Charles C. Mann

Cristóbal Colón had germinated in the establishment of sustained network between different ecosystems. The Columbian Exchange is the blending of different ecosystems. It is about how people from distant lands shape the landscape, making it more suitable to their needs. This is a story of how the network shaped the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Africa. A network in which everyone shaped and were themselves shaped by diseases, food, monetary, trade, products, and slavery. The world is homogenizing as distant ecosystems become more alike.

Animals from the new world, cattle and sheep, prevented regrowth of native flora due to flat teeth. The introduction of the honeybee was even more ecologically impactful as it facilitated the spread of European flora which would have had hard time growing without the bees. Malaria traveled from Europe to the Americas and killed most of the native population of Americas, and most of those who came to the Americas. The settlements were having a hard time obtaining labor for their tobacco fields due the disease and cheap land. Indentured servants left for their own cheaply bought land. Slavery was an inefficient system but it was a way to keep the labor force on the land. American Indians sold slaves for guns. People brought from Africa were immune to malaria which created demand of slaves from Africa. Although tobacco was seen as a harmful substance, England did not want to ban it because it could be taxed. Those in Jamestown who grew tobacco paid off their debts and made incredible profits. The problem is that tobacco requires a lot of nutrients. Ruinous to the soil. Animals and plants brought from Europe made it easier for Europeans to remain in the Americas, but it made it far harder for every other American inhabitant.

Spain wanted to trade with China but did not have anything that China wanted nor did Spain want to negotiate with Islamic government who were their war adversaries. The Americas provided an opportunity to remove both obstacles as silver was in abundant supply which China sought, and a different route to get to China. The silver mines of Potosi were to supply Spain and China for a while. Spain used the local Andean people as a labor force, who were efficient because of their tradition of communal work. The mining process was hazardous to health. China and Spain both were unable to utilize the increased supply for the same reason, they collected the same amount of silver in tax as before the increased supply. The increased supply reduced the value of silver, generating reduced revenue. The silver for silk and porcelain fueled the continuous trade network.

Populations are limited by their ability to produce food. Much of Europe had hunger most of the time, until the introduction of the potato. The potato increased the amount of calories that people ate which reduced hunger and increased the population. Lack of hunger also produced political stability. Mann observes that it was that potato that facilitated the rise of the West. The rise of the potato also increased the supply of fertilizer which was bird guano collected by Andean Indians. The potato was a cheap food to produce but the potato taken to the West was of a very limited variety, mostly composed of a single species. The problem is that it made the food supply vulnerable to fungus which destroy the potato. Whipping out much of Ireland's food supply, which was not able to purchase foreign food. In an attempt to fight the blight, chemicals were used to destroy the fungus. Chemicals which had many harmful effects.

Before the Columbian Exchange, sugar was a rarity only found in few kitchens of nobles. To grow sugar required a massive labor force which lead to the need of slaves. Slavery was common in the world. Islamic and Christian societies accepted slavery as long as the slaves did not come from their own communities. Initially, Indians could not be legitimately enslaved because they did not reject Christianity as they did not know of Christianity. Conquest was permitted for the purpose of bringing salvation. The problem is that those who went to the Americas had more interest in obtaining labor than in evangelization. The Spanish monarchy recognized the cruelty done to Indians and created laws to protect them from the conquistadors, but the laws were easily subverted. Slaves themselves were not as easily controlled as the authorities thought they would be, but some people accepted slavery rather than extermination. Slaves were than taken from Africa to supply the increased sugar production.

This book has a lot of depth to the topics under observation. The details can at times be too much, making reading the topic a bit tedious. Mann does not simply events as the complexity of the situation is provided from various aspects. There is a theme that the world has become more homogeneous, but that may be extreme as cities and states from Europe and Asia were vastly different from others even though they have been in contact for a while before the introduction of trade with the Americas. As the book shows, life in many places changed drastically from the introduction of new foods or diseases or cultural oddities. The blending of world diversity has changed the world.
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Changing the way indigenous American people are seen is raison d’être of the book. Normally referred to collectively as Indians, they are seen as passive recipients of circumstance rather than people who take actions to change the situation. A collection of new evidence is putting into doubt many previous ideas about the history of American Indians. Not only is there evidence of many more people in North and South continents, but they were there far earlier than previously considered. Art, knowledge, environment change, and political intrigue are all part of the Indian history. The problem is that this history and much of the people vanished due to disease and subjugation. Those who came after did not know the rich history. Astonishing discoveries are bringing about a change in the perception of Indian history.

