1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created

This chapter focuses on communities of former enslaved peoples and European outcasts and the communities they built together. In Brazil, those who escaped the Atlantic slave trade and established communities in the Brazilian forests were known as quilombos.

Mann attempts to dispel the myth that Africans and other enslaved peoples in the Americas had no agency. He warns against viewing the Africans as “hapless pawns” in the Atlantic slave trade (427). Africans played an influential role in the acquisition and sale of other Africans. Mann suggests that slavery at the time was not considered morally wrong and was a normal part of life. In Africa, the slave trade had already existed before it crossed international waters; slavery in Africa, however, was different from chattel slavery. African enslaved peoples were skilled workers and valued for their personalities, as well as their work. Owners of slaves understood the backgrounds of each one of their enslaved workers, whereas American slave owners embraced anonymity.

For all slaves coming to the Americas, however, freedom was a central focus. The chapter details the rich and diverse societies developed by those opposed to Spanish and European colonialism. These communities were known as “maroons.” Many Africans developed relationships with the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, forming ethnically diverse communities. One example of a maroon centers on the figure of Aqualtune. She was a princess from central Angola who was captured in battle and sold to Portuguese slave traders. In Brazil, Aqualtune managed to escape. In the hills, she ruled a community that was as populous as the English North America.

Palmares was a quilombo in Brazil in the 1600s and consisted of Africans, Indigenous peoples, Jews, heretics, suspected witches, and other European misfits. A man named Bayano led the Panamá maroons; Bayano was a captured African military leader who developed militant communities who successfully warded off anti-maroon attacks. The maroon was dissolved after the Spanish struck a treaty and then drugged and killed the maroon’s leaders while celebrating together. Bayano’s people regrouped and established maroon communities again.

Mann describes many maroon communities in Mexico, Nicaragua, the United States, Haiti, and Suriname. Many of these countries still refuse to acknowledge maroon communities. In Brazil, quilombos often found their land seized on the basis that the titles to their land were invalid. Recently, Brazil recognized quilombos and legitimized their land titles, putting an end to the centuries-long battle.

The last chapter opens with a song from the Philippines, one that is meant to evoke an earlier time of simplicity. The song lists several garden plants, all of which were brought to the Philippines via Pacific trade. As Mann considers the invasiveness of these plant species, he confronts his own role in the Homogenocene via the many non-indigenous plants he places in his own home garden. He, too, like those who came before him, was a contributor to the Columbian Exchange. Mann details how the rice terraces in the Philippines were dying because of an invasion of giant earthworms. Mann’s grandfather, like other unwitting agents, brought invasive species with them when they traveled. Mann’s grandfather likely contributed to the infestation of giant earthworms in the Philippines. As many attempted to preserve rice terrace farming by providing financial funding, the rice from these farms was produced and sold internationally, raising many other ecological and ethical concerns.

On a trip to Manila, Mann wanted to see where Legazpi would have first encountered the Chinese, close to Bulalacao. A small resort called Thelma’s Paradise now occupies this historical point. Residents of Bulalacao shared with Mann the many ways the opening of trade in the area had destroyed it, stripping it of its trees, causing floods, and scattering Filipinos across the globe. Mann also argues that the opening of the trade allowed some to thrive. Globalization had benefited some and disadvantaged others, leaving a complicated legacy.