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Description edit
From the author of 1491— the best-selling study of the pre-Columbian Americas—a deeply engaging new history that explores 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... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
People edit
- Cristobal Colon: AKA Christopher Columbus--the book explains the myriad ways in which his actions permanently changed the world.
- Chief Powhatan: Ruler of the lands the Jamestown Colony was founded in.
- John Smith: Influential early colonist at Jamestown.
- Opechancanough: Powhatan's anti-immigrant younger brother.
- Pocahontas: Young daughter of Powhatan.
- John Rolfe: Responsible for cultivation of tobacco in Virginia, making it much more affordable for consumers in England.
- Zheng Fenli: Chinese commander in charge of their armadas during the Yongle period.
- Zhu Wan: Chinese official who tried to fight piracy in Yuegang.
- Zheng Chenggong: Chinese "pirate king".
- Francis Drake: Influential explorer and raider.
- Antoine-Augustin Parmentier: Nutritional chemist whom Mann calls the "Johnny Appleseed" of potatoes.
- Charles Goodyear: Rubber pioneer later remembered as a "visionary."
- Thomas Hancock: Engineer who patented vulcanization process to make rubber usable for industrial purposes.
- Carlos Fitzcarrald: Used weapons and violence to force Indians to harvest rubber for him.
- Julio Cesar Arana: Enslaved large numbers of indigenous people in a brutal rubber collection operation.
- Walter Hardenburg: Drew public attention to Arana's reign of terror and helped to end it.
- Henry Alexander Wickham: "Bio-pirate" who smuggled thousands of rubber tree seeds out of Brazil.
- Juan Garrido: Black conquistador who built the Chapel of the Martyrs in what is now Mexico City.
- Henry Ford: Tried unsuccessfully to found a rubber plantation ("Fordlandia") in the Amazonian rainforest.
- Matthew Fontaine Maury: Wanted U.S. to annex Amazonia to strengthen the political power of the South.
- Hernan Cortes: Spanish conqueror of Mexico.
- Estebanico de Dorantes: Slave who was a part of the unsuccessful Narvaez expedition.
- Catarina de San Juan: Asian slave taken to Mexico, where she became a famous mystic.
- Zumbi: Leader of Palmares, a settlement of African refugees in Brazil.
- Jorge Velho: Brazilian who led the attacks against Palmares that eventually led to Zumbi's death.
- Vasco Nunez De Balboa: Spanish conquistador known for crossing Panama and becoming the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from the Americas.
- Bayano: Led a large slave revolt in 16th century Panama.
- Samuel Eliot Morison: Add a description of this character.
- Weiyi Shi
- Domingo de Verasátegui
- John K. Thornton
- Oviedo
- Hernán Cortés
- Francisco Pizarro
- James A. Robinson
- James R. Weir
- William I. Woods
- Charles Dickens
- Daron Acemoglu
- Hu Zhouyong
- Elizabeth I
- Adam Smith
- Bartolomé Leonardo de Argensola
- Marco Polo
- Vasco de Quiroga
- Xie Zhaozhe
- Ibn Battuta
- Warren Dean
- Arzáns
- Leonor Cortés Moctezuma
- Michael Pollan
- Denis Diderot
- Mirra
- Mohamed Ouerfelli
- Quarequa
- Kevin O'Rourke
- Núñez de Balboa
- Felix Keesing
- Juan Gil
- Sebastian Lemba
- Motecuhzoma
- Pedro Margarit
- Matthew Restall
- Las Casas
- Joachim di Fiore
- Helen Rountree
- Pai Francisco
- John Ferrar
- Tang Jianwei
- J. G. Hawkes
- Joseph Schumpeter
- Rudmar
- Simon Johnson
- Manuel Almeida
- Diego Durán
- Tecuichpotzin
- Francisca
- Serra da Barriga
- Ligon
- Chico Mendes
- Fernando Ortiz Fernández
- Henry Otley Beyer
- Sukey Carter
- Pedro Bravo de Acuña
- Andrew Spielman
- Henry Adams
- Cuauhtemoc
- Wang Pu
- Cortés López
- Andrea Navagero
- Pánfilo de Narváez
- Edward Hasted
- Caldeira
- Arturo Giráldez
- Chandler
- Jefferson Fox
- Franz Keller
- Fernand Braudel
- Hong Dizhen
- Li Jinming
- John Woodlief
- Neville Burgoyne Craig
- Lin Huailan
- Mu Tianyan
- Walter Raleigh
- Michael D. Myers
- Hermann Staudinger
- John R. Wennersten
- Arthur Young
- Karl Marx
- Napoleon III
- Collins
- Shao
- Alberto Vieira
- Chen Jinglun
- Thomas Jefferson
- Zachary Taylor
- Thelma
- Hongtaiji
- Pedro de Montejo
- Philip Curtin
- Martín Fierro
- Shawn William Miller
- Thomas Robert Malthus
- Ronald Findlay
- Felipe Manrique
- Cristóbal Colón
- Manuel Toussaint
- Domingos Jorge Velho
- Miguel López de Legazpi
- Johnny Good-looking
- John Hemming
- William Bullock
- David Eltis
- Bartolomé Arzáns de Orsúa y Vela
- Guillaume le Testu
- Lin Renchuan
- Díaz del Castillo
- Russell R. Menard
- Mary Dobson
- Robert C. Anderson
- Gemelli Careri
- Diego Mendez
- Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt
- Vasco Gudínez
- Juan González de Mendoza
- Lincoln
- Tao Weining
- Domingo Congo
- Chace
- Alonso Ramos
- William Paterson
- Henry Clinton
- John Gabriel Stedman