Much of the history of indigenous American peoples comes from contact with Europeans as many indigenous peoples did not have writing. The information is skewed to the perspective of the Europeans who saw the indigenous people rather than the actual ways that indigenous people expressed themselves. Source information usually had an agenda that was not conducive to empathetic description of indigenous understandings. Although the book is dedicated to American people’s pre-European contact, post contact history is also expressed in order to highlight the difference between the views held and to show behavior in reaction to stressful situations. From comparative analysis of armed conflict to hygiene, the author tries to recognize appropriate similarities and differences from each side’s perspective.

In some early contacts, Indian groups allied with the Europeans to defend or defeat other Indian groups. Jamestown survived due to Indian charity. At war, Indians were formidable adversaries winning many battles. Guns were a disconcerted sight initially, but the lack of practical use made them slightly more than noisemakers. Germs gave the Europeans the greatest advantage, at the cost of depopulating Indian territories. Many sites were whipped out without direct European contact because diseases spread between the Indian societies. Indians were sensitive to the diseases because they did not have immunity to the diseases as the land did not have many species of animals from which the viruses arise. Many Indian societies created their own advantages death of leadership due to diseases by moving into the power vacuum which precipitated in infighting. When germs or fragmentation did not impact an Indian society, they were able to defend themselves against the Europeans repeatedly.

Many societies such as the Inka not only did not have currency, but also had no markets. Rather than creating a dearth of supplies, the Spanish were surprised at the surplus. Warehouses overflowing with food and other resources. Kin and government directed the flow of resources. Apparently, no one went hungry. As Mann explains, those who held the over supplied coffers showed off their prestige and plenty. The Indians did have metals but rather than use them for tools, they were used to express social standing and affiliations.

Certain Indian societies did have writing which in some was compulsory to everyone. Intellectual pursuits included writing, astronomy, and mathematics. Reading was a necessary skill to read the ritual scripts which accompanies public deaths. Much like public executions in the West, Indian societies executed their slaves, criminals, and prisoners of war. The sacrifices were needed for moral combat against evil.

Political leaders were considered divine and irreplaceable. Rather than eliminate the rulers, the victors tried to make them vassals. If the leaders died, the victors usually left, leaving behind political problems with succession that lasted many decades. It was more common for different states to join by marriage rather than military coercion. Although there was sex separation in social domains, they were not subordinate to the other. Socially, Indians believed that certain individuals can wield more-than-human power given the right circumstance which is why they were not surprised that strangers like Europeans existed and why Indians were reluctant to try kill the European’s immediately as they may have had supernatural powers.

Indians societies did perish pre-contact with Europeans. As Mann states, Maya overshot the carrying capacity of the environment. Overshooting may have been the catalyst, but it was political failure to find solutions to environment problems which caused social disintegration.

The book is generally well-written and does contain many drastic perspective changes, but there were many parts which were not conducive to understanding the topic. Written in a format that highlights the complexity of understanding Indian history rather than giving pretense to any given theory. New evidence did change how Indian societies are seen, but there are different explanations and details which are given their due. The problem with the writing is that sometimes the tangents and similes make it difficult to understand the context. Sometimes the external examples work, sometimes they do not, there are certainly too many as they break the flow of reading.

