New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus
If a person can be “an eclectic reader,” then I guess I am one. I’ll steer clear of the chicklist stuff, of course, but pretty much anything else out there for me is game. I just wish that I could organize my reading habits into some semblance of a logical order! I mean, I’ve read stuff like this before, historical theories about the origins of nations and cultures, but wouldn’t it better for me to read them all back-to-back so I can better weigh the theories proposed?
In the past decade, I’ve picked up the occasion book on historical theory (though honestly, 1491 by Charles C. Mann is far less theory than it is just a fascinating relation of archaeological facts). For example, I thought my way through 1421: The Year China Discovered America by Gavin Menzies (2003) and The Island of Seven Cities by Paul Chiasson (2006), both of which proffered some interesting theories of early Chinese settlements in the so-called “New World.” These books are similar in content, yet so very different in conclusions!
While these two China-focused books fascinated me (once upon a time), this book by Mann actually convinced me: the American continents were settled and peopled and conquered by humans millennia ago, and the ecological, mathematical, and cultural systems those various people groups developed so long ago would blow our minds today, if only we could see them in action. This book not only intrigued me, it educated me, which is more than the books by Menzies or Chiasson can say.
Mann breaks this book down into three parts, tackling the most profound evidence of pre-Columbian “settlement”—that word seems too weak to describe thousands of years of occupation!—by the native peoples of the American continents. There’s too much to cover in a brief review like this, of course, so suffice it to say that the evidence this journalist layers into the book, page after page, was more than enough to convince me of the magnitude of the these peoples’ presence and impact.
Note, for example, the estimates of how many native Americans died following the unintentional import of diseases by the Spanish/Portuguese explorers. It’s possible that in the years immediately following 1492, a full 1/5 of the world’s population died, making it the greatest human disaster in modern times (Mann never references Noah’s flood, of course, but I will). This possibility puts the whole 15th-century world into better perspective for me.
The archeological evidence, piecemealed across the continents and millennia, paint an amazing picture of a land of communities, peopled with natives who understood agriculture, irrigation, invention, astronomy, and even science. The natives who lived in the land of the Incas and Mayas (not to mention the host of the other tribes and peoples) when the earliest explorers arrived on the American shores weren’t lonely naked savages eating bark and hiding in caves. They were city-dwelling, civilized humans with governments and autonomy whose world crashed when faced with plagues to which their immune systems were unaccustomed, diseases that wiped away nations and histories. It’s a sad—and likely true—history, and it’s worth knowing.
Mann opens his book describing Holmberg’s Mistake, and then through each section thereafter shows how misinterpretations of the Native Americans have caused us to view all the native peoples as the vagrant, pillaging “savages” described by the earliest settles. Roughly stated, Holmberg’s Mistake is the idea that the first tribes left no mark on the land and rarely let the land make its mark on them. They were perfectly in tune with nature, and like good campers of today, they left no trace. Such thinking is a mistake, Mann argues, because it ignores reality, like the telltale signs of habitation and intentional manipulation of the wilderness we all know so well. One example of many that jumps out to me was the Indian method of burning away forests for the sake of hunting and farming. Is it possible, Mann muses, that the Plains we know in the American West were at one time forested, but that the Native Americans used fire to waste the land and create vast tracts of grasslands to accommodate the massive herds of buffalo? Interesting to consider.
As I read this book and considered the populations that arose and fell over the millennia, one biblical doctrine kept coming to mind, that of the nations and tongues and tribes we read about throughout the Old and New Testaments. Mann suggests that the original inhabitants of the American continent likely stemmed from a single bloodline who crossed over the northern reaches of the Bearing Straight in three separate waves. Thus, their slow migration south and slow but distinct separation of cultures allowed for the many various tribes and languages to develop. While I don’t know near enough of genetics and language dispersion to have any other opinion on this, I do wonder what this theory means for John’s vision in Revelation 7, that representatives of every tribe and tongue will one day sing God’s praises at the throne:
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev 7:9-10, ESV)
When would these people have had the opportunity to hear the Gospel? When would these nations have turned to Christ so that representatives of each will one day stand redeemed at that Throne? I’m not saying it ain’t possible, just that I wonder. The archaeological evidence is undeniable, the veracity of God’s Word even more so. How will the two coalesce? Time has proven over and over again that they will. The claims of the Bible will always prove true, no matter how its detractors try and finagle other explanations into the mix.
I guess this is why I love books of history so much. I’ve got so many plates spinning in my life right now, and I’ve found myself asking: what in the world does the book on ancient American continents have to do with me here and now? How is this moving me forward in life? As inapplicable as it might seem to my job, studies, ministry, or family at present, it’s at least a reminder of the vast trove of secrets history holds for us all, and how those secrets, once revealed, will only uphold the Truth of God.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together! (Psalm 34:3)
©2021 E.T.