Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
![Loading indicator](/images/ajax-loader-bar.gif)
A groundbreaking study that radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans in 1492. Traditionally, Americans learned in school that the ancestors of the people who inhabited the Western Hemisphere at the time of Columbus's landing had crossed the Bering Strait twelve thousand years ago; existed mainly in small, nomadic bands; and lived so lightly on the land that the Americas was, for all practical purposes, still a vast wilderness. But as Charles C. Mann now makes clear, archaeologists and anthropologists have spent the last thirty years proving these and many other long-held assumptions wrong.
In a book that startles and persuades, Mann reveals how a new generation of researchers equipped with novel scientific techniques came to previously unheard-of conclusions. Among them:
-
In 1491 there were probably more people living in the Americas than in Europe.
-
Certain cities--such as Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital--were far greater in population than any contemporary European city. Furthermore, Tenochtitlan, unlike any capital in Europe at that time, had running water, beautiful botanical gardens, and immaculately clean streets.
-
The earliest cities in the Western Hemisphere were thriving before the Egyptians built the great pyramids.- Pre-Columbian Indians in Mexico developed corn by a breeding process so sophisticated that the journal Science recently described it as "man's first, and perhaps the greatest, feat of genetic engineering."
-
Amazonian Indians learned how to farm the rain forest without destroying it--a process scientists are studying today in the hope of regaining this lost knowledge.
- Native Americans transformed their land so completely that Europeans arrived in a hemisphere already massively "landscaped" by human beings.
Mann sheds clarifying light on the methods used to arrive at these new visions of the pre-Columbian Americas and how they have affected our understanding of our history and our thinking about the environment. His book is an exciting and learned account of scientific inquiry and revelation.From the Hardcover edition.
Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
![Loading indicator](/images/ajax-loader-bar.gif)
Previews available in: English Spanish
Subjects
Origin, Nature, Indians, Antiquities, nyt:paperback_nonfiction=2011-07-23, New York Times bestseller, History, Nonfiction, Long Now Manual for Civilization, Civilization, Native Americans, Indiens d'Amérique, Native peoples, Histoire, Indians of South America, Inheemse volken, Antiquités, Origines, Indians, origin, Indians, antiquities, Indians, history, America, antiquities, Indios, Antigüedades, Historia, Antiguedades, Orígenes, Indígenas, Origen, Indios de América, Restos arqueológicosPlaces
America, América LatinaTimes
Hasta 1600Showing 4 featured editions. View all 17 editions?
Edition | Availability |
---|---|
1
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
October 10, 2006, Vintage
Paperback
in English
1400032059 9781400032051
|
eeee
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
2
1491, una nueva historia de las Américas antes de Colón
2006, Taurus
Texto impreso
in Spanish
8430606114 9788430606115
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
3
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
August 9, 2005, Knopf
Hardcover
in English
140004006X 9781400040063
|
eeee
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
4
1491: new revelations of the Americas before Columbus
2005, Knopf
in English
- 1st ed.
140004006X 9781400040063
|
aaaa
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
Book Details
Table of Contents
Edition Notes
Includes bibliographical references (p. [403]-449) and index.
Classifications
The Physical Object
ID Numbers
Source records
marc_cca MARC recordCollingswood Public Library record
OpenLibraries-Trent-MARCs record
marc_openlibraries_phillipsacademy MARC record
Internet Archive item record
marc_openlibraries_sanfranciscopubliclibrary MARC record
Marygrove College MARC record
Library of Congress MARC record
Internet Archive item record
Better World Books record
marc_columbia MARC record
marc_nuls MARC record
Community Reviews (0)
Feedback?February 16, 2024 | Edited by Jürgen Hubert777 | Edited without comment. |
February 8, 2024 | Edited by | correcting IA |
July 30, 2023 | Edited by | Merge works |
September 16, 2021 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
December 10, 2009 | Created by WorkBot | add works page |