1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

 

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus – by Charles C. Mann

This was one of those books that wasn’t really what I expected, but I managed to mostly enjoy it anyway.  The first thing that comes to mind when one hears the year “1491” is what happened the following year – Columbus “discovering” America.  So I was under the impression that this book would be sort of a historical account of what happened that led up to that notable year. This wasn’t really the focus of this book.

Instead, this book is an attempt to unravel the mysteries of the Native American culture, in its many aspects, before the pivotal year of 1492 changed everything.  This is not a linear book.  The events of this book don’t “take place” in the year 1491. Historically, this book jumps all over the place, before and after 1491.  Anytime there is a Native American culture that exists in North or South America before the Europeans arrived is discussed in great length here.

The overall thesis of this work is that the Native American population was not a bunch of ignorant nomads who were barely surviving with limited knowledge within the wilderness of the Americas. The author alleges that the different populations were quite advanced, very well organized, and were thriving just fine. Of course, much of our knowledge of said events is somewhat limited, and as we read this book, we discover that there really isn’t a consensus among the scholars as to much of the details.

When this book does focus on actual history, it was when I enjoyed it the most.  For better or worse, though, the author explores everything within the cultures.  Their farming habits, alphabets, the landscape, the bartering currency, etc.  I must confess that these elements weren’t that appealing to me and tended to wear down my interest.  Still, though, the author was never boring in his observations, so I really can’t fault him. It was just a personal thing for me.  In fact, this book includes several appendices, and I didn’t even bother reading them. Once I was done with the main body of work, I was done.

I’m sure this book would arouse controversy as well.  Most of today’s descendants from European ancestors don’t like to be reminded at how the Americas were “founded”. We must remember, though, that people were creatures of their culture, and if a powerful European nation wasn’t out subjugating other peoples, they just might find themselves at a hefty disadvantage when compared to their European neighbors.

One of the most interesting aspects of this book is how illness and plague virtually wiped out huge pockets of Native Americans.  Disease as it was known in Europe was basically non-existent for the people halfway around the globe, and it was quite the shock to the immune system to be exposed to such a thing. We read about this quite a lot.

This was a good book overall.  It felt, though, at times I was watching a series (that’s “series” not a single “show”) on the Americas via the National Geographic channel.  As long as one has the right expectations, they probably would find this well-written account enjoyable.