Book Review - 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created

Title - 1493: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

Author: Charles C. Mann 
Date Read: December 2023
Rating: 👍👍👍👍👍

Review: Fantastic book. This book as well as its prequel, 1491, should be required reading for anyone who wants to truly understand America (Northern, Central and Southern). I highly recommend this book.

Description (Audible): More than 200 million years ago, geological forces split apart the continents. Isolated from each other, the two halves of the world developed radically different suites of plants and animals. When Christopher Columbus set foot in the Americas, he ended that separation at a stroke. Driven by the economic goal of establishing trade with China, he accidentally set off an ecological convulsion as European vessels carried thousands of species to new homes across the oceans.

Description (ChatGPT): 1493: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus is the sequel we didn’t know we needed to 1491. Charles C. Mann takes us on another thrilling historical rollercoaster, but this time, the focus is on the aftermath of Columbus’s arrival—the profound ecological, cultural, and economic transformations that rippled across the globe. From invasive species hitching rides on ships to the birth of global trade networks, Mann’s storytelling is as rich and complex as the new world order that was being stitched together. It’s history, but with a plot twist: the world we know today was shaped as much by the "Columbian Exchange" as by the people who actually lived here. If you thought the Americas were a quiet, pre-Columbus backwater, Mann’s research will have you thinking again—and probably Googling "global trade in the 16th century" in your free time.