How many people lived in the New World at the time of Columbus'
arrival? The question comes up, over and over again, in vari-
ous newsgroups. To the best of my knowledge, the definitive
English-language scholarly work on the subject is
Denevan, William M., editor
1992 The Native Population of the Americas
in 1492. University of Wisconsin Press,
Madison
Note that this is an updated, second edition. The paperback
is available for $14.95 list. For the second edition, Denevan
has lowered his estimate from 57,300,000 to 53,904,000. I
persist in giggling at totals given to such apparent preci-
sion, but certainly a sum that's close to 60 million, but not
more, has achieved a good consensus of agreement.
Also helpful might be
Verano, John W., and Douglas H. Ubelaker, editors
1992 Disease and Demography in the Americas.
Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington
Perhaps someone has already introduced these references into
the discussions; I know I've missed some threads, and parts
of others, and certainly mean no offense or duplication.
Please direct follow-ups appropriately.
--Cameron Laird claird@Neosoft.com (claird%Neosoft.com@uunet.uu.net) +1 713 267 7966 claird@litwin.com (claird%litwin.com@uunet.uu.net) +1 713 996 8546