The Native Population of the Americas in 1492

xxii+353 pages with frontispiece, maps, tables, glossary, bibliography and index. Royal octavo (9 1/4" x 6") bound in original publisher's black cloth with silver lettering to spine with original pictorial jacket. From the library of Thomas Herbert Naylor. First edition. William M. Denevan writes that, "The discovery of America was followed by possibly the greatest demographic disaster in the history of the world." Research by some scholars provides population estimates of the pre-contact Americas to be as high as 112 million in 1492, while others estimate the population to have been as low as eight million. In any case, the native population declined to less than six million by 1650. In this collection of essays, historians, anthropologists, and geographers discuss the discrepancies in the population estimates and the evidence for the post-European decline. Woodrow Borah, Angel Rosenblat, William T. Sanders, and others touch on such topics as the Indian slave trade, diseases, military action, and the disruption of the social systems of the native peoples. Offering varying points of view, the contributors critically analyze major hemispheric and regional data and estimates for pre- and post-European contact. Thomas Herbert Naylor (1936-2012) was an American economist and professor. He was a Professor Emeritus of Economics at Duke University, the author of thirty books. Condition: Naylor's stamp[ on front end paper. Jacket back head corners chipped, spine head closed tears else very good to fine in a very good to fine dust jacket.