1491 (Second Edition): New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

Charles C. Mann presents a reexamination of the Americas before Columbus's arrival in 1492, drawing on science, history, and archaeology. The book challenges the common school narrative that pre-Columbian Indians were sparsely distributed across a pristine wilderness. Instead, Mann argues that large Indian populations actively shaped and modified their environment. The Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan featured running water and clean streets, and was larger than any contemporary European city. Mexican cultures developed corn through specialized breeding processes sometimes compared to man's first feat of genetic engineering. Rather than living lightly on the land, Indians engaged in landscaping and environmental manipulation in ways that are only now becoming understood.