[C19fan]

The book "1491" covers this issue. There were Spanish accounts of encountering a populated Amazon basin but people discounted that. Turns out to be true. One theory is that the Europeans brought the malaria carrying mosquitoes from Europe and Africa and they resulted in a devastation of the native Amazonians.

[ClearCase_guy]

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I have both “1491” and “1493” in my book collection.
Charles Mann was hooted when 1491 was first published.
He has the last laugh now...

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

If they only had a .com things would be a OK now.

[Cowboy Bob]

Lost City of Z ping..

[WayneS]

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence there were up to 1,500 fortified villages in the rainforest away from major rivers - two-thirds of which are yet to be discovered.

Is that "archaeologist-speak" for: "We have uncovered evidence of 500 fortified villages..."?

[Joe 6-pack]

"One theory is that the Europeans brought the malaria carrying mosquitoes from Europe and Africa and they resulted in a devastation of the native Amazonians."

An alternate theory is they all came north looking for freebies.

[Conan the Librarian]

Percy Fawcett was right, just didn’t have the means.

I suggest the book:

River of darkness : Francisco Orellana’s legendary voyage of death and discovery down the Amazon.

Orellana found out what was down the Amazon from Peru/Ecuador.

The Lost City of “Z” by Grann (the movie is sort of based on this book) is about Fawcett, but, has some background in the region.

[WayneS]

The discovery fills a major gap in the history of the Amazon, and provides further evidence that the rainforest – once thought to be untouched by human farming or occupation – has in fact been heavily influenced by those who lived in it.

So, global warming was started by 13th century Amazonians?

[IndispensableDestiny]

Cut down the rainforest, find things.

[WayneS]

These are man-made ditches with strange square, circular or hexagonal shapes.

Geometrically speaking, I do not think there is anything the least bit "strange" about shapes known as squares, circles and hexagons.

[editor-surveyor]

.
If “two-thirds of which are yet to be discovered,” how do they know?

More fake news.

[Bookshelf]

I find the issue of malaria questionable. It was the Amazon tribes who informed the Jesuits of the benefits of quinona bark (quinine, or often called Jesuits’s bark). It would seem more likely that the Europeans introduced the aedes aegypti rather than the anopheles mosquito.

[VeniVidiVici]

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence there were up to 1,500 fortified villages in the rainforest away from major rivers - two-thirds of which are yet to be discovered.

That worked out well for them.

[wbill]

1,500 fortified villages in the rainforest away from major rivers - two-thirds of which are yet to be discovered.

Sooooo.....how do they know that they're there?

[jim_trent]

I read the 1491 book and looked trough it carefully to find out how he came up with the famous 96% dead claim. There was just one page that essentially said that less than that wouldn’t sound as sensational and more than that would be unbelievable. He had absolutely NO firm proof for what he claimed and no other plagues in history have such a high death rate.

He wrote an interesting book, but it all hinged on the unproven 96%. I put it under fiction or fantasy.

[captain_dave]

Shows how quickly a preindustrial civilization can disappear

[IronJack]

Another reason rainforests are deathtraps.