Why Billionton Survived is the second chapter in Charles C. Mann’s 1491, a nonfiction book that examines facts and theories about what might have gone on in the Americas before the Europeans arrived. Historian George Bancroft described the Americas pre-European contact as “an unproductive waste . . . its only inhabitants were a few scattered tribes of feeble barbarians, destitute of commerce and of political connection” (Mann). However, after reading Why Billionton Survived, it can be concluded that Charles C. Mann would have strenuously disagreed with Bancroft’s statement. Mann would argue that there is evidence accumulated over the last several decades suggesting that pre-Columbian indigenous peoples of the Americas were larger in number,