What is Reddit's opinion of 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

In West Africa most of the land was owned by the state often literally the king himself.this contrasts with Western Europe where we know many nobles and lords had vast landholdings and used them as a measure of status. In west Africa slaves were the main form of personal property a wealthy person could own. Thus the incentive between plantation slavery and that of west Africa is different.

In plantation slavery the slave is similar to livestock, only kept as long as they can be physically productive. In African slavery the slave is a status symbol in and of itself entirely separate from their economic productivity. With this in mind, an African slave owner would be directly damaging their wealth and prestige by behaving in a way that was overwhelmingly detrimental to that of their slaves (for example working them to death). There's more to this...I can add specifics later but I can't remember off the top of my head.

Charles C Mann's 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created devotes a pretty decently sized chapter to talking about the different conditions that helped slavery take the form it did in the Americas.

You can think I'm wrong all you want or you can pick up the book 1493

http://www.amazon.com/1493-Uncovering-World-Columbus-Created/dp/0307278247

And get a good handle on the last thirty years of research about the consequences of the Colombian exchange.

My point wasn't that 90% of the native didn't die from disease. I understand that fact. My point was that this was unintentional and unavoidable from the first journey of Colombus to the Caribbean. Because it is well documented through physical evidence that the waves of diseases left the Caribbean and made it to Peru-Bolivia and Massachusetts well before any Europeans set foot in those lands.

The idea that the Indians were intentionally genocided through disease is wrong. It would require people like Colombus having your understanding of disease, its origin and transmission. There are some examples of possible intentional genocide (through disease) in the 1700s with the French & Indian Wars.

Maybe so. I'll have to look up when this was painted though, because it seems a very saintly version of what was probably a more humble historical event. I'm just going off my understanding from this book http://www.amazon.com/1493-Uncovering-World-Columbus-Created/dp/0307278247

Which imparts the view of Jamestown as a pretty squalid unorganized venture where a lot of settlers died, not from Indian raids, but from disease and poor food and health conditions.

1493 has parts that go into the mixing of European and indian blood. There were 6(?), 8(?) classifications for a while, and, odd little groups tucked away; somewhat interesting.

Sounds really fun!

I don't know what books / resources you're using, but if you're looking for a big-picture context of the political, social, and economic forces in the colonial era, I hear that1493 is great book.

For a more focused view on colonial life, Alan Taylor's work has received praise as a good history that takes into account both European and Native peoples.

To be clear, I haven't read these books - I only mention them as popular sources. If you're looking for something more detailed, I bet r/AmericanHistory or r/history would have all sorts of great resources and people with much better recommendations.

If you like it, make sure to get the 1493 as well - a “sequel” of sorts

https://www.amazon.com/1493-Uncovering-World-Columbus-Created/dp/0307278247

https://www.amazon.com/1491-Revelations-Americas-Before-Columbus/dp/1400032059

https://sanet.st/blogs/first1/fifth_sun_a_new_history_of_the_aztecs.3110874.html

There's a delightful children's book, The First Rule of Punk by Celia C Perez, that is something of a love letter to traditional Mexican and Punk music. Not to give away too much of the plot but I would love to hear the Coco's punk cover of Lola Beltran's Cielito Lindo.

Here's a ska version for anyone else with the craving, by Voodoo Glow Skulls.

I didn't realize when I started writing this in agreement with you that I was composing a counterpoint. I think metal in Yucatec or Nahuatl from a native point of view would be awesome. However, it would need to also ignore some 500 years of history and for lack of a better term, breeding. There are a lot of children in the past 25 or so generations who, no fault of their own are feet in both european and native cultures. And Spain took most of the silver (~80-90%) they took from the Americas to Asia, not Europe. And from Asia they'd cross the Pacific back to Central America. With people. While not especially common, it was not unheard of for Japanese samurai being hired to defend Spanish interests in Aztec villages (book recommendation, 1493 by Charles C Mann). I think this is the first group of people who were truly outsiders from all of their extremely far-flung collective cultures who would have a distinct, non-native, but non-foreign voice.

A good book that would probably answer a lot of your questions.

https://www.amazon.com/1493-Uncovering-World-Columbus-Created/dp/0307278247

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enJRIdmVHRE

Amazing distillation of history by IMO the most eminent and prodigious historian of the 20th century, Will Durant and his wife Ariel

Or here's the short pdf

http://www.pdfarchive.info/pdf/D/Du/Durant_Will_-_The_Lessons_of_History.pdf

or the cliff notes of the cliff notes of history :)

http://www.infonomx.com/eBookNotes/History/LessonsOfHistory/LessonsOfHistory_Final.pdf

(you can adjust the play speed in youtube a little as it seems slightly slow)

also amazing and available on audio

http://www.amazon.com/1493-Uncovering-World-Columbus-Created/dp/0307278247

These are pretty good and are in little bite sized pieces

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szxPar0BcMo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yocja_N5s1I&list=PLBDA2E52FB1EF80C9

Also, The Dan Carlin Wrath of the khans podcasts are awesome, as are "prophets of doom" and "Ghosts of the ossfront" episodes

And here is the best book Ive read lately. You can get it on audiobook to listen during any travel time

http://www.amazon.com/1493-Uncovering-World-Columbus-Created/dp/0307278247