands of harsh enslavement in the American plantations, the Andes mountains, and the Amazonian rain forests and river basin along with the silent weeping of the earth from the soils of China, Philippines, and elsewhere. The utter devastation and destruction of the Indian races by diseases and human cruelty cannot be ignored.

This is a compelling and well written book (equally well narrated by Robertson Dean) with a remarkable thesis: That Columbus ushered in the global age with all of its ecological, political, and economical consequences still impacting the present global world. The link Columbus established unknowingly around the world is called "the Columbus exchange" whereby not only goods and cultures were exchanged by trade and exploit but also micro organisms, plants, diseases, and host of other species that were exchanged wittingly or unwittingly not only between Americas and Europe but also with China and Philippines, Brazile, and Central America. The Columbus exchange was an exchange of global magnitude that tied the world into one destiny, one corner of the earth affecting the other, for good or ill. The result of the global exchange is called "homogenescene" (sp?) - making and mixing diverse species so as to shape the world into an homogeneous and essentially one ecologically and culturally familiar place.

To be sure, Columbus never saw China, his ultimate destination. But his dream of establishing the lucrative trade route to China (for silk and spices) was realized less than 100 years later, in 1565, when Miguel López de Legazpi, the first royal governor, arrived in Cebu from New Spain (Mexico), who shared the same vision and goal as Columbus, and met the Chinese merchants for the first time. Thus, the global galleon trade began in earnest. At the bottom of Columbus's ambition was to bring the riches of China to Spain in order, in turn, to fund the Franciscan goal of rescuing Jerusalem from the Muslims. Of course, the purported reason was to evangelize China. (Columbus resided in the Franciscan monastery and later years believed that he was the only qualified person to convert the Chinese emperor to Christianity.) Columbus was eventually sponsored by the Spanish monarch who lusted after the China's wealth, then the world's richest country.

For better or for worse, the consequences of the Columbus exchange, foreseen and unforeseen, were of biblical proportion: the indigenous Indian races first in the now-a-day Puerto Rico and soon thereafter the rest of the Americas were almost completely wipe out by malaria, small pox, hepatitis, and yellow fever; the introduction of corn and sweet potatoes to China deforested the country, causing unprecedented flood and famine, while also making China the world's most populous nation. The Ming Dynasty coveted the silver shipped from the New Spain (Mexico) in order to fund its currency. But millions of Incas died while mining and refining silver from the mountains of Inca (Peru and other places), as poisoned by mercury while being forced to labor in the Peruvian mountains. Spain's wealth based on silver and her rise to world power was obtained at the cost of millions of Inca Indians' lives that perished at the silver mines and refineries. The European luxuries and booms in burgeoning cities like Seville, London, and Paris were brought by the sacrifice of the Indians. Riding in the galleon trade was also the American tobacco, first smoked by the native Indians. Tobacco quickly addicted Londoners, Chinese, as well as the Japanese emperor and countless others around the globe, including the priests who smoked it during the mass in the cathedrals of Europe. All corners of the world were at once hooked in nicotine-a true globalization brought on by the Columbus exchange. The list of the Columbus exchange brought on with global implications for good or ill goes on and on. But the underlying thesis of the book is that these ecological changes were revolutionary not only biologically but also economically, socially, and politically, giving the ultimate rise to the Western dominance in the modern age--the dominance obtained at the cost of devastation of the Indians and by the African slave labor.

The malaria was transported from London but once it landed in the tropical climate of James Town, it took off like a wild fire, decimating both the American indians and the new comers alike. The death toll of the new comers to the disease was staggering; but its impact on the Indians were greater. It was malaria that could explain the passivity of the Indians who did not wipe out the white invaders despite many opportunities to do so. It was malaria that even explains in an important way the defeat of the British forces later, giving rise to American Independence. It was malaria too which made African slaves more viable as slaves economically in America, as the Indian slaves (first used by the tobacco farmers) grew feeble and smaller in numbers in the face of malaria. African slaves were genetically superior to the European slave masters to resist malaria; but the superiority worked against them, as it make them more attractive as slave laborers. As Mann puts it, the slave ships from Africa were riding on the winds of malaria, providing much needed labor force for harvesting the tobacco in James Town, Virginia, North Carolina, and elsewhere. Yes, James Town, the first American settlement, was founded on the tobacco leaves to meet the demands of the nicotine addiction in Europe. It must also be noted that James Town gave birth to the first representative democracy as well as the first institution of slavery. The first slave was purchased there only 4 days after establishing the first representative governing council.

If James Town in Virginia fed the nicotine crave in London and elsewhere in Europe, the eastern most Caribbean island, Barbados, first supplied the sugar craze in Europe--the taste of which was first discovered when the Crusaders invaded the Middle East. There again in Barbados, the African slaves proved to be superior in resisting the malaria, who also in turn brought with them the yellow fever from Africa which in turn devastated the Dutch traders and slave masters, while not affecting the Africans themselves who were immune from the disease. Nonetheless, the lucrative sugar industry could not be deterred by the onslaught of diseases. The labor force had to be provided at all cost, which in turn ushered in a full blown slavery industry, the like of which was never seen in the entire history of slavery from ancient time to the present from Rome to Africa. Adam Smith opposed slavery, arguing that it did not make economic sense (i.e., slaves did not speak the language, did not know how to farm European way, would rebel or run away, as they did). But with the help of malaria and yellow fever cradled in the ideal Caribbean/Mid-Atlantic tropical conditions (like James Town), these diseases made slavery of Africans viable and superior alternative to the indentured servants from Europe or to the native Indian slaves (who could not be put to slavery if they were baptized as Christians). Again, Africans' physical superiority contributed to their enslavement to their detriment. However, more than half escaped and intermarried with Indians and founded the modern nations such as Nicaragua and Haiti. There were more Africans and Indians than Europeans until the massive European immigrations in the 19th century; as every European brought two or three African slaves to America.

