In the last several decades, archaeologists and others have made very significant strides in understanding what the Western Hemisphere looked like when Columbus stepped ashore. It is a very different view of native societies from that of only 50 years ago and vastly different from that of the 19th century. In 1491, science writer Charles C. Mann endeavors to describe the diverse people of two continents as they appeared on that fateful day. Skillfully using the latest archaeological research, Mann summarizes mountains of new data to paint his picture of native America. For regular readers of American Archaeology, much of that picture will be old hat, but for the less informed it may well be startling to learn of the extent and complexity of New World cultures.
Mann divides the new findings into three foci: Indian demography, Indian origins, and Indian ecology. The most interesting of these is Indian demography—how many people lived in the New World in 1491 and what happened to them. It is a politically loaded question debated on talk radio every week by people trying to make their point. But the answer remains elusive and estimates range from a few million to as many as 112 million people (more than the population of Europe). A good journalist, Mann dutifully reports all sides of the raging debate. But one thing is clear, European diseases like small pox and measles took a terrible, if unintended, toll on the native population. These diseases spread rapidly and the firsthand accounts of the explorers that transmitted them underplayed the devastation.
In 1491, Mann gives a fair and impartial view of the New World in 1491 and describes new archaeological research and the debates it has engendered. His view may be a bit romantic, but it is a useful survey of a hotly debated topic.
