64 pages • 2 hours read
Charles C. Mann1491
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2005A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
During Reading
Reading Questions & Paired Texts
Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.
CHAPTER 1
Reading Check
1. What two South American cities does Mann compare to illustrate the diversity in Indigenous American societies?
2. What use did the Maya have for wheels?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What is “Holmberg’s Mistake”?
CHAPTER 2
Reading Check
1. What culture most likely provided the ancestral language for many Algonquian languages?
2. What disease killed the majority of the people in Tisquantum’s tribe?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What was usually the cause of war between tribes in New England?
CHAPTER 3
Reading Check
1. Who was Wayna Qhapaq’s first choice as his successor?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How did the Inca unite their empire?
2. Why weren’t an emperor’s possessions inherited by his successor?
Paired Resource
- This article from World History Encyclopedia explores the Inca government’s centralized structure, its impact on the empire’s stability and prosperity, and its potential role in contributing to the empire’s downfall.
- What factors contributed to the rapid expansion and success of the Inca Empire before European contact? According to Mann, in what ways did the empire’s expansion lead to its downfall?
CHAPTER 4
Reading Check
1. Who did the Spaniards believe was the cause of disease?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What conclusion did Francis Black draw about the spread of epidemics in the Americas?
2. What argument do the Franciscans use to convert the Mexica to Christianity?
CHAPTER 5
Reading Check
1. What kind of DNA did researchers in the 20th century use to study the relationship between Indigenous American groups?
2. What did researchers study in ocean sediments to trace the route of Indigenous American settlers down the coast?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How does Pena think the public will react if research reveals that modern Indigenous Americans are not genetically related to ancient Indigenous Americans?
Paired Resource
“Clovis Debunked: America’s First Settlers Did Not Take the Ice-Free Corridor”
- This article summarizes the findings of a 2022 study that provides evidence against the Clovis hypothesis. Using cosmogenic nuclide exposure dating, a team of researchers led by Oregon State University professor Jorie Clark found that the ice-free corridor opened after there were already signs of habitation in North America.
- This information connects to the theme of Speculative Peril.
- New evidence has emerged since 1491’s publication that further refutes the Clovis hypothesis. What challenges do researchers face when refuting a hypothesis? How do new discoveries like Clark’s support the theme of Speculative Peril?
CHAPTER 6
Reading Check
1. What archaeological evidence at Aspero supports the MFAC hypothesis?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What distinction does Mann draw between civilizations in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres?
2. What event coincided with the appearance of the Olmec civilization?
CHAPTER 7
Reading Check
1. What name do archaeologists propose to replace Stirling’s “Olmec” civilization?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why did the Christian calendar pose a challenge for astronomers?
2. Why did the city of Tiwanaku appear to be in ruins even at its height?
CHAPTER 8
Reading Check
1. What did Indigenous Americans use to shape the landscape of the Great Plains?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why does Mann compare the question of the decline of the Maya to the study of the Cold War?
2. Why isn’t Mann surprised that Cahokia is unlike most other cities?
Paired Resource
“Did the Ancient Maya Fall Because of a Drought, or Something Else?”
- This article from Brandeis University discusses new archaeological methods that are being used to study ancient Maya sites.
- This information connects to the theme Speculative Peril.
- What new evidence did researchers uncover about the collapse of the Maya? Does this evidence seem to support or refute Mann’s theory that the collapse was most likely due to drought?
CHAPTER 9
Reading Check
1. According to Meggers, what agricultural technique is the best way to farm in the Amazonian rainforest?
2. What was the staple crop for Indigenous people living in the lower Amazon?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What is “agricultural regression” and how did it lead to the myth of “Stone Age tribespeople in the Amazon wilderness”? (Chapter 9)
CHAPTER 10
Reading Check
What type of bird made up one out of four birds in North America in the 18th century?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How do some Brazilians respond to ecologists’ insistence that the rainforests should not be cut down?
2. What did people in Japan and the southeast US discover about kudzu in the 1950s?
Paired Resource
“Tapping Into Indigenous Knowledge to Protect Nature”
- This article from the UN Environment Programme highlights the effectiveness of indigenous knowledge in combating climate change, emphasizing the need for collaboration and recognition of Indigenous communities as key players in environmental protection.
- This information connects to the theme of The Pristine Wilderness Myth.
- What are some ways in which modern societies can learn from and incorporate Indigenous groups’ knowledge into climate change strategies? How does the article support Mann’s claims about the advanced knowledge and environmental stewardship of pre-Columbian societies?
