Answer the following question in a 300-500 word essay (about 1 to 2 pages), using the quotes or paraphrased points from Charles Mann, “What Orellana Saw”.
Why did Native Americans have a ‘history’ (i.e. their societies changed over time) before Europeans arrived in 1492?
To answer:
Include a shortened version of your answer to the question in your first paragraph (this is a ‘thesis’)
Summarize and choose selective quotes or paraphrased examples that help prove your answer from the Mann reading
Make sure to cite quotes or paraphrased points with a citation at the end of the quote/paraphrased point (Mann, 246)
Conclude by re-stating your argument and how the author proved it with examples
Some pointers regarding the reading:
‘Precolumbian’ – obviously, societies that pre-date the arrival of Columbus, or Europeans, Africans, Asians more broadly
The author’s thesis isn’t until page 6, the the second paragraph:
“Far from being the timeless, million-year-old wilderness portrayed on calendars, these scientists say, today’s forest is the product of a historical interaction between the environment and human beings—human beings in the form of the populous, long-lasting Indian societies described by Carvajal.”(Mann, 202)
