Cotton Charles Mann Summary

Charles Mann’s chapter titled Cotton (or Anchovies) and Maize within his novel 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus includes a collaboration of works aimed at generalizing the different staple products within the Mesoamerican society. Mann’s documentation of these processes is told through a digestible story within which would appeal to the non-academic reader. This deliberation of work highlights the abstract cultivation and adaptation of the Mesoamerican peoples to the land in which each society successfully and strategically migrated to. Mann argues throughout the chapter that these advanced adaptations prove Mesoamericans are more than aimless savages with no discourse. Such thoughts became paradigmatic as explorers post

As stated in the book “By contrast (to Eurasia) there was very little exchange of people, goods, or ideas between Mesoamerica and the Andes” (Mann, p201). Mann goes on further to suggest that Eurasia began trading goods and ideas well before there was any significant trade within the Americas. The focal point Mann suggests is these subcultures each invented their own methods of adaptations, given different climatic zones with no influential trade. My first thoughts while reading Mann’s chapter proved difficult, envisioning cultures which lack trade routes and sharing of ideas seemed foreign - I found it unlikely that trade was not initiated in some way or form. Under further analysis and reflection, Mann’s interpretation and depth of knowledge highlights his expertise in not only geographical relationships between the physical and weather patterns of climatic zones but an archaeological interpretation of what has been discovered. Mann describes in significant detail “Peruvian littoral climate is astonishingly dry with annual precipitation of about two inches (…) Chinchorro ate almost no fruit, vegetables, or land animals” (Mann, p 203-204). The significance of climate knowledge leads into the types of growth and resources available for consumption. One example Mann introduces is the archeological discoveries within Atacama, which lead to the discovery of a shellfish, fish, and seaweed diet as these arid desert regions could not adjust for the lack of precipitation for agriculture growth, further disproving my notion of significant trade occurred within this region. In reflection, recent market trading after 1491 verified that goods such as agriculture transfer grew substantially, with a system in place such as the Chinchorro peoples had, the lack of carbon dated agriculture other than fish species would have