1493
Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
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1493
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Narrated by:
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Robertson Dean
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Written by:
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Charles C. Mann
About this listen
From the author of 1491—the best-selling study of the pre-Columbian Americas—a deeply engaging new history of the most momentous biological event since the death of the dinosaurs.
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.
The Columbian Exchange, as researchers call it, is the reason there are tomatoes in Italy, oranges in Florida, chocolates in Switzerland, and chili peppers in Thailand. More important, creatures the colonists knew nothing about hitched along for the ride. Earthworms, mosquitoes, and cockroaches; honeybees, dandelions, and African grasses; bacteria, fungi, and viruses; rats of every description—all of them rushed like eager tourists into lands that had never seen their like before, changing lives and landscapes across the planet.
Eight decades after Columbus, a Spaniard named Legazpi succeeded where Columbus had failed. He sailed west to establish continual trade with China, then the richest, most powerful country in the world. In Manila, a city Legazpi founded, silver from the Americas, mined by African and Indian slaves, was sold to Asians in return for silk for Europeans. It was the first time that goods and people from every corner of the globe were connected in a single worldwide exchange. Much as Columbus created a new world biologically, Legazpi and the Spanish empire he served created a new world economically.
As Charles C. Mann shows, the Columbian Exchange underlies much of subsequent human history. Presenting the latest research by ecologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians, Mann shows how the creation of this worldwide network of ecological and economic exchange fostered the rise of Europe, devastated imperial China, convulsed Africa, and for two centuries made Mexico City—where Asia, Europe, and the new frontier of the Americas dynamically interacted—the center of the world. In such encounters, he uncovers the germ of today’s fiercest political disputes, from immigration to trade policy to culture wars.
In 1493, Charles Mann gives us an eye-opening scientific interpretation of our past, unequaled in its authority and fascination.
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What the critics say
“Charles Mann expertly shows how the complex, interconnected ecological and economic consequences of the European discovery of the Americas shaped many unexpected aspects of the modern world. This is an example of the best kind of history book: one that changes the way you look at the world, even as it informs and entertains.” (Tom Standage, author of A History of the World in Six Glasses)
“In 1491 Charles Mann brilliantly described the Americas on the eve of Columbus’s voyage. Now in 1493 he tells how the world was changed forever by the movement of foods, metals, plants, people and diseases between the ‘New World’ and both Europe and China. His book is readable and well-written, based on his usual broad research, travels and interviews. A fascinating and important topic, admirably told.” (John Hemming, author of Tree of Rivers)
“In the wake of his groundbreaking book 1491 Charles Mann has once again produced a brilliant and riveting work that will forever change the way we see the world. Mann shows how the ecological collision of Europe and the Americas transformed virtually every aspect of human history. Beautifully written, and packed with startling research, 1493 is a monumental achievement." (David Grann, author of The Lost City of Z)
What listeners say about 1493
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Brian White
- 2020-07-23
Incredible account of Globalization
Definitely a dense listen but the subject is so interesting. You might want to read specific sections you are interested in as opposed to everything in total. Definitely increase the speed to get through this a little quicker.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Thomas John DeBrocke
- 2019-06-20
I loved this book.
I liked this book so much that I listened to it twice.
Filled with colourful characters, humorous anecdotes, and interesting facts, the author weaves together stories from around the world into a compelling narrative about the far reaching effects of the Columbian exchange.
The author's style is entertaining and conversational, which is a nice contrast to some of the more dry historical books I've read (it also makes the transition to audiobook nicely).
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2021-12-18
Great Orientation to Postcolonial Sociology but Man does Mann’s Tone Grind On Me
I’m so fascinated by this time period and was excited to read 1493 after 1491. The research is great and does a stellar job of pulling together a lot of historical puzzle pieces to make sense of them in an interrelated context.
I wish at times it could have spent longer on the events it brought up, but that’s not what this book’s purpose was: it intended to give the broad strokes on the complex thesis of the Columbian Exchange, and it executed precisely that.
Like 1491 though, Mann’s snide narrative voice just isn’t for me. Probably wasn’t helped by the narrator leaning into the haughty, judgemental tone, but it often took away from the pleasure of learning. Combined between them, it felt like a stereotypical white man lecturing with self-appointed authority on cultures he’s not a part of.
The quintessential example of this is his blanket label for Native Americans being “Indians”. His weak argument in defence of this (in the appendices) claims that 1) anyone born in the Americas (Charles C. Mann & family included) is a “Native” American so you can’t use that term due to inaccuracy (??? no one’s going to think Native American refers to anyone other than peoples indigenous to the Americas); and 2) that “Indian” is what all Native American peoples prefer to be called (again ??? this is the laziest form of research I’ve ever encountered. Also what about his prior argument about inaccuracy? Surely it’s more egregious to call them Indian than Native American).
Anyway, the content is interesting enough to muscle through the disappointing packaging & syntax and I’m using it as a diving board to explore the topics I liked in more depth.
But Charles, my mann, if you read this: please for the love of all the is holy stop using the term “Indian” for anyone other than from India. It’s embarrassing.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- A
- 2021-05-04
a mountain of interesting facts
Really a decent book. Important work as it highlights how much changed after the Columbian exchange. The pre 1492 world, with its limited distribution of plants and peoples, is almost incomprehensible. Only note is that the author sometimes runs a bit and gets long winded. But overall a book bursting with interesting historical facts.
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