The Population of the Amazon Basin in 1492

A View from the Ecuadorian Headwaters

Bibliographic Data

ID8089503
AuthorsL A Newson (0000-0001-5900-2316, Institute of Geography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, corresponding author)
Year1996
Volume21
Issue1
Pages5-5
Publication date1996-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueTransactions of the Institute of British Geographers (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-2754 • E-ISSN: 1475-5661
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.2307/622921
PMID12157815
OpenAlexW2074176366
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited5

Recent archaeological, ethnohistorical and ecological evidence has begun to challenge the view that 'civilizations' failed to develop in the Amazon basin due to limitations of the tropical forest environment. As a result, estimates of the native population in 1492 have become an issue of debate. These estimates are evaluated in the light of the ethnohistorical research on the Ecuadorian headwaters. Estimates are considered by examining estimated habitat densities, the impact of Old World diseases and contemporary evidence for native cultures. The study is based on documents found in archives in Quito, Seville, Madrid and Rome. It is suggested that the population of the Amazon basin in 1492 probably exceeded 5 million but that expectations of substantially higher populations appear unfounded

Amazon basin · Amazon rainforest · Amazonian · Archaeology · Biology · Ethnohistory · Ethnology · Geography · Habitat · Population · Sociology · Structural basin · Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Demography · Ecology · Geology · History · Indigenous Health and Education

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