Review Of 1491: New Revelations Of The Americas Before Columbus By Charles Mann

In his book, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus, Charles Mann introduces a controversial topic regarding the Americas prior its colonization. Contrary to what is taught in American history, Mann reconstructs our understanding of life in the Americas before Columbus as he exposes that there were large civilizations living at the time. The indigenous were not wild and untamed; rather they were highly civilized and complex. The author successfully shows that by the time that the Europeans arrived to the Americas they did not witness it in its primal form, as it had already been altered by the indigenous people that were living there. Among the highly civilized cultures that existed at the time were the Mayans and the Aztecs.

It was one of the first civilizations to engage in and produce significant achievement in astronomy, engineering and agriculture. For instance, they built a pyramid at Chichen Itza, present day Mexico, similar to those in Egypt. Here, they would observe the movement of the stars, sun, moon and planets. Their interest in astronomy led to their innovation of the Mayan Calendar. Moreover, they built these pyramids in order to get closer to the Gods.

Cahokia, often called “Monk’s Mound”, was composed of hundreds of human built mounds. Cahokia was home to hundreds of indigenous and the Mayans had systematically constructed it to make it city like and accessible for trade to occur.. Large posts surrounded Cahokia for the Mayans to make astronomical findings. Their astronomical findings led to the establishment of a calendar that they used for religious