Introduction
Charles Mann’s book “1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created” begins with a discussion of his vegetable garden. The journey of various plant seeds around the world got the author thinking about global trade, cultural exchange, and travel. Through his interesting book, Mann seeks to trace the origins of his tomato crop; a process that draws him to Andrew Cosby’s the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian Exchange refers to the worldwide exchange of culture, animals, plants, people, and disease between the Old and New Worlds 1 . The Columbian Exchange was a result of what may have begun as a Eurocentric search for gold and silver, leading to the exchange of goods and crops that are now being taken for granted. “1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created” comprises photos and illustrations that seek to provide a detailed account of Mann’s travelogue 2 . Although previous histories attribute the conquest of the Americas to European fire power, Mann argues that micro-organisms may actually be responsible for the success of the Europeans. Mann also illuminates the influence of Africans in the America’s cultures.
Mann’s Point of View
Generally, Mann is of the view that the Columbian Exchange had a significant influence on much of the subsequent human history. According to Mann, the Columbian Exchange included the exchange of viruses, plants, animals, ideas, and people. The elements being exchange move quite freely, amid all the attempts to have them restrained. Most of the people that wielded significant power such as Isabella, Ferdinand, Columbus, and Cortes had the least influence on the exchanges. Through his book, Mann observes that the exchanges teemed with life and death. Several plant seeds were surreptitiously transported, with soldiers finding it hard to keep their hands off the nearest women. Additionally, the mining and distribution of silver played a critical role in bringing America, Asia, and Europe together. Mann also notes that the production of sugar and tobacco saw Africa enlisted into the Columbian Exchange. As such, Mann posits that globalization traces its roots to 1493. While he recognizes the contrary opinions of other scholars, he often manages to find the middle ground. He tactfully handles the debate surrounding the issue of race, attributing the growth of racism to colonial authorities who used race to undermine their subjects 3 . According to Mann, racial categories were established through a quibbling assault by Spain against its subjects. However, such a downward repressive power is today considered a futile and brutal exercise that is nothing but counterproductive. Mann’s analysis leads him to the unpopular conclusion that everybody is indeed a mixture. He terms such a diverse world “The Homogenocene”.
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The four major chapters of the book “1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created” takes the reader around the Atlantic, the Pacific, Europe, and Africa. The Atlantic is associated with tobacco and malaria, the Pacific with silver, piracy, and corn, Europe with potatoes, rubber, and pesticides, and African slave rebellions and race. Essentially, Mann’s conclusions are almost impossible to deny, as their denial points to a relation to power, an idea that is steadily losing its hold on today’s society. Mann states that 11.7 million captive Africans left for the America’s during the period between 1500 and 1840. During the same period of time, 3.4 million Europeans also moved to the America’s, indicating that a hybrid society was going to emerge, initially in the Caribbean, then in the whole of the Americas. Mann also states that Mexico City was the central locus of the hybrid society. Through the analysis of the latest generation of research, Mann manages show how the creation of such a worldwide network of exchange facilitated the rise of Europe, convulsed Africa, and devastated imperial China.
Personal Reaction
Generally, Alfred Crosby’s Columbian Exchange is at the center of Mann’s work. As such, “1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created” is more than just Ecological Imperialism. Mann asserts that we can only make sense of contemporary globalization by understanding Crosby’s “the Columbian Exchange”. According to Mann, the lesson from history is that globalization gave rise to both significant economic gains and social and ecological tumult that almost offset those gains from the outset. Through his thorough analysis of the Columbian Exchange, Mann shows how the costs and benefits of globalization have been inextricably intertwined. For instance, bringing the potato to Europe resulted in the Irish famine killing millions when the crop was stricken by blight 4 . Interestingly, the potato kept other millions of half-starved peasants alive. Additionally, Mann also observes that the chainsaw-wielding loggers responsible for deforesting Philippines helped in ensuring that Americans got access to cheap furniture.
