Mann shows how a new generation of researchers equipped with novel scientific techniques have come to previously unheard-of conclusions about the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans: In 1491 there were probably more people living in the Americas than in Europe. Certain cities--such as Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital--were greater in population than any European city. Tenochtitlán, unlike any capital in Europe at that time, had running water,...

Get the Summary of Charles C. Mann's 1491 in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. "1491" by Charles C. Mann offers a comprehensive look at the pre-Columbian Americas, challenging the notion of a sparsely populated wilderness. Mann delves into the Wampanoag's strategic alliance with Plymouth colonists, the role of Tisquantum, and the devastating impact of European diseases on indigenous populations. He explores the ecological...

This study of Native American societies is adapted for younger readers from Charles C. Mann's best-selling 1491. Turning conventional wisdom on its head, the book argues that the people of North and South America lived in enormous cities, raised pyramids hundreds of years before the Egyptians did, engineered corn, and farmed the rainforests.