Here are odds and ends that people interested in 1491 might find worth a quick look. Mostly they are spinoffs from the book. Some are free; others cost a little money.

We picked up one excellent word [in New Orleans] — a word worth traveling to New Orleans to get; a nice limber, expressive, handy word — “lagniappe.” They pronounce it lanny-yap. It is Spanish — so they said. We discovered it at the head of a column of odds and ends in the Picayune, the first day; heard twenty people use it the second; inquired what it meant the third; adopted it and got facility in swinging it the fourth. It has a restricted meaning, but I think people spread it out a little when they choose. It is the equivalent of the thirteenth roll in a “baker’s dozen.” It is something thrown in, gratis, for good measure. The custom originated in the Spanish quarter of the city. When a child or a servant buys something in a shop—or even the mayor or the governor, for aught I know — he finishes the operation by saying:

“Give me something for lagniappe.”

The shopman always responds; gives a child a bit of liquorice root, gives the servant a cheap cigar or a spool of thread, gives the governor — I don’t know what he gives the governor; support, likely.

— Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi

1491 Map
Political map of the Americas in 1491, on the eve of Columbus's landing. Full color, 20 x 36. $7.00, incl. s/h. (Click to see larger copy of image.)

Coming soon. For information, send email to:

1491-book at comcast dot net.

1491

A precis of the book.

From The Atlantic Monthly.

(PDF: 162kb)

Founding Sachems

Native contributions to American liberty.

From The New York Times.

(HTML: 40kb)

Talking Knots
Did the Inka invent the world’s only digital written language?

From Science.

(PDF: 260kb)

Unnatural Abundance
Thanksgiving as eco-convulsion. Includes feral artichokes.

From The New York Times.

(PDF: 723kb)

Humanized Landscapes Map
Native American impact on the environment—a visual refutation of the “pristine myth.” Full color, 20 x 36. $7.00, incl. s/h. (Click to see larger copy of image.)

Coming soon. For information, send email to:

1491-book at comcast dot net.

Native America, 1000 AD
Political map of the Americas just after the Maya “collapse.” Full color, 20 x 36. $7.00, incl. s/h. (Click to see larger copy of image.)

Coming soon. For information, send email to:

1491-book at comcast dot net.

Here is a free sample from the audiobook of 1491, created by Highbridge Audiobooks.