Potatoes transported to Europe gave population boom, which stabilized the governments of England, Dutch, Spain, and Portugal, who in turn were able to focus outward and expand toward the world in their respective imperialistic ambitions and dominance. Nothing else but potatoes were largely responsible for their rise, says the author. With the rise also came the downfall, however, as potatoes were grown in mass, uni-crop farming--specially in Ireland--which in turn were wiped out by the pestilent that attacked potatoes exclusively and efficiently, causing the infamous Irish famine, which in turn created the influx of Irish immigrants to the US in the mid 19th century. Another example of the global impact of the Columbus exchange.

African slaves were not docile laborers. They rebelled and joined with the native Indians and successfully fought against the slave masters. The run-away slaves, not the Spaniards, were the first ever to see the Pacific Ocean from the ridges of high mountains in Panama. They ran many successful ambushes and gorilla attacks against the plantations from which they escaped, so much that they gave the Spanish government enormous problems. The maroons (the Spanish word for renegades) joined forces with the native indians but also with English pirates (include the famous pirate Drake) to attack Spanish shipments of silver and other goods. Many maroons were absorbed by the Indian communities (which in turn were formed in the deep forests unreachable by the Europeans) and married Indian women, thus creating the present day latin American nations such as Mexico, Nicaragua, and Brazil. (They had no choice but to marry Indians, as only one third of the African slaves brought to America were women; and marrying to a Christianized Indian woman meant legal protection (though only good on paper) from enslavement.) Haiti was the first nation of maroons to form an independent nation, which shocked the slave trading nations of Europe. Thousands of Napoleon troops, to came to squish the rebellion, fell to the yellow fever, which in turn caused France to give up Haiti in the end. Defeat at the Haiti also largely contributed to selling off at a bargain the large chunk of America in the Louisiana Purchase. American diseases then were largely responsible for bringing about American Independence and the Louisiana Purchase!

The maroons forms many parts of the present Mexico. The maroons called Quilombolas in Amazon jungles were only recently acknowledged formally by Brazilian government. It appears that they have finally gained freedom but they are facing the industrial globalization that threatens their livelihood through deforestation for timber. The struggles of the maroons continues.

It must be underscored once again: That from silver extracted through devastation of Indian land and forced slavery arose the Spanish world power; and that from the equally devastating African slavery that cultivated tobacco and sugar came the Western commerce and imperialism. Also It is also from the forced Indian labor in South America the rubber was extracted and brought to England to fuel the industrial revolution, as rubber was one of the three essential elements of the Industrial Revolution along with steel and fossil fuel. The atrocities committed to the Amazonian indians by the rubber industry--even to the present day--not to mention the environmental disasters, must be underscored. Thanks to the Columbus exchange, the rubber production became truly global, as Indonesia and southern China are nowadays aggressively cultivating the foreign trees, driving away the forests and the animals.

In short, there was (and still is) enormous human cost to the rise of western imperialism and wealth. The wealth of London, Paris, Madrid, and other European cities sailed on the blood of the American Indians and African slaves. The Western rise and dominance had nothing to do with free trade, the efficiency of capitalism, or the Western technology and ingenuity. Until Columbus landed in America, the Incas and China had the most advanced civilizations known to the world at the time. (Charles Mann's previous book, 1491, offers the most up-to-date account of the perished but once dynamic and thriving Indian civilizations that once dominated in the American landscape.) The present demographic dominance of Caucasians in North America will be short lived; and the world will become increasingly "homogenescene." And the affects of the Columbus exchange will continue for better or for worse.

Wealth accumulated off the back of the poor gamblers, as seen in the skylines of Las Vegas, and a society promoting such accumulation of wealth (such as in the US) cannot be sustained economically and morally. But such phenomenon is not only a deviation and anomaly of capitalism (an honest result of a free market economy, as some would say!) but, I submit in light of reading this book, a global phenomenon inaugurated by the "Columbus exchange," the exchange which made such usurpation possible in a global scale. Structurally, there is no difference between the way in which the wealth of Las Vegas was obtained (from the back of the poor) from how the wealth of the colonial imperialism of the West was won (off the back of the wretched Indians and African slaves), thanks to the Columbus exchange. Wealth by usurpation of the poor and the weak must be the overarching theme of world history from ancient times to modern or post modern capitalism. The Columbus exchange locked the world globally forever in this inextricable chain of economic and political injustice.
(less)

like 3 likes · see review

Aug 07, 2012 Suman rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook

The premise of this book is interesting: globalization, contrary to being a recent phenomenon, has been occurring since the time of Christopher Columbus. The method of argument is unique, using biological and ecological explanations, rather than the standard political ones. And the sheer number of counter-intuitive facts is simply astounding. Did you know that the potato, which now spans much of Europe, originated from the Andes, and that Peruvian guano was exported to Europe to be used as its f...more

