1491 - New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus (Charles C. Mann, 2005)

I wasn't even aware of this book until seeing favorable reviews of the author's next book - titled "1493", of course. This one is simply full of interesting ideas about what may have been going on prior to arrival of Europeans in 1492, many things I've never thought or heard about, many things not very well "proven".

My take-away on "1491":

1. He makes the point that an incredible amount of new research and thinking have taken place in recent decades, yet most folks carry around a few simplistic ideas in the form taught in the 1960s or 70s. Count me in that group.

2. Inca very much top-down. Northeast Indians more democratic. Likely that settler observations of these Indians influenced European thinkers advancing individual rights. Interesting idea - that Europeans learned from the Indians, rather than strictly one-way.

3. A different take on the deaths-by-disease - this author (and some others) believes that massive depopulation via European disease occurred between the time of Columbus's landing (and the other early arrivals) and the later arrival of settler groups. Early arrivals talked about all the settlements and Indians that were observed; those arriving say 100 years later talked about how empty the country was. This is quite interesting, if quite unproven. It's quite possible that the widely held idea of a lightly populated wilderness wasn't accurate.

4. Another very interesting idea - that the Indians somehow lived in beatific harmony with an untouched primeval wilderness - this idea has been widely accepted (probably going back to the day of the "later arrivals" per preceding paragraph) but may well be false. Author discusses widespread use of fire to promote forests with limited underbrush, preferred trees actively promoted by the Indians, etc. Also applied to Amazonia and elsewhere. The environmental crowd may not like this approach, but it seems that even the Indians actively managed their landscape.

5. Discussion of Clovis and Folsom in reference to the Siberian land bridge . . . not sure where this ends up.

6. The amazing-ness of Peru - along the coast, in the uplands - so much discovered since my school days. Widespread use of cotton - then rare in Europe - via irrigation. Europeans loved ditching wool for cotton. The flukes of Pizarro and Cortez.

7. The amazing-ness of Maya country. And Aztec country. Genetic engineering to come up with maize - a wonder product in terms of nutrition that took over much of the world.

8. Some ideas about animal and plant life . . . similar to rabbits in Australia - how an odd event led to odd consequences ("breakout" event). Passenger pigeons and buffalo may have exploded in population between the first European arrivals and later arrivals, as depopulated Indian groups no longer managed these species. Who knows?