- Rajah Sulayman
- Yang Chang
- Yongle
- Igarapé Espinel
- Voltaire
- Charles Darwin
- G. B. Ramusio
- Robert Charles Anderson
- J. Frederick Fausz
- William Denevan
- Landon Carter
- J. R. McNeill
- Bartolomeu Perestrello
- Kenneth Pomeranz
- Gomes Eanes de Zurara
- Domingo Elías
- Chen Zhenlong
- Jean Ristaino
- Marcos de Niza
- Carletti
- Mao Zedong
- Zhang Xie
- Charles Cornwallis
- Stephen J. Pyne
- Hong Liangji
- Ponce de León
- Roger Bacon
- Marie Antoinette
- Thomas Sidney Jesup
- Thomas Dale
- Mary Hensley
- Albert
- E. Bryan Coughlin
- David Cook
- Klaus Goldnick
- Carlos V
- Quan Hansheng
- Enriquillo
- Andrés Ochoa de Urdaneta
- Euclides da Cunha
- Nicholas Ferrar
- Sally Hemings
- David S. Landes
- Isabella Beeton
- Justus von Liebig
- Bernardo de Balbuena
- Anne R. Osborne
- Pedro de Valdivia
- Ricardo E. Alegría
- John Gerard
- Dennis O. Flynn
- Pérez Dasmariñas
- Thomas Murphy
- Gonzalo Fernández
- Zhang Liubao
- María Elena Martínez
- Alan Gallay
- Ferdinand III
- Pedro Mandinga
- John Winthrop
- John Gough
- William Atwell
- Domínguez Ortiz
- Eduardo Ribeiro
- Luo Yuejiong
- Gu Yanwu
- Diego Colón
- David Gaines
- Felipe II
- Juan de Salcedo
- Samuel Jeake
- Markham
- Toussaint Louverture
- Daniel Defoe
- Ganga Zumba
- Cindy Hale
- Consuelo Varela
- Bishop Salazar
- Aqualtune
- Alberto Lorenço Pereira
- Pedro de Ursúa
- Martín Cortés
- Timothy Brook
- Dona Rosario
- David G. Anderson
- Tsenacomoco
- Louis XVI
- Cormac Ó Gráda
- Miguel de Benavides
- Hernando
- Devin Fitzgerald
- George Percy
- Martínez Pastrana
- Edward Hill
- Alfred W. Crosby
- Max Weber
- Rafael Trujillo
- Antonio de Mendoza
- Pietro Martire d'Anghiera
- Beau Brummell
- William Strachey
- Charles Valentine Riley
- Susanna Hecht
- Koxinga
- Quispe Cusi
- David Hackett Fischer
- Lu Yao
- Julio César Arana
- Yuegang
- Alberto Crespo
- Karl Zimmerer
- Edward O. Wilson
- Walter Ralegh
- Comagre
- Fujianese Christian
- Don Christopher Columbus
- Joaõ Garrido
Setting & Locations edit
- La Isabela: Spanish community on Hispaniola which Mann identifies as "the beginning of consequential European settlement" in the Americas.
- Jamestown: English colony founded by the Virginia Company that led to settlers drastically changing the surrounding landscape.
- Beijing: Beijing's need for silver to create currency caused China to become less resistant to trade with Europeans.
- Yuegang: Center of piracy in 16th century China.
- Potosi: The Bolivian silver mines here were inhumane but crucial for the silver trade.
- Manila: Spanish and Chinese residents of Manila clashed several times during the 16th and 17th centuries--Chinese residents had to live in a separate neighborhood outside the city gates.
- Zuitou: Example of a place where cultivation of American crops has contributed to ecological disaster.
- Peru: Site of guano stores exported during the 19th century.
- Ireland: Both its reliance on the potato and the blight that caused the Great Famine were direct results of the Columbian Exchange.
- China
- New Spain
- Mexico City
- Brazil
- United States
- Hispaniola
- Pacific
- Panama
- France
- England
- Madeira
- Portugal
- Caribbean
- Britain
- London
- Suriname
- Santo Domingo
- Laos
- Zaytun
- Lima
- Sao Tome
- Netherlands
- Japan
- Florida
- Calabar
- India
- Andes
- Columbus
- Mindoro
- Haiti
- Ecuador
- Puebla
- South America
- North America
- Veracruz
Organizations edit
- The Virginia Company: Joint stock company formed to create English colonies in the Americas.
First Sentence edit
Like other books, this one began in a garden.
Table of Contents edit
INTRODUCTION / In the Homogenocene
1. Two Monuments
PART ONE / Atlantic Journeys
2. The Tobacco Coast
3. Evil Air
PART TWO / Pacific Journeys
4. Shiploads of Money (Silk for Silver, Part One)
5. Lovesick Grass, Foreign Tubers, and Jade Rice (Silk for Silver, Part Two)
PART THREE / Europe in the World
6. The Agro-Industrial Complex
7. Black Gold
PART FOUR / Africa in the World
8. Crazy Soup
9. Forest of Fugitives
CODA / Currents of Life
10. In Bolalacao
Appendixes:
A. Fighting Words
B. Globalization in Beta
Acknowledgements
Notes
Works Cited
Index
Series & Lists edit
This book is in Kirkus Reviews: Best Nonfiction of 2011. (authoritative list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Charles C. Mann (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Knopf
Country: USA
Publication Date: 2011
ISBN: 978-0307265722
Page Count: 560
Publisher: Knopf
Country: USA
Publication Date: 2011
ISBN: 978-0307265722
Page Count: 560
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: D228.M36 2011
- Dewey: 909.4
Subjects edit
- Books › History › Americas › United States › Colonial Period
- Books › Science › History & Philosophy
- Books › History › World
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