like 1 like · see review

Oct 19, 2011 Eric rated it 5 of 5 stars

Charles C. Mann's 1491 and 1493 are ambitious works of history, serving as "before and after" portraits of the the entirety of human society on either side of a temporal Great Divide: Columbus's "discovery" of the New World. 1491 is less ambitious in scope and breath, but takes more daring departures from the narrative of received history than its successor; 1493, while broader in scope, is less revisionist in its viewpoint. Interestingly, 1491 works slightly better as gripping historical narrat...more Charles C. Mann's 1491 and 1493 are ambitious works of history, serving as "before and after" portraits of the the entirety of human society on either side of a temporal Great Divide: Columbus's "discovery" of the New World. 1491 is less ambitious in scope and breath, but takes more daring departures from the narrative of received history than its successor; 1493, while broader in scope, is less revisionist in its viewpoint. Interestingly, 1491 works slightly better as gripping historical narrative, while 1493 suffers from occasional slow spots, tangents, and loose threads.

1491's suppositional "bomb," so to speak, is the thesis (supported with a wealth of scholarship that is no less convincing for its largely inferential nature) that the pre-Columbian population of the Americas was far greater than is generally supposed--greater than that of all Europe, in fact--and that the Indians (Mann uses this term rather than "Native American" or "Amerindian" or what have you, so I'll follow suit) were far more advanced societally and technologically, and had a far greater impact on the natural environment, than they are commonly given credit for. The reason that historians have so long believed that the Indians were small in number and not terribly advanced, Mann postulates, is that epidemics of disease, primarily smallpox, swept ahead of European exploration and wiped out the majority of the Indian population. The pitiable, disease-ravaged remnants of once-great societies were all that remained by the time European colonization efforts took place. Most of 1491 is devoted to providing details to support and illustrate this hypothesis. Mann is a veteran science reporter, and I found his case creditable and his writing absorbing, even as I felt increasingly shocked and saddened by the horrific devastation wreaked--however unintentionally--by European colonizers.

1493 picks up more or less where 1491 leaves off, but also lays out many corollaries and consequences to Mann's original thesis. Primarily these have to do with what Mann calls the "Columbian Exchange," the widespread transfer and shuffling of species, societies, technologies, and diseases that occurred between the Old World and the New, often unintentionally or without forethought on the part of the agents of this intercontinental traffic. The breadth of this endeavor is enormous, and many topics necessarily get short shrift, given that 1493 is roughly the same length as 1491 but covers far more ground; I often found myself wondering what ended up on the cutting-room floor. Central to Mann's discussion in this second book are illustrations of what economists call "externalities": consequences that are unintended and/or costs that are not reflected in the market price of a commodity--common examples include the massive soil erosion and subsequent crop failure caused by cutting down nearby forests for hardwood to be exported, or the pernicious effects on native New World plant and animal life caused by non-native pigs or game fish. Mann also questions the commonly-held false dichotomies of local vs. global and traditional vs. modern--many commodities that we now think of as traditional to a culture--e.g., the "traditional" role of tomatoes (a New World plant) in Italian cuisine--are actually the result of global exchanges that occurred only relatively recently, after 1492. Some of the consequences of the Columbian Exchange were truly terrible: for example, malaria was transported to the New World by European settlers; consequently, African slaves had to be imported as agricultural labor because they were the only racial group that had immunity to malaria and did not sicken and die, as the majority of Europeans and Indians did.

Perhaps because of Mann's background as a science writer, the sections of these books that deal with science (mostly agriculture, climate, and public health) I found to be the most engrossing parts; his writing about politics and economics, while certainly competent and workmanlike, have an occasional tendency to lose their momentum. In any case, I would have been happy to see more information about the more scientific areas. Some of Mann's main points--for instance, that globalization began in the early 16th century, not the late 20th, as is often supposed--are not original (for one notable example, see Timothy Brook's fine book about early globalization, Vermeer's Hat; my review is here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...), though they bear revisiting and fleshing out. The same can be said of other more political and sociological aspects of 1493: a recent PBS series with Henry Louis Gates covered much of the same territory regarding the intriguing story of the intermixing of races that occurred in Latin America, to name one example. Which is not to say that Mann shouldn't have discussed these topics, just that maybe he could have more profitably taken up more of the book playing to his greatest strength. Nevertheless, 1491 and 1493 are an enthralling and fascinating addition to any reader's bookshelf.(less)

like 2 likes · see review

Jan 13, 2013 Ovijit rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'd give this 4 stars for content, and 3 stars for the writing. The book is generally about how the world changed following Columbus' "discovery" of America, as the name might suggest. He describes many of the initial encounters in the different part of the Americas between Africans, Europeans, and Native Americans, the critical role diseases such as malaria and yellow fever played in shaping these interactions and other unintentionally transmitted things (worms, pests, etc.), the global demands...more

like · see review

Jan 01, 2013 Austin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Charles Mann starts this book by musing about the origins of his garden in New England - realizing that none of his plants are native to his home state. Each chapter in the book is a case study of one aspect of the emergence of the "homogenocene" - the era in which everything is the same around the world. He addresses the ecology, sociology and economics of the Columbian exchange, with a particular focus on microbes and domesticated crops. Two things that stand out to me in retrospect are how in...more

like · see review

Dec 12, 2012 Ana Mardoll rated it 2 of 5 stars

1493 / 978-0307265722

I really enjoyed Charles Mann's 1491, but after struggling to get through 1493, I'm afraid to re-read the first and find that my opinion may now be reversed.

