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I just finished this book by Charles Mann. I discussed his remarks on passenger pigeons in a post below. I had expected the book to be a survey of the ecological and cultural situation in the Americas immediately prior to European contact. However, this is not the case.
The book is intended to acquaint a general audience with results of recent archaeological and ethnological research regarding pre-contact American history and culture. (That's a mouthful). The emphasis is on findings which indicate that pre-contact population levels were much higher than popularly believed and that American civilization is more ancient and was more sophisticated than we might think.
The book is clearly the result of prodigious research and includes extensive notes and bibliography. At times, frankly, I found the detail regarding certain civilizations a bit mind-numbing. But Mann does make a persuasive case for his thesis.
He notes that pre-contact civilizations were more numerous than popularly believed and that they had a greater effect on the environment than we imagine. Pre-contact cultures did not preside over a largely untouched wilderness but extensively modified their surroundings. In North America, this involved extensive agriculture (maize) and forest burning. Mann also presents evidence that even in Amazonia, Indians planted "orchards" of fruit producing trees which transformed large sections of the Amazon basin. This was a rational response to the difficulty of clearing land in a culture without metal axes and poor soil quality which could not support intensive agriculture. Here is some additional detail on this issue.
Mann also includes an interesting chapter - "The Great Law of Peace" - on the link between American concepts of equality and liberty and Indian culture and spirituality. This chapter seemed to be somewhat brief to do the topic full justice. Check here for some additional thoughts on this topic.
Finally, a thought occurred to me as I read Mann's book which he does not address. Political scientists these days sometimes speak of strong and weak states. From Mann's book, I gathered the impression that the Inka and Mexica (Aztec) empires were strong states. They erected huge state buildings. Religion was state dominated and forced labor was extensively used by the Inka for road construction and other purposes. Spaniards marvelled at how clean and orderly were the cities of these two empires.
By contrast, European states at the time were characterized by frequent civil warfare and a lack of effective central control. Cortes, for example, operated with very limited and ineffective oversight or control even from colonial authorities. Spain had only recently been unified at the time of European contact and England was just emerging from the dynastic struggles of the Wars of the Roses. Although Inka society was wracked by civil war shortly before the Spanish Conquest, Mann believes this was a result, in part, of the social disintegration which occurred when Inka society was ravaged by European-introduced disease. And Mann makes it clear that he believes that the success of Cortes and Pizzaro was attributable not to technological superiority but to the ravages of disease which decimated Indian populations.
It also seems that the Inka and Mexica realms had religious belief systems which were state oriented. They more closely parallelled the state religions of ancient Rome than Christianity or Islam. See Mann's discussion of Tlacaelel at pp. 118-20. Although Christianity (or its leadership) was more than willing to accomodate itself to the demands of the conquest of the Americas, it could be argued that its reliance on principles that transcended the state allowed for dissent to develop from figures like Bartolome de las Casas. How much practical effect this had may be doubted but it did act as a small check on the rapacity of the conquistadors.
The book is intended to acquaint a general audience with results of recent archaeological and ethnological research regarding pre-contact American history and culture. (That's a mouthful). The emphasis is on findings which indicate that pre-contact population levels were much higher than popularly believed and that American civilization is more ancient and was more sophisticated than we might think.
The book is clearly the result of prodigious research and includes extensive notes and bibliography. At times, frankly, I found the detail regarding certain civilizations a bit mind-numbing. But Mann does make a persuasive case for his thesis.
He notes that pre-contact civilizations were more numerous than popularly believed and that they had a greater effect on the environment than we imagine. Pre-contact cultures did not preside over a largely untouched wilderness but extensively modified their surroundings. In North America, this involved extensive agriculture (maize) and forest burning. Mann also presents evidence that even in Amazonia, Indians planted "orchards" of fruit producing trees which transformed large sections of the Amazon basin. This was a rational response to the difficulty of clearing land in a culture without metal axes and poor soil quality which could not support intensive agriculture. Here is some additional detail on this issue.
Mann also includes an interesting chapter - "The Great Law of Peace" - on the link between American concepts of equality and liberty and Indian culture and spirituality. This chapter seemed to be somewhat brief to do the topic full justice. Check here for some additional thoughts on this topic.
Finally, a thought occurred to me as I read Mann's book which he does not address. Political scientists these days sometimes speak of strong and weak states. From Mann's book, I gathered the impression that the Inka and Mexica (Aztec) empires were strong states. They erected huge state buildings. Religion was state dominated and forced labor was extensively used by the Inka for road construction and other purposes. Spaniards marvelled at how clean and orderly were the cities of these two empires.
By contrast, European states at the time were characterized by frequent civil warfare and a lack of effective central control. Cortes, for example, operated with very limited and ineffective oversight or control even from colonial authorities. Spain had only recently been unified at the time of European contact and England was just emerging from the dynastic struggles of the Wars of the Roses. Although Inka society was wracked by civil war shortly before the Spanish Conquest, Mann believes this was a result, in part, of the social disintegration which occurred when Inka society was ravaged by European-introduced disease. And Mann makes it clear that he believes that the success of Cortes and Pizzaro was attributable not to technological superiority but to the ravages of disease which decimated Indian populations.
It also seems that the Inka and Mexica realms had religious belief systems which were state oriented. They more closely parallelled the state religions of ancient Rome than Christianity or Islam. See Mann's discussion of Tlacaelel at pp. 118-20. Although Christianity (or its leadership) was more than willing to accomodate itself to the demands of the conquest of the Americas, it could be argued that its reliance on principles that transcended the state allowed for dissent to develop from figures like Bartolome de las Casas. How much practical effect this had may be doubted but it did act as a small check on the rapacity of the conquistadors.
posted by Whistling Dixie at 9:46 AM
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