The Overview of Mann on America

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The Overview of Mann on America

This reading discusses the negative attitude of Indians in regard to land transformation. This piece has illustrated how Indians cleared their land, cultivation and rearing practices which is different from their European counterparts. The author has explained the revolution of agriculture from ancient times; the plants grown and the animal reared. Mann has used a lot of criticism towards other archeologist who had laid opinions without facts. According to the latest theories in the article, the first human beings in America arrived twenty years ago when the ice park was small. Another theory in 1997 by Hynes suggested that the first human beings in America arrived twelve thousand years ago.

Neolithic revolution is the process of inventing agriculture. This revolution started approximately eleven thousand years ago in Middle East. The first great civilization was created in the third millennium B.C. after the Sumerians gathered their inventions. About ten thousand years ago, the second Neolithic revolution occurred in Mesoamerica. At the foot of Andes (Coastal Ecuador), squash ancient seeds of cultivated squashes were discovered that are believed to be older than any other Mesoamerica agricultural remains- the third Neolithic revolution. The crops that were grown in Mesoamerica were beans, avocados, squash and maize and provided them with a balanced diet. 

The Tinawaku village which lived around the lake drained the wetlands surrounding the rivers that flowed from the South in to the lake around 800 B.C. This village grew to being the center of a large polity after a thousand years. The village was less centralized state than a municipality clutch under the common center religio-cultural sway, taking advantage of the extreme pacific coast ecological difference, Altiplano and the rugged mountains in creating a dense exchange web; fruits, vegetables, llamas from Altiplano; grains from the field and fish from the sea. This was a contributor of wealth to the village, filling it with grand monuments and terraced pyramids. With its gaudily painted walls, closed sewers and running water, it was the world’s most impressive city. 

Reference

Mann, Charles C. 1491. New York: Knopf, 2005. Print.15-27