

More important, creatures the colonists knew nothing about hitched along for the ride. The Columbian Exchange, as researchers call it, is the reason there are tomatoes in Italy, oranges in Florida, chocolates in Switzerland, and chili peppers in Thailand. Driven by the economic goal of establishing trade with China, he accidentally set off an ecological convulsion as European vessels carried thousands of species to new homes across the oceans. When Christopher Columbus set foot in the Americas, he ended that separation at a stroke. Isolated from each other, the two halves of the world developed radically different suites of plants and animals. More than 200 million years ago, geological forces split apart the continents. His book, 1491, won the National Academies Communication Award for the best book of the year.From the author of 1491-the best-selling study of the pre-Columbian Americas-a deeply engaging new history of the most momentous biological event since the death of the dinosaurs. He has written or co-written several books including The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in 20th-Century Physics, The Aspirin Wars: Money, Medicine, and 100 Years of Rampant Competition, Noah's Choice: The Future of Endangered Species, At Large: The Strange Case of the Internet's Biggest Invasion, and 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created which made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2012. Sloan Foundation, and the Lannan Foundation. He has received writing awards from the American Bar Association, the American Institute of Physics, the Alfred P. He has also written for Fortune, The New York Times, Smithsonian, Technology Review, Vanity Fair, The Washington Post, the television network HBO, and the television series Law and Order. Mann is a correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, Science, and Wired.