1491 was for me a wonderfully compiled and comprehensive look at the Americas before Columbus arrived and everything was inexorably changed. I appreciated the information presented in the book, as well as the manner in which it was presented -- I was strongly affected by Mann's tone with that volume and how he seemed to...more

like 2 likes · see review

Nov 23, 2012 Todd rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle

Bought and read in celebration of the arrival of my Kindle Paperwhite.

1491 and 1493 are both fantastic books that are bound to change the way you think about history, the environment, and globalization. 1491 is a very readable survey of what is known about Native American culture prior to (and shortly after) the arrival of Columbus.

1493 focuses on the effects of the discovery of the New World and how it resulted in global trade, a massive exchange of species (including some microscopic ones), hu...more

like · see review

Oct 18, 2012 Joel rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a follow-up to Mann's earlier book, 1491, which gathered up a lot of interesting, sometimes controversial, research to present a picture of what native societies in the Americas were like before Columbus; a picture which is very different, in many ways, from popular conceptions. It was one of the most fascinating books of history I've ever read.

1493 is just as interesting, and covers an even broader scope. In this book, Mann attempts to show the results of what some historians (plus Mann...more This is a follow-up to Mann's earlier book, 1491, which gathered up a lot of interesting, sometimes controversial, research to present a picture of what native societies in the Americas were like before Columbus; a picture which is very different, in many ways, from popular conceptions. It was one of the most fascinating books of history I've ever read.

1493 is just as interesting, and covers an even broader scope. In this book, Mann attempts to show the results of what some historians (plus Mann) refer to as "the Columbian Exchange"; the movement of species across oceans and to new continents, as human ships brought American crops, diseases, and so forth to Europe, Asia, and Africa, while also bringing Old World species to the New. The Exchange caused massive ecological changes across the globe and influenced the course of every culture.

The only real problem with the book is unavoidable; its subject matter is so broad that this book- 400 or so pages, not including endnotes, index, and so forth- doesn't amount to much more than a general outline, fleshed out with some specific examples that could have been chosen at random. This need not be considered a defect.

The great value of the book, meanwhile, is that it challenges the reader to think about history in parameters that they may not be used to. Traditional books tend to treat history mostly in terms of clashes between cultures, and an endless procession of nations, empires, and battles. This book focuses instead on ecological, environmental, and agricultural factors, and leaves the reader with the feeling that the fortunes of nations have usually been driven by environmental forces that were rarely ever grasped at the time. Mann also takes care to point out how many of today's contentious issues, such as the argument over "globalization", are the result and echo of processes that began hundreds of years ago.

All in all, I'd say that this book, along with its predecessor, are essential reading for anyone with even a cursory interest in global history or ecology.(less)

like 1 like · see review

Sep 30, 2012 John Brown rated it 5 of 5 stars

New Revelations About America (a review for both 1491 and 1493)

A common idea taught about the Indians (and, yes, it appears when you can’t simply refer to their tribe, most prefer that term to “American Indian,” especially those in South and Central America) is that they lived in such harmony with the land, that they trod so lightly upon it, that the landscape showed hardly any sign of their passing. This is, after all, what we were shown in Disney’s Pocahontas and James Cameron’s more recent Av...more

like · see review

Sep 08, 2012 Amy Beth rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-read-to-think, histories, non-fiction, own

This book was just as wonderful as 1491 in helping me learn things I had no idea about before. Did you know the Spanish and Chinese traded silver? That sweet potatoes can grow almost anywhere (and helped cause ecological havoc in China)? That you can live nutritionally off of milk and potatoes? Do you know why the Asian rubber trade is so susceptible and how that could effect the whole world? Fascinating study of the Columbian Exchange and all its effects. Mann argues that globalization includes...more

like 1 like · see review

Aug 29, 2012 Gerry Beane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, non-fiction

The basic concept of this book is that Christopher Columbus (Colon) initiated world changes that are directly reflected in today's culture, political and social boundaries and even in the foods that we eat. On the surface, the hypothesis seems extremely unlikely, but Mann makes an incredible case with his detailed recounting of histories of specific people's journeys, the origination of settlements and the movement of cultures and entire societies. He posits that prior to Columbus' voyage, with...more The basic concept of this book is that Christopher Columbus (Colon) initiated world changes that are directly reflected in today's culture, political and social boundaries and even in the foods that we eat. On the surface, the hypothesis seems extremely unlikely, but Mann makes an incredible case with his detailed recounting of histories of specific people's journeys, the origination of settlements and the movement of cultures and entire societies. He posits that prior to Columbus' voyage, with very few but notable exceptions, all Europeans lived only in Europe, Africans lived only in Africa, native americans only in the Americas and Asians only in Asia. With Columbus' voyage, all of that changed - forever.
Somewhat reminiscient of Jared Diamond's studies of culture in books like "Guns, Germs and Steel" or "Collapse - How Societies Fail", Mann discusses how immigrants to America changed history forever. Some of the immigrants discussed were inadvertent immigrants, like the bacteria for Yellow Fever and Malaria, both of which had dramatic impacts on all with whom they came into contact.
Mann further purports that we are now experiencing a new biological era known as a Homogenocene during which there is more and more of a mixing of different biological entities resulting in a more uniform blend; in other words, homogenization - on a global scale.
Finding unique places on earth is becoming more and more of a challange for the traveller that is seeking just that. Today, people in some of the most remote areas of the world can be seen wearing T-shirts and shorts sporting the logos of famous manufacturers or sports teams. Mann is sensitive enough to recognize both the good and the bad in this situation.
Overall, the book is an interesting read and suggests some very interesting theses that will be the subject of considerable investigation and analysis as time goes on. For those interested in world economics, anthropology, politics and general history, I believe you will find this book very interesting.(less)

like · see review

Aug 22, 2012 Mary Soderstrom rated it 3 of 5 stars

Charles Mann's 1491, about the world just before Columbus's voyage west, was an eye-opener. I found it very well written and seemingly extremely well-researched. In 1493, about what happened after 1492, the same level of research is evident, but the book is much less successful.