The vanishing of many Indian cultures is a great loss to world philosophies, ideas, and stories. The few Indian cultures that survived the contact with Europeans had a profound impact on thoughts regarding freedom and health. Many Indian products were valued more in quality than the comparative European products. Indian history is important in understanding possible futures to present problems and consequences of various policies. Their history provides for a diverse understanding of ideas.
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Overview:
A growing population requires more resources. The problem is obtaining the resources, without destroying everything else. With a higher population, there is increased competition for resources within the ecosystem. Species that exhaust their resources, fall to catastrophe. Humans are part of an ecosystem, with natural cycles that need to be maintained. William Vogt and Norman Borlaug provided two different ways on how to use the environment, and resources. Vogt represents the Prophets, who see resources as finite which constrains humans. Borlaug represents the Wizards who see environmental opportunities through innovation to better manage the environment.

Prophets focus on the resource constraints, asking for humans to use less resources to prevent exhausting them. Wizards focus on resolving environmental problems with technical solutions. Prophets seek small-scale production operations, while Wizards seek large-scale production methods to meet human needs. The different views generate different policies on how to obtain food, water, energy, and clean up the pollution. The paths conflict with each other, but there are options which incorporate those different visions.

Wizards and prophets have animosity towards each other. Wizards do not support a retrogression of society that would follow Prophets plans. Prophets do not support the ecocide that would follow Wizards plans.

How Do The Prophets Think About The Environment?
Agriculture got a boost from guano banks, as they contained nutrients that facilitate crop growth. Early in the 20th century, guano-birds declined. The policy was introduced was to make the surrounding areas as a sanctuary, to protect the bird’s feed. It worked temporary, but the decline in birds continued. A problem Vogt was assigned to resolve.

Vogt represents the Prophets, proclaiming environmental disaster without a reduction in consumption. To not overwhelmed the ecosystems. Prosperity has the problem of extracting more from the planet than it can give. Using less resources is their solution, to eating lower down the food chain. Eating less meat, means more space for food available for human consumption. Putting less pressure on the ecosystem.

A Malthus logic, that while human population grows geometrically, food supply grows arithmetically. The population will outgrow its ability to supply enough food, causing a catastrophe. Malthus saw checks on the population, but many of the checks are not popular. Without voluntary checks to population growth, there will be violent reprisals.

No species can overcome the ecological carrying capacity. The problem with carrying capacity, is that it is hard to measure. Carrying capacity came from shipping, which placed a limit on the cargo weight that a ship could transport. A global carrying capacity is more complicated, in which the carrying capacity is potentially not static. Hard to tell whether the carrying capacity is an ecological limit, or could be influenced by people.

The Prophets have an elitist tendency, and eugenics. Excerpt governance of resource is no different to them then cleaning up the human gene pool.

How Do The Wizards Think About The Environment?
Borlaug grew up on a farm, that became much more productive due to mechanization. A tractor was more efficient than draft animals who needed more maintenance. The changes allowed Henry Borlaug to go to school rather than work on the farm.

On a work assignment, Borlaug was able to crossbreed various seeds to make them rust-resistant and more productive. Crossbreeding is always a temporary solution, because agricultural diseases mutate and overcome the resistant seeds.

Borlaug represents the wizards, proclaiming that science and technology can overcome environmental dilemmas. More prosperity comes from knowledge on how to develop high-yield crops. Innovations have enabled higher-yielding crop, to produce more food using less space.

How Do We Get Enough Food?
Plants need nutrients in the soil to grow, especially nitrogen. Within the soil, nitrogen is made by microorganisms breaking down organic matter. Fertilizer generally adds nitrogen into the soil. There is even a process to develop artificial nitrogen, chemical fertilizers. Even a little bit of nitrogen can drastically increase agricultural outcome. The problem with intensive fertilization are the pollution consequences on the land and water.

Animal feed can take the form of grazing or scraps, but industrial farms requires many pounds of feed to produce the meat.

Wizards claims that the more productive the farms the better. What matters to them is useable energy per acre. Prophets see the ecological consequences of production such as soil erosion, habitat loss, watershed degradation, pesticide, and other risks.

How Do We Get Enough Water?
Much of water is undrinkable. A Wizard solution is to desalinate seawater. But desalination has consequences for marine life, and produces pollution. Prophets want operations for water capture, recycling, and better management.