CHAPTER 11
Reading Check
1. What title does Mann use to describe Deganawidah?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What difference between Americans and Europeans surprised Nabokov upon his entry to America?
Recommended Next Reads
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles. C. Mann
- This book is a companion to 1491. It discusses the influence of the Columbian Exchange and the birth of the Homogenocene era.
- Shared topics include anthropology and 15th-century world history.
- 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created on SuperSummary
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
- This book provides a narrative of American history from the perspective of Indigenous peoples. It begins before European colonists arrived and ends in the 21st century.
- Shared themes include The Pristine Wilderness Myth and The Myth of the “Noble Savage.”
- Shared topics include early American history and Indigenous groups.
- An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States on SuperSummary
Reading Questions Answer Key
CHAPTER 1
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. “Holmberg’s Mistake” is the belief that Indigenous Americans did not have a cultural history before the arrival of European settlers. (Chapter 1)
CHAPTER 2
Reading Check
1. Hopewell (Chapter 2)
2. Hepatitis, most likely caused by the spread of contaminated food (Chapter 2)
Short Answer
1. Wars between tribes in New England were fought as a response to personal insults or as an attempt to gain status. (Chapter 2)
CHAPTER 3
Reading Check
1. Ninan K’uychi (Chapter 3)
Short Answer
1. In order to unite their empire, the Inca displaced the local populations and forced them to work in a different location with different groups, communicating solely in the Inca spoken language of Runa Sumi. (Chapter 3)
2. Emperors were mummified after their death, but their mummies were treated as though they were still alive. They communicated through female mediums and belonged to their own royal lineage called a panaqa. Since they were still considered alive, all of their possessions remained with their panaqa. (Chapter 3)
CHAPTER 4
Reading Check
1. God (Chapter 4)
Short Answer
1. Francis Black concluded that while nothing in medicine is inevitable, it would have been almost impossible to keep epidemics from spreading after European contact. (Chapter 4)
2. The Franciscans use the argument that the Mexica’s gods were not powerful enough to protect them from the Europeans, so they should convert to Christianity. (Chapter 4)
CHAPTER 5
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. Pena thinks that after a period of disbelief, the public will be able to accept the idea that modern Indigenous Americans are not genetically related to ancient Indigenous Americans. He is not ready to make that claim with certainty, though. (Chapter 5)
CHAPTER 6
Reading Check
1. Fish bones (Chapter 6)
Short Answer
1. The main difference that Mann highlights between civilizations in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres is the level of interaction between cities. There was a great deal of cultural exchange between cultural centers in Eurasia, but very little interaction between Mesoamerica and the Andes. (Chapter 6)
2. Evidence of large-scale land clearing for maize farming appeared at the same time as the Olmec civilization. (Chapter 6)
CHAPTER 7
Reading Check
1. La Venta Culture (Chapter 7)
Short Answer
1. The Christian calendar posed a challenge for astronomers because it goes from 1 BC to 1 AD, with no Year 0. Astronomers and other scientists had to add or subtract a year if they were making calculations that straddled the barrier. (Chapter 7)
2. The construction projects in Tiwanaku made it appear that the city was so wealthy that it could afford to constantly build new monuments. The ruins would have also lent the city an air of legitimacy. (Chapter 7)
CHAPTER 8
Reading Check
1. Fire (Chapter 8)
Short Answer
1. Mann compares the question of the decline of the Maya to the study of the Cold War because both are immensely complex topics that cannot be easily answered. (Chapter 8)
2. Cahokia had little contact with other cities, so Mann is not surprised that it is dissimilar to many other cities. (Chapter 8)
CHAPTER 9
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. In “agricultural regression,” the Indigenous peoples living in the Amazon rainforest were forced to abandon their farms as a result of European invasion and turn to foraging in the forest. As a result, the Europeans concluded that they did not practice agriculture and had never cultivated the land. (Chapter 9)
CHAPTER 10
Reading Check
1. Passenger pigeon (Chapter 10)
Short Answer
1. Some Brazilians argue that they should be able to cut down some of the rainforest to develop the land and expand their economy. (Chapter 10)
2. People discovered that kudzu was growing very aggressively without its natural predators and could not be removed from where it had been planted. (Chapter 10)
CHAPTER 11
Reading Check
1.The Peacemaker (Chapter 11)
Short Answer
1. Nabokov was surprised to find that Americans assumed everyone to be on the same social level, which was different from his experience with Europeans. (Chapter 11)
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