I'm not sure my disappointment is due to the research I've done since I first read 1491. That was wehn I was beginning work on my own book about exploration and its effects, Making Waves: The Continuing Portuguese Adventu...more

like · see review

Jun 15, 2012 Ariel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: summer-2012

For a book about everything, this was pretty darn good. Mann takes on the challenge to explain how what he calls the "Colombian Exchange;" the movement of people, foods, microorganism, goods, metals... that more or less started with Columbus, have changed the world since 1493. The book spans all the above topics plus some and touches on eras from 1493 to the present. Yet despite this large berth, he gets into relatively deep detail and explanation and the book lacks the "AND THIS IS HOW THE WORL...more

like · see review

Mar 10, 2012 Ob-jonny rated it 5 of 5 stars

This may be the most interesting non-fiction book I have ever read. This is the sequel to 1491 which was a history of the Western Hemisphere before Columbus. 1493 is a detailed history of what happened right afterward and how the world was changed by the "Columbian Exchange" or the restoration of Pangaea. It is amazing how different the world is today because of the exchange of people, animals, plants and diseases. Before the Columbian Exchange there was no tomato, potato, pepper, or rubber anyw...more This may be the most interesting non-fiction book I have ever read. This is the sequel to 1491 which was a history of the Western Hemisphere before Columbus. 1493 is a detailed history of what happened right afterward and how the world was changed by the "Columbian Exchange" or the restoration of Pangaea. It is amazing how different the world is today because of the exchange of people, animals, plants and diseases. Before the Columbian Exchange there was no tomato, potato, pepper, or rubber anywhere in the Eastern Hemisphere. The industrial revolution would not have been possible without rubber. By 1800 most of the Europe and Asia were living off of the potato and it allowed the world population to double just based on the new food that could be grown. Potatoes are less vulnerable to blight or bad weather which reduces the chance of famine. The book goes through the detailed stories of the first conquistadors: Columbus, Balboa, De Soto, Cortez, Pizarro. It's fascinating to know how human they were and the mistakes they made but also the amazing will power they had. There are so many fascinating stories that you would never read about in a history book about all of the strange things. There are lots of fascinating stories about a black guy who was a freed man from Spain who established the very first church in Mexico in around 1520 and the Western Hemisphere, and also planted the first grains which was the original ancestor of all of the wheat grown in most of north and south America. From 3 grains gave birth all of that wheat which is why it is so genetically homogeneous and susceptible to blight and pests. The same is true for the potatoes taken to Europe and Asia, they all came from the same few potatoes which means that when a bacteria likes that potato then it likes all of them. Also, there was a different black guy named Esteban who was part of an expedition of 500 who came to the Caribbean in the early 1500s. Due to shipwreck, disease, starvation, and skirmishes with injuns, pretty soon there were 4 left and these guys just wandered naked through the southeast US from Florida to Texas. Esteban became some kind of faith healer and the indians started to revere him as some kind of saint or spiritual man. Lots of great stories like that.(less)

like 1 like · see review

Feb 23, 2012 Mary rated it 5 of 5 stars

Loved this book! For every sentence I read in it, author Charles C. Mann read hundreds, and he has the bibliography to prove it.

I loved it for two reasons: I love the sweeping overview of human *everything* that Mann provides: foods, migration, slavery, the global trade that preceded--in fact, led to--Columbus's discovery of the New World. And I loved it because it told me so much I didn't know: how the discovery of the potato, in the New World, saved the population of Europe from, if not exactl...more Loved this book! For every sentence I read in it, author Charles C. Mann read hundreds, and he has the bibliography to prove it.

I loved it for two reasons: I love the sweeping overview of human *everything* that Mann provides: foods, migration, slavery, the global trade that preceded--in fact, led to--Columbus's discovery of the New World. And I loved it because it told me so much I didn't know: how the discovery of the potato, in the New World, saved the population of Europe from, if not exactly starvation, then chronic malnutrition. And while I suppose that any assertion like that is open to debate, Mann cites a statue the Nazis destroyed. The statue,in Germany, depicted English pirate/adventurer Sir Francis Drake, holding a potato.

Mann insists that Columbus was trying to find China, not India. I'm a little baffled by that - if that's the case, then why didn't they call the people they found Chinese, not Indians? - but he makes a case for China as the supplier of the world's goods even before Columbus set sail.

This book upended an assumption I held, unknown to me, that Europe was a dominant world power in the 1400s. It also gave me a much more vivid understanding of the cultures that existed in South America before the Spanish conquest of that continent.

There is one section--the Spanish trading with the Chinese in the Philippines--that vividly describes the chaos and bustle of international trade. I could picture the boats and the enclave.

There was also a lot of eye-opening information about the native Americans the immigrants to North America found. The native people had a lot of diverse cultures, but what struck me was the news, to me, that one group routinely burned forest undergrowth to make the woods clear for hunting, travel, and agriculture.

