1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created

Chapter 8 centers on the African diaspora, exploring how Africans made their way to all parts of the world, influencing culture and history and contributing to the Homogenocene. The chapter opens with the story of an enslaved African named Joaõ Garrido, a name which translates as Johnny Good-looking. Joaõ served as an interpreter on slave ships before striking out on his own. The stories about Joaõ are full of speculation, but it is widely agreed that he crossed the Atlantic and found his way to Hispaniola in the early sixteenth century. Garrido joined other conquistadors in various adventures, such as Hernán Cortés. Garrido helped build a city on top of the ruins of Tenochtitlan, now known as Mexico City. He is also recognized for successfully growing wheat in the Mexican climate.

Between 1500 and 1840, approximately 11.7 million Africans were taken captive and shipped to the Americas as slaves. Much of the change in landscape, the introduction of plantations, the construction of cities and churches, was designed, influenced by, and/or built by the hands of Africans. Mann explores the stories of several African men and women who found their way to the Americas—most often via the slave trade to produce of sugarcane—and carved their own paths.