I read this book at the same time that I was reading Thomas Friedman’s “flat world” series, and I have to say that they complemented each other.

The sequel to 1491 – which, as I said yesterday, looks at what the Americas were like before Columbus encountered them – this book looks at how the world was different after Columbus’s voyage.

When we think about the post-Columbian world, we tend to think about the gold and silver, flora and fauna, diseases and people that made their way back to Europe; or we think about the impact on the indigenous people of the Americas. And Mann covers that.

The thing that struck me about his telling of this story was the impact on Asia: once the Spanish had crossed the Isthmus of Panama, Central America became the jumping off point for explorations of the far east and Spanish rule of countries like the Philippines. Most U.S. Americans are familiar with the Atlantic trade triangle: Cotton, Rum, Slaves. A similar triangle emerged, from Spain to Central America, to the Philippines. He also covers the Chinese naval exploration that I mentioned a couple of days ago, in my post on 1421.

And he discusses the impact on Tobacco, Sweet Potatoes, Potatoes, and Corn not just on Europe, but on China and other Asian countries – and eventually on Africa.

This book does cover the European influence on the new world – but it’s really more about what else is happening elsewhere in the world, and how trade of new world foods and mineral wealth influence cultures and countries. Fully a third of the book talks about what China was like before and after the arrival of new world foods. And how even Peruvian guano impacted the European agriculture output; and the discovery of South American rubber trees and how that impacted industrial development.

This book is pretty amazing and – for all the science and history it includes – easily readable. It’s a great way to learn about the world and understand how we got where we are today.