An author undertaking a book like this, it seems to me, has to decide which authorities he finds most persuasive, and assert their findings. I imagine scholars in the hundreds of specialties that Mann touches upon are itching to correct or refine what he says. But never mind; he has given me a whole scaffolding upon which to base new knowledge. (less)

like 2 likes · see review

Feb 19, 2012 Ricardo rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a highly readable and entertaining update of the now classic The Columbian Exchange, by Alfred Crosby. The author, a journalist who is very good at doing his homework, expands Crosby's argument with material synthesized from the mass of scholarship that has come out since the original publication of The Columbian Exchange. That book taught us to see the creation of the Atlantic world as a process of biological as well as human or cultural exchange. Plants, animals, and microbes crossed t...more

like · see review

Jan 02, 2012 Tom rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, non-fiction

Having read 1491, the same author’s book about the Americas before Columbus, I was eager to read this one. It is a very well written and informative book that deals with the widespread effects of human migration on culture and the environment. Along with human travel, there occurred the migration of diseases, and plants. Globalization is not just an economic phenomenon, but also a biological one.
Although Europeans had visited the Americas prior to Columbus, his ‘discovery’ marked the start of co...more Having read 1491, the same author’s book about the Americas before Columbus, I was eager to read this one. It is a very well written and informative book that deals with the widespread effects of human migration on culture and the environment. Along with human travel, there occurred the migration of diseases, and plants. Globalization is not just an economic phenomenon, but also a biological one.
Although Europeans had visited the Americas prior to Columbus, his ‘discovery’ marked the start of colonization of those continents. One way to grasp this is to consider that children born on the day that Columbus landed at what we now call Hispaniola were born into a world in which Europe was cut off from direct trade with East Asia by the Islamic nations that lay between them; Africa had little contact with Europe or Asia. The Western and Eastern hemisphere’s were almost completely unaware of each other’s existence. By the time those children had grandchildren however, slaves from Africa would be used to mine silver in the Americas; this silver was traded in China for porcelain and silk which eventually found its way to Spain; tobacco from the Caribbean was being used in Spain, the middle East, the Philippines and Japan. This robust worldwide trade pattern is known as the Columbian Exchange. The book argues that the changes that occurred as a result of this exchange has had such far reaching effects that it ushered in a new biological era known as the Homogenocene, the mixing of unlike substances to create a uniform blend.
There are numerous interesting observations that are detailed to develop this argument. For instance after the little Ice Age, the north part of N. America, had no earthworms. As a result of this, the leaves of deciduous trees piled up in huge drifts, there being no way to turn them into soil. This changed when Europeans, in off-loading the ballast in their ships, re-introduced worms onto the continent. Potatoes were originally developed in the Andes became a huge source of nutrition in Europe. However, because the ‘eyes’ that were transported to Europe came from a single species of the plant, the Europeans developed a monoculture of potato, one that was more susceptible to the potato blight when it arose and which led to widespread famine. In the Andes there are still more than a hundred varieties of potato. (By the way, potatoes are not from the root, being a tuber, they are modified leaves on the stem of the plant that have evolved to store nutrients beneath the soil). Who knew that guano was (and is) a huge trade item? As farming became more intensive, there arose the need to replenish the soil with nutrients. Off the coast of Peru there is an island that consists almost entirely of guano that has been mined and transported by ship to Europe since the mid nineteenth century. This resulted in ‘guano mania’ with Britain importing 1,880 tons of guano from Peru in 1841. Along with the guano came some of exotic pests including the organism that causes potato blight.
A long section on the origins and development of the slave trade is especially interesting. For example because of the volume of slave trade relative to European immigration, it wasn’t until the late nineteenth century that N. America had more whites than blacks (is it any wonder, the south was fearful of slave revolt?). In South, Central and to some extent North America, many slaves escaped captivity and eventually formed their own substantial communities and governance structures. The mixing of native and black populations biologically and culturally, was common. This reminded me of a chapter in Howe’s book, What Hath God Wrought: the Transformation of America 1815-1848 describing the American conquest over Spain in what is now known as Florida. This was a difficult campaign facing the combined forces of Seminole Indians and maroons, or escaped slaves.
I found the end of this book, consisting of a Coda, to be a bit obscure. Also I think it is a shame that the maps and photographs are in black and white and not clearly re-produced. The publisher did not do justice to the text.
(less)

like · see review

Dec 09, 2011 Gary Brecht rated it 4 of 5 stars

Like his previous work, 1491, the author uses Christopher Columbus’s European discovery of the New World as a pivotal point in history; in this case, what changes occurred to our world in the wake of this momentous discovery? The task of deciding which threads of history are worth writing about is no less daunting than the act of retracing each significant event that will elucidate and enhance his story. By organizing his history into four main categories Mann is able to get a hold of this unwie...more

like 2 likes · see review

Dec 08, 2011 Alan Kaplan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Excellent book by the author of 1491. Everything in the world changed with Columbus's discovery of the America's. Globalization did not begin today or in the last 100 years. Globalization began immediately when Columbus stepped food on Hispaniola. The Americas were filled with cultures and innumerable people. Globalization led to the import of measles, small pox, and ever malaria. Defenseless natives fell quickly to these invisible invaders.
Potatoes, native to the Americas, were exported all ove...more

like 2 likes · see review

Nov 24, 2011 David rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, nonfiction, audiobook

This fascinating, authoritative book describes the "Columbian Exchange" after Columbus' "discovery" of the Americas. The book describes the exchange of people, products, plants, animals, and micro-organisms between the Americas and the rest of the world. Much of the book discusses the growth and trade of tobacco, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, silver, sugar, slaves, mosquitoes, smallpox, guano and rubber. Charles Mann emphasizes the unintended consequences of this trade.

