After reading '1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus,' I was in awe of Charles Mann's research abilities and insightful writing skills. Mann has written a sequel, '1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created.' It is just as good as the previous work. Unfortunately, I decided to 'listen' to the book and I plan to get a physical copy soon and reread it. I thought I missed a great deal by listening.
In the '1491' book, Mann showed that the Americas were already populated with indigenous peoples. However, the early explorers brought their diseases with them from Europe and elsewhere and decimated the local populations as they ravaged the areas for valuable resources. This book talks about the global changes that occurred because of the interaction with the Americas. One crop that created so much change was the lowly sweet potato; I was really shocked to see its worldwide effect on nutrition. Potatoes and rubber were other products highlighted in this study.
With amazing dexterity, Mann talks about the effects of crops, diseases, domesticated animals, pests, and of course, slavery in the world. His explanation of the moving of the silver and gold from their source to other nations initially created vast wealth, but when the markets were flooded with a continuous flow of these metals, it created economic instability and collapse.
Mann shows how America's discovery caused a convulsion in the world's status quo. He explained how each of the new products (crops, diseases, livestock, pests, and slavery) changed the world. This is just as brilliant as the previous book.
An amazing book. A history of the new worlds people from the time of Columbus, 1492 into close to modern times. No idea how he was able to find so much info of those times. First Europeans and other immigrants into the new world