Although Mann is not a professional historian, he does a good work in providing a chronological account of history beginning in 1493 and continuing to 2011. His account is not only thoroughly researched but also up to date, utilizing scholarship from fields as varied as world history. One of the most impressive things about Mann’s book is that it manages to turn plants, insects, germs, and excrement into the principal actors in the Columbian Exchange phenomenon.
Apart from making humans share the same stage with small organisms in his drama, Mann also wants Europeans to surrender more of the credit to the rest of humanity. This conforms to what other historians did in the 1960s. The historians began to depart from casting Europeans as heroic adventurers who created the modern world and instead began to cast them as wicked exploiters. However, they continued putting Europeans in the major roles.
Despite Mann’s efforts to piece up the history surrounding the Columbian Exchange, I find fault in the way he seems to forget that it is Europeans who have overwhelmingly put plants, animals, and microbes into motion since 1492. However, his larger point still stands, as humans rarely knew what they were actually doing in setting off the famous Columbian Exchange. When the process began, it ran completely out of human control, with every animal, bug, and plant getting caught up in the phenomenon. This demonstrates that there is actually nowhere to hide from globalization. From Mann’s book “1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created”, one can observe that the Columbian Exchange shaped everything about the modern world as we have come to know today.
Subjective Analysis
Apart from acknowledging that the Columbian Exchange shaped the world’s history, Mann celebrates Columbus’ to the creation of the New World through the rather misleading book subtitle. “1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created” presents a persuasive account regarding the historical significance of the discovery of America, the New World. Mann does a great job by illuminating the political, biological, and cultural consequences of what he refer to as the “homogenocene”. He achieves this by summarizing the works of other scholars of history on the complex ramifications of the interaction between the Old and New Worlds. Inspired by Alfred Crosby’s Columbian Exchange effects, Mann was able to examine how the mingling of the Old and New World, as well as the yoking of the two worlds with the continents of Africa and Asia, significantly altered the whole world 5 . Although the Columbian Exchange thesis was initially greeted with disdain, its brilliance and originality later commanded respect among scholars, inspiring a series of new inquiries.
It appears that food crops from the New World play a critical role in the creation of the global economy. This is a story that is told better in “1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created”. The potato became an important crop in Europe agriculture, with the tomato being indispensable to Italian cuisine. The potato had has significant impact on the Irish population of the mid-19 th century. The effects of the famine caused by the blight that struck the potato crop in Ireland are still seen today. For instance, modern Ireland’s population size is still smaller compared to its 19 th century peak. Although many might think that the Columbian Exchange was deleterious, I believe that is not essentially the case. This is because the potato sustained a significant proportion of the Irish population, as it kept millions of people from malnutrition and famine.
The way Mann illuminates the influence of Africans in the Americas is impressive. He acknowledges that Africans mingled with the indigenous people and Europeans culturally, linguistically, and sexually. The African influence flowing through America’s cultures makes the New World societies distinctive from European societies. Appreciating the cultural, economic, and genetic impact of Africans in the New World has remained one of the significant contributions of Mann in the dialogue surrounding the Columbian Exchange. Thus, “1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created” deserves a prominent place the very rare segment of books that make a significant difference on how we see the world today from a historical perspective.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is clear that “1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created” plays a significant role in answering important questions about the ramifications of the Columbian Exchange. The book allows the reader to view the mingling of the Old and New Worlds. Mann goes further to give important details regarding the nature and outcomes of the relationship between Europe, Americas, Africa, and Asia. He rejects the notion that the Europeans are responsible for the creation of the modern world, attributing the developments to the dynamics of the Columbian Exchange. Additionally, Mann also acknowledges the contribution of Africans in the establishment and growth of the American society.
Bibliography
Mann, Charles C. 1493: Uncovering the new world Columbus created . Vintage, 2011.
Crosby, Alfred W. The Columbian exchange: biological and cultural consequences of 1492 . Vol. 2. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003.