The book is peppered with int...more This fascinating, authoritative book describes the "Columbian Exchange" after Columbus' "discovery" of the Americas. The book describes the exchange of people, products, plants, animals, and micro-organisms between the Americas and the rest of the world. Much of the book discusses the growth and trade of tobacco, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, silver, sugar, slaves, mosquitoes, smallpox, guano and rubber. Charles Mann emphasizes the unintended consequences of this trade.

The book is peppered with interesting facts. In England, for example, it was much more lucrative for rich people to hire indentured servants than to buy slaves. However, until the 19th century, twice as many slaves were brought to the Americas as Europeans, largely due to the fact that Africans were less susceptible to malaria! Jamestown was the American settlement where African slaves were first bought. Jamestown was a project of a private investment company; huge amounts of capital and large numbers of English people went there. Most of the people perished, due to arrogance and incompetence.

Spanish conquistadors displayed amazing inhumanity to the populations they encountered in the Americas--not just by modern standards, but even by the standards of their time. Even the Spanish rulers recognized the inhumanity, and tried unsuccessfully to rein in the Spanish atrocities. Mexico City was the first truly international metropolis, inhabited by people from all the continents.

The Chinese economy during this time period was a mess. Incoming rulers would periodically invalidate the currency, and replace it with new currency, thus bankrupting the nation with impunity, all for the sake of personal vanity. Silver from Bolivia helped to temporarily stabilize the economy, before wrecking it again.

Many other reviewers have compared 1493 to Charles Mann's earlier book 1491, which details the Americas before Columbus. However, one should not view 1493 as simply a continuation of 1491, as 1493 is just as much about the "old world" as it is about the new. One can view 1493 as being primarily about unintended consequences, both good and bad, for the new world as well as for the old world. (less)

like 2 likes · see review

Sep 26, 2011 Observations rated it 5 of 5 stars

COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE, CHARLES C MANN, SLAVERY
Nothing Stands Alone
In Fleshed Out Tweets, Thoughtful- Items I'd Like you to Read on September 26, 2011 at 10:48 am
Rate This
Anyone who has ever received one of my tweets or is in my FB circle this week is aware that I am obsessing about “1493“ by Charles Mann.

His prior book, that I read, “1491“ describes the Western Hemisphere just prior to interaction with Europeans. The gist of 1491 is that European technology and numbers were insufficient to conque...more COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE, CHARLES C MANN, SLAVERY
Nothing Stands Alone
In Fleshed Out Tweets, Thoughtful- Items I'd Like you to Read on September 26, 2011 at 10:48 am
Rate This
Anyone who has ever received one of my tweets or is in my FB circle this week is aware that I am obsessing about “1493“ by Charles Mann.

His prior book, that I read, “1491“ describes the Western Hemisphere just prior to interaction with Europeans. The gist of 1491 is that European technology and numbers were insufficient to conquer the native peoples of the Americas at the end of the 15th century. The number of indigenous peoples and the sophistication of their cultures far exceeds what was taught in school when I was a kid. The myth of virgin wilderness in the Americas is just that a myth. The forests of the amazon and of North America were carefully tended agricultural plots, maintained by a large and advanced population exploiting and husbanding both animal and plants. Had the Indians been resistant to European Diseases such as Small Pox the Europeans would have barely made a toe hold and would have stacked up on the shores as isolated trading ventures. It is entirely possible that in time Europe could have mustered the forces to invade, however in the interim the exchange of trade goods and specifically weapons would have rapidly diminished the European advantage.

1493 is a careful analysis of “unintended consequences” of the “Columbian Exchange.” Far reaching it offers up new explanations of “the Little Ice Age“, Chinese isolationism and African Slavery in a suddenly globally connected world.

Some of it is, at first glance, quaint- who knew there were no earth worms in the North East? Some of it scary- the introduction of the earth worm completely changed the ecology of the forests. Indentured servants as agricultural workers make for a better economic model- until you factor in their mortality rates from malaria, which the English introduced at which point African Slaves become viable economically. Who knew that England was a malarial miasma? The Chinese weren’t necessarily isolationists- prior to Spanish Silver extracted from South America coming to market- Europe offered nothing that interested the Chinese.

The quirky factoids are enjoyable, the thoughtful analysis is an exercise in delving deep.(less)

like 2 likes · see review

Sep 24, 2011 Libby rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: unforgettable, favorites, fun-with-the-middle-ages

Remember Fourth Grade? Sister Mary Anne taught us to singsong "Columbus sailed the ocean blue in fourteen hundred and ninety two." Then we skipped to Jamestown in 1607. Did you ever get the feeling that we had missed a lot of something somewhere? Well, boys and girls, we surely did! Charles C. Mann has given us a marvelous account of the events that occurred that directly relate to what he calls the Columbian exchange. Now most of us have a vague idea that the invasive European powers brought so...more

like 4 likes · see review

Aug 28, 2011 Mal Warwick rated it 5 of 5 stars

Chances are, you’re aware that the potato originated in Peru and smallpox in Africa, and that both species crossed the Atlantic shortly after Columbus. You probably know, too, that the potato later became a staple in many European countries and that smallpox decimated the native population of the Americas. However, what you may not know is how profound was the impact on the course of history of the exchange of animals, plants, minerals, and microorganisms from the Old World to and from the New.

