1493
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.
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What Hacker News says
- > exchanges of ingredients in the Columbian exchange (tomatoes in Italy, potatoes in Russia, chilis in India and Korea, etc.)
For more on this see the book 1493:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1493:_Uncovering_the_New_World...
Many folks are probably familiar with what happened in Europe post-1492, but there's a whole bunch of stuff on the Pacific side of the Americas as well.
- As a European, after reading "1491" and "1493" by Charles C. Mann last year, I agree: I learned a lot from that book. I didn't realize there was such a treasure trove of world history there, and so many intricate links between these societies in the early history of American colonization.
- "1491" is already a Hacker News favorite (rightfully so), but Charles Mann's "1493" is also a superb book, which contains a long section covering the impact of malaria on Europe and the Americas.
- Malaria was endemic in the US south of the Mason Dixon Line until the middle of the 20th century and it's had a huge effect on our history - from playing a part in the decimation of native populations to why slavery only took hold in some places to the difficulties of some Union offensives in the Civil War.
Charles Mann wrote a great book, 1493, on the Colombian Exchange which I'd highly recommend. The introduction of malaria to the Americas is one underappreciated aspect of that he introduced me to.
- Great book ... and so disorienting! Almost everything I thought I knew about the history of South America had to be completely revised. And the evidence was right there all the time, waiting for someone to decode it. Also recommend the sequel 1493.
I'll never take any 'historical fact' for granted again.
- If you find this sort of thing interesting, then strong recommendation for "1493", by Charles C. Mann.
A reference to 1492, the year that Columbus landed in the Western Hemisphere, this book is all about the Columbian Exchange. The effects of plant, animal, and microbial species suddenly flowing all throughout a world that until that moment had quite separate and isolated biospheres.
