1493

Uncovering the New World Columbus Created

By: Charles C. Mann

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

From the author of 1491—the best-selling 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. In Manila, a city Legazpi founded, silver from the Americas, mined by African and Indian slaves, was sold to Asians in return for silk for Europeans. It was the first time that goods and people from every corner of the globe were connected in a single worldwide exchange. Much as Columbus created a new world biologically, Legazpi and the Spanish empire he served created a new world economically.

As Charles C. Mann shows, the Columbian Exchange underlies much of subsequent human history. Presenting the latest research by ecologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians, Mann shows how the creation of this worldwide network of ecological and economic exchange fostered the rise of Europe, devastated imperial China, convulsed Africa, and for two centuries made Mexico City—where Asia, Europe, and the new frontier of the Americas dynamically interacted—the center of the world. In such encounters, he uncovers the germ of today’s fiercest political disputes, from immigration to trade policy to culture wars.

In 1493, Charles Mann gives us an eye-opening scientific interpretation of our past, unequaled in its authority and fascination.

This narrator kept me listening

Pesos in Germany, the mini ice age, Chinese barbers and Samurai soldiers in Brazil... oh my. I thought that I knew enough about Columbus but there is so much more to this story.

Certain parts of this book are more factually dense than other parts and this may seem boring at first but, as you listen these facts will be revisited and explained in vivid detail.

If you are curious about world history, global economics, potatoes and plastic then add this book to your list.

Untangling History

If you find the tangles of history fascinating, this book is for you. Mann takes a thread unleashed with the European discovery of the Americas and demonstrates the effect it had on the world. He follows silver to China, the potato to Ireland and rubber to the industrial revolution, among others. Yes, it is long and sometimes hard to understand where he is going. However, he pulls a difficult subject together and provides much food for thought.

Fantastic Book!

Fantastic book. This book as well as its prequel, 1491, should be required reading for anyone who wants to truly understand America (Northern, Central and Southern). I highly recommend his book.

Untold history, told

So much here is a fascinating story well told. I learned a lot and encourage folks to give it a try.

MD/PhD Here - This is a fantastic book.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, this is a very informative book that covers many facets of the Colombian Exchange that effect us to this day. From the opening chapters discussing malaria to the silver trade with China and rubber plantations, I found this to be a page turner. A must read for anybody interested in economics, biology or just general history.

What other book might you compare 1493 to and why?

1491 - Read it if you like this one.

What does Robertson Dean bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I have read this book and heard it on tape in my car. There reader generally does a quality job. I found him easy to listen to and he hit the right pace.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

This is a scholarly work and I hesitate to use the term "moved you." However, the vivid historic imagery and interesting observations from the author do have a way of making you think about things that some might consider moving.