1491

I read a fascinating book on vacation: "1491--New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus." Science journalist Charles Mann does an excellent job of summarizing research over the past 50 years which makes a convincing case that when Columbus and the first explorers arrived in the New World, the western hemisphere was heavily populated by societies as innovative, advanced, organized, cultured and developed as the great civilizations of Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Reading about the American Indians, the Mayans, the Olmecs, the Aztecs and the Incas, I got a very different understanding of these civilizations, including their beginnings, their histories and the reasons for their declines. The author manages to cite conflicting research points of view, something that you would never get from an academic, only from a journalist.

These people were anything but primitive. For example: Mesoamerican Indians invented maize, the basis for modern-day corn. It didn't grow naturally, and would have required many iterations of agricultural refinement. But in terms of harvest weight, it has become the world's most important crop, spreading quickly throughout the world after Columbus. Maize was vitally important to the native populations, and was the foundation for advanced and complex societies, in many cases taking on a religious significance.

Further, early inhabitants of Mexico and Central America developed tomatoes (no, it wasn't the Italians!), peppers, most of the world's squashes and many varieties of beans. Some have estimated that Indians developed three-fifths of the crops now in cultivation. They also invented, on their own, without the benefit of cross-pollenization so common in the East, writing, astronomy and mathematics, including the zero as a value before the same development occurred in the Eastern world.

Definitely recommended reading, if you like that sort of thing.