The Americas Before Columbus

Paper Summary:

The paper reviews and discusses the book, "1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus", by Charles Mann. The paper explains that the book reveals how the "New World" for the Europeans was not new at all. The paper relates Mann's revelation that archaeologists and anthropologists have verified that at least 100 million people lived in the Americas before Columbus arrived. The paper relates that Mann explores findings in three specific areas: Indian demography (Part I), Indian origins (Part II) and Indian ecology (Part III).

From the Paper:

"The most interesting aspect about 1491 is that Mann compiles information from a large number of reputable sources, which has never been done before. Many anthropologists and archaeologists have written studies on the topics contained in the book, but they remained in academia and not for the layman. Mann not only assembles many of these scientific findings (he apologizes that it would be impossible to cover everything written), but writes about them in an understandable and appealing fashion. At times, he gets the readers muddled with too much technical information and names of tribes, but most often it is just an interesting read."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Mann, Charles. 1491. New York: Albert Knopf, 2005.

More papers on The Americas Before Columbus:

• Comparison Essay # 140824 : "The Seven Myths Of The Spanish Conquest" and "Before Columbus"
• Research Paper # 60191 : "The Diffusionist-Inventionist Controversy"
• Argumentative Essay # 27435 : "Columbus' True Discovery"

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