BOOK REVIEW:
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. By Charles C. Mann. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. xii + 465 pp. ISBN 140004006X. 

Growing up in New England, I thought the world—or at least the United States—began in 1620. My grandfather, who was something of an historian and a genealogist, enrolled my younger brother and me in the Society of Mayflower Descendants. Although I have never been active in the Society, I do have an interest in the events recorded in Bradford’s history of that remarkable adventure. Since moving to Virginia thirty years ago, I have had to revise my view of American history, especially with the Jamestown quadricentennial coming up. In both New England and Virginia, I wondered how the settlers interacted with the Indians who already lived there. Charles Mann’s second chapter helps to answer some of my questions. 

In his reconstruction of pre-Columbian history, Mann challenges the received tradition of interpretation, arguing against the view that culture in the Americas began with the arrival of European conquerors in 1492. He calls that view, popularized by Alan Holmberg, a Cornell professor of anthropology, and others (pp. 8-14) “Holmberg’s mistake.” Mann’s own thesis is that there is evidence of cultures in South America older and larger than any in Europe in the same time period (e.g., p. 99). Some of them disappeared as a result of warfare or the depletion of natural resources. Methodologically, Mann identifies the 1960’s as the turning point in the study of Indian cultures in both Americas when one of Holmberg’s graduate students, Henry Dobyns studied death records and discovered a correlation between the decline of Indian cultures in both of the Americas with diseases brought by the invading Europeans (pp. 62-64 and 362, n. 7). 

What is central to Mann’s thesis is attributed to Dobyns, who argued that Pizzaro’s defeat of the Inkas was not due to the superior numbers of the Spanish, nor to the fact that they had superior metal weapons and horses. Rather the defeat was due to “disease and factionalism” (p. 90), the disease being smallpox (pp. 87, 90-96). In North America, another potential cause was the introduction of swine by the explorer de Soto that resulted the spread of other fatal diseases (ch. 4). 

One of the fascinating themes in the book was the debate over methodology, which is the focus of chapter 5. The primary issue is how and when Indian tribes settled in South America. The Clovis theory is based on immigration from Siberia across the now submerged land of Beringia around 10,000 years ago. However, the time required for those tribes to disseminate throughout South America cannot account for indications of human habitation centuries earlier, based on DNA evidence (pp. 138-41). Mann suggests the possibility that those early arrivals came by boat from Australia (p. 171). Most disturbing was the way in which Alex Hrdlicka, a physical anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institution, consistently ignored evidence that contradicted his own views (p. 148ff). 

In chapter 6, Mann explores the culture of littoral Peru, i.e. the coastal area between the mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Because of arid conditions, by irrigating, they were able to produce cotton that was used in trade. Other evidence suggests that their staple food supply came from the ocean, but it was maize that sustained their civilization. By contrast, in chapter 7, Mann explores Mesoamerica (the lowlands toward the Gulf Coast): Olmec, Maya, and Zatopec cultures, from roughly 1800 B.C. to 800 A.D. Culturally, this period saw the development of calendars and writing (but not wheels). At the end of the chapter he looks at two cultures in the Peruvian highlands, the Tiwanaku and the Wari. 

Chapter 8 is hodge-podge. It begins by attempting to explain the collapse of Maya culture. Mann traces the conflicting images of “Indians as poster children for eco-catastrophe, Indians as green role models” to “Holmberg’s mistake, the idea that Indians were suspended in time, touching nothing and untouched themselves, like ghostly presences on the landscape” (p. 247). He then shifts to a look at Indian settlements in North America before he returns to the collapse of the Mayas in the 9th century A.D. by describing the battles that led to their decline. 

The description of the Amazon River basin in chapter 9 is mind-boggling. The length of the river itself—nearly long enough to reach across the United States—is awesome. Living in the thick forest near the river, even with slash and burn techniques, must have been a marginal existence. Once again, Mann lets us observe a scholarly conflict involving a staff member at the Smithsonian Institution. 

In chapter 10, Mann departs from his main thesis to look at what has happened in North America since 1492, a chapter entitled “The Artificial Wilderness.” His thesis, “A Thousand Kudzus Everywhere,” tells of the alteration of indigenous cultures and environments, and the loss of ecological barriers—e.g., the demise of passenger pigeons. He recommends policies to preserve the forests rather than to build new malls (pp. 324ff). He appeals for us to control our natural resources: “. . . we should not set our sights on rebuilding an environment from the past but concentrate on shaping a world to live in for the future” (p. 326). 

Chapter 11 deals with Indian culture in the American northeast (the “five nations” in the Finger Lakes area). It was led by the Haudenasaunee, whose roots he traces back to the middle of the 12^th  century B.C. The alliance stressed personal freedom, female leadership, and limited government. He suggests that the liberty we take for granted may have derived, at least in part, from the model. 

The four appendices deal briefly with more technical issues: Linguistic terms for native Americans (“Loaded Words”); Indian Languages (“Talking Knots”); epidemics (“The Syphilis Exception”); and “Calendar Math.”

The amount of new information in his book is overwhelming and demands our attention. It challenges us to re-examine some of the “facts” that we learned in our earlier education experiences.

Freeman Sleeper
Emeritus Professor of Religion, Roanoke College
Richmond, VA

PUBLISHED IN THE BULLETIN OF THE INSTITUTE FOR REFORMED THEOLOGY, FALL 2006, VOL. 6, #2.