Book Review: 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann

1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Today we live in a globalized society that some accept and attempt to enter while others fight against to save their local culture and way of life, but what if it turns out our global society hasn’t just happened but been around since a man called Columbus arrived in the Caribbean? 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann is the follow up to his previous bestseller 1491 in which he shows the changes around the world that the ‘Columbian Exchange’ created.

Mann argues that Columbus, referenced as Colón based on untranslated surname, created the path to the homogenocene—the global homogenization of (agricultural) species, diseases, and tools brought about by the migration and transport that set in with the discovery of the new world. This homogenization includes “invasive species” that the modern world relies on for food and has allowed for the number of humans living on the planet. Throughout the book Mann not only studies the environmental impact of this global exchange but also the impact on humanity through food, diseases, migration (both voluntary and the slave trade), and on society. While much of the “story” of history of the Americas after Columbus focuses on Europeans, it turns out Africans were way more impactful not only in the future United States but everything south of the Rio Grande especially as Europeans were vastly outnumbered by Africans and their descendants for centuries. Mann brings out the history of Indian, African, and Asian populations in the Americas that created the Western Hemisphere a melting pot way before it became associated with the U.S., but also how Africans and Indians banded together against Europeans to create mixed societies or allied societies that main life difficult for colonial masters. Through 521 pages, Mann explores how one voyage created the world we live in today and ramifications everyone has had to deal with for over half a millennium.

1493 can be read after or independently of Charles C. Mann’s 1491, it is full of facts that are communicated well with connected with one another in a very understandable way that makes to see today’s world and history in a new way.

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