How Do We Get Enough Energy?
Human society has become dependent on an energy supply. Civilization comes to a crash without an energy supply. Various regions prospered when they discovered supplies of energy, such Pithole city, but then quickly collapsed when the energy has run out.

Initially, wood was used as a fuel source. Even grass and dung. Regions that had run out of forest, used coal. Regions with easy access to coal made a quicker transition. The British used coal since the 13th century, which caused a lot of pollution. The British did not have much access to other fuel sources. Many have switched to oil when it became available, because oil is far more efficient than coal, as oil is more energy dense.

Food and water are a flow, a volume to be maintained. Fossil fuels are a stock, a fixed amount. Flow resources could be interrupted. While stock resources continuously declines. Many nations feared running out of their stock of energy resources, causing them to go to war to obtain supplies. But, new supplies of fuel are being found continuously. With more fuel being found, the problem is abundance.

Petroleum is not a uniform substance, but composed of various compounds. There can be various rocks that prevent petroleum from seeping to the surface. The amount of fuel that can be extracted depends on the processes used. Especially if the price justifies the costs of extraction. The amount of petroleum depends of technological developments.

Sunlight might be plentiful and free, but it is not a reliable energy source. Those energy supplies are only useful on sunny days. Windfarms are only useful during windy days. The equipment itself is costly.


How Do We Deal With Pollution?
Geological processes are unfathomable on the human scale. There is a responsibility to consider the people of the future. A hypothetical future people, with indeterminant values and wants.

There are far more damaging pollutants than carbon dioxide, such as methane. Although methane stays in the atmosphere for a decade or two, carbon dioxide lasts in the atmosphere for centuries or millennia.

Pollution has an aspect of property rights. Pollution is no different than taking over someone else’s resources.

Renewable energy supplies are not yet economical reliable. Another alternative is nuclear power. Nuclear power plants are expensive to build but cheap to maintain. Nuclear power does produce high-level waste.

Wealthy counties develop a tendency for environmental responsibility. To make their energy use more efficient and less environmentally damaging. The problem is that wealthy countries do not actually reduce the energy use, just export the environmental destruction to other regions.

Claiming something as eco-friendly depends on the weights assigned to pollution or land use. Spending money increases statistics about economic activity, but they have different outcomes. What matters is not just how many people, but what they are doing.

Caveats?
The book provides detailed explanations on the claims made by the various perspectives. Sometimes getting lost in the scientific details, which can make it more difficult to understand the implications of the details. Which can make the book more difficult to read.… (more)

Today we live in a globalized society that some accept and attempt to enter while others fight against to save their local culture and way of life, but what if it turns out our global society hasn’t just happened but been around since a man called Columbus arrived in the Caribbean? 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann is the follow up to his previous bestseller 1491 in which he shows the changes around the world that the ‘Columbian Exchange’ created.

Mann argues that Columbus, referenced as Colón based on untranslated surname, created the path to the homogenocene—the global homogenization of (agricultural) species, diseases, and tools brought about by the migration and transport that set in with the discovery of the new world. This homogenization includes “invasive species” that the modern world relies on for food and has allowed for the number of humans living on the planet. Throughout the book Mann not only studies the environmental impact of this global exchange but also the impact on humanity through food, diseases, migration (both voluntary and the slave trade), and on society. While much of the “story” of history of the Americas after Columbus focuses on Europeans, it turns out Africans were way more impactful not only in the future United States but everything south of the Rio Grande especially as Europeans were vastly outnumbered by Africans and their descendants for centuries. Mann brings out the history of Indian, African, and Asian populations in the Americas that created the Western Hemisphere a melting pot way before it became associated with the U.S., but also how Africans and Indians banded together against Europeans to create mixed societies or allied societies that main life difficult for colonial masters. Through 521 pages, Mann explores how one voyage created the world we live in today and ramifications everyone has had to deal with for over half a millennium.

1493 can be read after or independently of Charles C. Mann’s 1491, it is full of facts that are communicated well with connected with one another in a very understandable way that makes to see today’s world and history in a new way.… (more)