Numbers from Nowhere: The American Indian Contact Population Debate - Hardcover

Henige, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080613044X ISBN 13: 9780806130446

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998

Synopsis

In the past forty years an entirely new paradigm has developed regarding the contact population of the New World. Proponents of this new theory argue that the American Indian population in 1492 was ten, even twenty, times greater than previous estimates. In Numbers From Nowhere David Henige argues that the data on which these high counts are based are meager and often demonstrably wrong.

Drawing on a wide variety of primary and secondary sources, Henige illustrates the use and abuse of numerical data throughout history. He shows that extrapolation of numbers is entirely subjective, however masked it may be by arithmetic, and he questions what constitutes valid evidence in historical and scientific scholarship.

About this title

About the Author

David Henige is African Studies and Near East Bibliographer in the Memorial Library, University of Wisconsin Madison. He is the author of In Search of Columbus: The Sources for the First Voyage.

From the Back Cover

In the past forty years an entirely new paradigm has developed regarding the contact population of the New World. Proponents of this new theory argue that the American Indian population in 1492 was ten, even twenty, times greater than previous estimates. In Numbers from Nowhere David Henige argues that the data on which these high counts are based are meager and often demonstrably wrong. Interpreting the archaeological as well as the historical evidence, Henige concludes that the task of assigning meaningful numbers for the American Indian contact population is an impossible one.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 080613044X
• ISBN 13: 9780806130446
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 548