Final Note on "1491" by Charles Mann

The wild abundances of north america celebrated by 17th European colonists were the result of imbalances in the ecosystem that the Indians once managed.  North America was lush in 1650 because 90 million native people were wiped out by disease after 1492. The narrative of an edenic continent, scarcely populated by Indians living in idealized harmony with with nature is quaint. (Sorry, Henry David)  No wonder there were heard of bison from the Mississippi river to the rockies and forests from sea to shining sea--small pox, hepatitis and plague killed all the gardeners.