H...more Chances are, you’re aware that the potato originated in Peru and smallpox in Africa, and that both species crossed the Atlantic shortly after Columbus. You probably know, too, that the potato later became a staple in many European countries and that smallpox decimated the native population of the Americas. However, what you may not know is how profound was the impact on the course of history of the exchange of animals, plants, minerals, and microorganisms from the Old World to and from the New.

Historians call this phenomenon the Columbian Exchange. Writing in 1493, Charles C. Mann refers to it as a turning-point equally as profound as the development of agriculture. One after another, this brilliant book brushes away a host of cherished myths that have grown up in the shadows of history.

Consider:

■ The Columbian Exchange was by no means limited to commerce between Europe and the Americas. It was a truly global phenomenon, with far-reaching effects in Asia and Africa as well. Mann refers to the era ushered in by the Columbian Exchange as the “Homogenocene” — a new phase in human history when globalization became a reality and the world we share became increasingly homogenized.

■ Though the Conquistadors’ search for gold was largely frustrated, their discovery of a mountain of silver in Bolivia led to Spain’s flooding the world with so much of this metal that it eventually wrecked the economies of both Europe and China.

■ When Europeans sailed westward to colonize the New World, the native population was huge. For example, the Eastern seaboard of North America was more densely populated than Western Europe. Diseases inadvertently introduced from Europe and Africa reduced the population by half or more within the first few decades.

■ Most Americans think of the westward movement of people as a European phenomenon. It was, in fact, predominantly African. Africans, transported over the sea as slaves, outnumbered European colonists by huge ratios. Not until the 19th Century, when the Irish potato famine and political upheaval across Europe produced mass emigration to the Americas, did the ethnic balance tip.

These are just a few of the eye-opening themes Charles Mann develops so ably in 1493. If you have even a passing interest in how the world got to be the way it is, read this book.

(From www.malwarwickonbooks.com)(less)

like 7 likes · see review

Aug 22, 2011 Aubrey marked it as to-read

1491 was great----perhaps 1493 will be too.

From Shelf Awareness:

1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created

by Charles C. Mann

In elementary school we learned that Christopher Columbus landed on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola in 1492, stage one in his plan to find a western route to China. In this landmark book, Charles Mann (1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus) refreshes, corrects and amplifies our long-ago memories of those lessons. Columbus's voyage was about more than...more 1491 was great----perhaps 1493 will be too.

From Shelf Awareness:

1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created

by Charles C. Mann

In elementary school we learned that Christopher Columbus landed on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola in 1492, stage one in his plan to find a western route to China. In this landmark book, Charles Mann (1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus) refreshes, corrects and amplifies our long-ago memories of those lessons. Columbus's voyage was about more than an alternative route--it changed the world; here, Mann focuses on the ecological and economic changes.

Trade in tobacco and silver was the spur for the "Columbia Exchange," yet it involved more: large domesticated animals arrived in North America; common nightcrawlers, red march worms and bees, not seen on the American continent since the Ice Age, arrived in Virginia; mosquitoes that carried malaria and yellow fever were brought in from Africa; and so on. As scientist Cindy Hale told Mann, "Four centuries ago, we launched this gigantic unplanned ecological experiment. We have no idea what the long-term consequences will be."

Though we can't predict how the experiment will end, Mann's stories of what we have learned so far will rivet readers. Consider his statement: "The industrial revolution depends on three raw materials: steel, fossil fuels, and rubber. If one member of that triad suddenly vanished, it would have unwelcome effect."

1493 bristles with insights like this. African sweet potatoes averted a food crisis in China, introduction of potatoes from the Andes had the same effect in Europe, and something called the "Duffy antigen" played a critical role in the slave trade. Mann portrays Mexico City as "a troubled, teeming, polyglot metropolis with an opulent center and seething ethnic neighborhoods... that is struggling to fend off ecological disaster" and sees it as the world's first 21st-century city, although it was already that way in 1642. Setting sail for China, Columbus started it all. --John McFarland, author

Discover: An eye-opening study of worldwide ecological changes brought about after Christopher Columbus first set foot on the land in the Caribbean.(less)

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (13)

More editions...

Genres

History

418 users

Non Fiction

211 users

Science

42 users

History > American History

19 users

Anthropology

17 users

History > World History

16 users

Economics

10 users

Environment

9 users

Biology > Ecology

6 users

Food And Drink > Food

6 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Charles C. Mann

Charles C. Mann is a correspondent for Science and The Atlantic Monthly, and has cowritten four previous books including Noah’s Choice: The Future of Endangered Species and The Second Creation . A three-time National Magazine Award finalist, he has won awards from the American Bar Association, the Margaret Sanger Foundation, the American Institute of Physics, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a...more

More about Charles C. Mann...

Books by Charles C. Mann

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

Noah's Choice: The Future of Endangered Species

The Aspirin Wars: Money, Medicine & 100 Years of Rampant Competition

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About 1493: Uncovering ...

1 trivia question

More quizzes & trivia...

title link	preview: 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
avg rating	preview: 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created Goodreads rating: 3.99 (4196 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9862761-1493?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327900945l/9862761.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9862761-1493?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann[/url]

1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website