1493

How Europe's Discovery of the Americas Revolutionized Trade, Ecology and Life on Earth

Charles C Mann author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Granta Books

Published:6th Sep '12

Should be back in stock very soon

1493 cover

A sweeping, hugely readable account of history's biggest ecological invasion, when Europe and the Americas collided for the first time in millennia.

Two hundred million years ago the earth consisted of a single vast continent, Pangea, surrounded by a great planetary sea. Continental drift tore apart Pangaea, and for millennia the hemispheres were separate, evolving almost entirely different suites of plants and animals. Columbus's arrival in the Americas brought together these long-separate worlds. Many historians believe that this collision of ecosystems and cultures - the Columbian Exchange - was the most consequential event in human history since the Neolithic Revolution. And it was the most consequential event in biological history since the extinction of the dinosaurs. Beginning with the world of microbes and moving up the species ladder to mankind, Mann rivetingly describes the profound effect this exchanging of species had on the culture of both continents.

ISBN: 9781847082459

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 43mm

Weight: 493g

720 pages