1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created

Most researched and complete on the subject I seen

After Columbus' voyage in 1492 the world suddenly became more connected and, consequently, more alike. This is the reason we find rubber trees in China, potatoes in Ireland, and malaria in Panama, but also the reason silver flooded the market and collapsed economies and the slave trade proliferated, resulting in slaves vastly outnumbering the controlling parties throughout the New World. Human beings, plants, animals, insects, bacteria and viruses were now traveling the world, arriving at places they've never been before and with unforeseen impacts. Charles C. Mann follows up his fascinating book, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, with an equally fascinating look at the world we are more familiar with: the post-Columbian world, the one we know today. This is an engaging read, one that will answer a lot of questions you've probably never thought to ask, and will absolutely give you a better understanding of how the world got to be the world it is.

Charles Mann continues his epic tale of human history with “1493.” Whereas his previous work of “1491,” recounted the world before the European discovery of the Meso, South and North American empires, “1493” describes the post-invasion landscape.And unlike “1491,” which heavily depended on ‘informed speculation’ – since native cultures either didn’t leave a written record or one that we can’t fully interpret – this work amply documents the vast changes set in motion in 1492, when Columbus “sailed the ocean blue,” and discovered these continents.Mann bases much his scholarship on the work of historian Alfred W. Crosby, who called the ecological impact of Columbus’s expeditions the “Columbian Exchange,” in which “living organisms are transferred between continents” (versus overland trade routes like the Silk Road from 2nd century BCE). Columbus’s voyages integrated the Old (Eurasia and Africa) to the New Worlds (The Americas). The Old brought honeybees, earthworms, wheat, and horses to the New, and the New sent maize, potatoes, tomatoes and peanuts to the Old.The Old exchange also sent devastating diseases that wiped out New-World populations, and created a vast slave trade to support its imperial expansion.It's remarkable to think that the world we live in today, started as recently as the 15th century CE. Mann brings all the disciplines to bear in his work – archeology, agriculture, anthropology, biology, environmental, political and more – to describe the changes set in motion by Columbus.It’s a fascinating tale that at times can read like a trade journal. Overall, though, a book that provides a lively look at the origins of our global exchange.

This is a terrifically interesting and entertaining book, which presented me with at least two blockbuster ideas that changed the way I think about the past. I'll get to those in a minute, but first a few general points. Charles Mann is a science journalist:who seems to specialize in BIG topics. His 2005 book ("1491", which argues that the pre-Columbian population of the Americas was much larger and more sophisticated than generally assumed), was very well received. I enjoyed it so much, and thought it so valuable a book, that I was very anxious to read "1493"."1493" lived up to my (high) expectations. Mann is remarkable writer, with an extraordinary ability to present very complex facts and ideas in way that's not just accessible to the lay reader, it's fun for the lay reader. This isn't to say that the book isn't carefully researched -- the text is followed by almost 100 pages of footnotes, and throughout he cites and acknowledges the scientists and others from whom he has drawn information. It's just that Mann manages to combine a myriad of facts and hypotheses into a compelling narrative. And he often puts this in very concrete terms, focussing on individual people, commodities or events. It adds up to a fascinating read.It is also a very important one, with implications for the future as well as about the past. Mann's subject in this book is the Columbian Exchange, the sudden movement of plants, microbes, animals and people between the eastern and western hemispheres after Columbus' voyage to the Americas in 1492. A well known effect of this was the eastern hemisphere adoption of western hemisphere foods (tomatoes, potatoes, chocolate, coffee, and on and on). Another effect that's only been recently come to be widely understood is the devastating impact on the pre-Columbian population of the Americas; as many as 80% died in the epidemics that followed the introduction of diseases to which they had no immunity. But the population die-off and the exchange of plant species are not the only effects of the Columbian Exchange. Mann's book explores the myriad ways in which the Exchange -- globablization -- has shaped the world of today.Two things I learned from the book struck me particularly. First, like most Americans of my generation (older) I learned in school that the colonization of the Americas was carried out by white people, who moved into a largely uninhabited continent. "1491" took care of the uninhabited: "1493" takes care of the white. Mann says that from 1500 to 1840, about 3.4 million white Europeans emigrated to the Americas. Over the same period, about 11.7 million captive Africans were sent to the Americas. Except for New England, much of the United States and most of Latin American was far more black than white. (And probably in 1840 still more Indian/Native American than anything else). The racial balance changed as white immigration ramped up and as millions upon millions of blacks died too young, but the picture of early America looks very different to me now.Secondly, Mann discussed at length the 19th century ecological disaster that engulfed China. I had always assumed that the floods that killed so many millions in China had always happened, and were the result of geography. There have indeed always been floods, but their severity and human cost grew logarithmically in the 19th century. New crops led to more food and to rising population growth, and at the same time to more potential cash crops, increasing the pressure on existing land holdings, and leading to vast land clearances. That made the floods far worse when they came, undermining the political structure and compounding China's problems. This was interesting not just a light on the past, but as a warning signal for the future.The review is already too long, so, to sum it up: Great book!! Read it!! Give it to friends and family!!

When Columbus discovered the Americas he began a long process of globalization, not just economics, but more importantly in regards to biology. The book is an overview over what the author considers the most interesting examples, whether crops and its impact on Europe and China both good and bad, diseases and its potential cause for the use of slavery and the exchange of humans itself. The examples are interesting, and they certainly taught me a couple of new things (especially in regards to China). It is a rather broad subject though and it shows itself in the book, a meandering story that gives more of an overview then depth. The author also intersperses the narrative with personal experiences as a journalist traveling over the world, interesting, but at times a bit distracting. Still, an interesting read.

Columbus' discovery of the New World in 1492 was the catalyst for change across the world. Suddenly navigation made trade easier and conquest became a priority, with the European 'superpowers' of the time all wanting a piece of the action. This globalisation had other effects though, the transmission of disease, the development of alien crops and the bitter struggles against slavery.This book is a fabulous read. Extensively researched and making widespread links it shows how man, mammon and nature were all affected by the Columbian Exchange. Travelling from Europe to the Americas to Asia, Mann tells the story of silver and malaria, and why African slaves were preferred to cheaper 'indentured' white workers. It explains how China changed as much as the Americas and why the seeds of current discord were sown many centuries before. A thrilling mix of history and economics, 1493 is clever and addictive.

Full of detail, interesting stories, explanations of so many things that are relevant to our lives, this is a great read. I'm not an academic, I don't have the time to read widely, but I can think of few books that have gripped me like this. If you're the kind of person who's reading reviews of this book to gauge whether it's worth buying, you're unlikely to be disappointed by it and I'd suggest you borrow or buy a copy.

The book does seem to zip to and fro initially but once you get used to the way it's written, it really is a good read. The subject matter is fascinating but there must be an awful lot of appendices and indexes because the Kindle is asking me to review it at 49% and each chapter has already had notes. In conclusion then, a good overview of how humanity has mixed up the ecological distinctiveness of the plant for good and ill.

I thought it was a hard read

Amazing, enlightening and enthralling. Only trouble is I now have to read more! What an eye opening historically accurate factually based journey. I am about to purchase his earlier books to continue the journey.