1491 Book Review

1491, which was published in 2005 by Vintage Books, is a subversive study that immensely alters most people’s understanding and knowledge of the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans in 1492. The nonfiction historical novel by Charles C. Mann explains about a new generation of researchers’ conclusions about the history of Native Americans before the arrival of Columbus. Mann uncovered many of the untold facts that have never been taught in traditional school. The primary point Mann is trying to make known is the natives population was larger, and the societies were more cultivated than what most people believe. Since the beginning of the 19th century students have been told inaccurate information about the native people of America. Usually, Americans learn in school that the ancestors of the people who were established in the Western Hemisphere at the time of Columbus’s landing had crossed the Bering Strait twelve thousand years ago. They supposedly lived primarily in small, nomadic bands, and lived lightly on the land so that the Americas was, for the most part, still a vast wilderness. But Mann makes it clear that anthropologists and archaeologists have spent the last thirty years proving many conventions wrong. In 1491 the author explains there were probably more people living in the Americas than in Europe. 1491 ended up being an intriguing book. Despite not being a particular favorite it is an informational book. Agreed, Mann carefully constructs Indian society across the Western hemisphere and shows readers the destructive impact of Columbus' discovery on native populations, but many points mentioned in the national bestseller are controversial. For example: everyone agrees the Europeans brought diseases which removed large numbers of Indians. Not to mention, many researchers argue that structures claimed to be of human origin, such as the Beni causeways in Bolivia, are actually natural. Many possibilities are raised in this enticing novel. The fact that Americans have been administering and collecting false knowledge about the history of America before the arrival of Columbus for decades is one of them. Many do not want to acknowledge that much of the information taught in school is incorrect. That possibility raised in the book is quite frightening. Something this book really falls short of are facts. It’s all Mann’s personal theory. The book doesn’t really contain any real validation to back it up. Most of the book includes opinions from archaeologists and other researchers making it appear precise, but in reality it was all personal opinions. 1491 is a novel about the constantly debated question of what human civilization in the Americas was like before the Europeans arrival. The history books most Americans are taught with describe the continents before Columbus as an ample, slightly used territory, sparsely populated by aboriginals whose cultures would surely turn before the advanced technologies of the Europeans. Overall, Mann accomplished the goal of presenting that fact that the natives did not live an unchanged and unvaried existence for several thousand years. They actually had a profound history and culture that deserves to be acknowledged and understood more than what students are given in school text books.