Numbers from Nowhere: The American Indian Contact Population Debate

by David Henige

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780806130446
Publisher:	University of Oklahoma Press
Publication date:	05/15/1998
Pages:	548
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.38(d)

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.