University of Texas Press, 2016. Preview of the book available at: https://goo.gl/RjreSg Amazonia in the Anthropocene: People, Soils, Plants, Forests By Nicholas C. Kawa Preface Amazonia is often seen as a land dominated by nature. A land ruled by biology. A land that erupts in an overwhelming array of flora and fauna, the diversity of which borders on the incomprehensible. A land, to paraphrase Werner Herzog, of overwhelming fornication and the fight for survival (Blank 1982). Early anthropological research largely upheld this view, depicting the region as a hostile environment to which Amerindians passively adapted, leaving little more than their footprints in the forest before the arrival of Europeans. More recent studies have challenged this vision, arguing that Pre-Columbian indigenous populations transformed large swaths of Amazonia as evidenced in newly discovered geoglyphs, raised agricultural fields, anthropogenic forests, and enriched soils. Prior to European arrival, the region is estimated to have supported as many as nine million people (Denevan 1992a), including large complex polities on the banks of the Amazon and its major tributaries that even featured extensive road networks (Heckenberger et al. 2003; Nimuendaju 1953). Rather than simply adapting, it seems that indigenous peoples shaped the Amazonian landscape in myriad ways for hundreds and even thousands of years. After European contact, however, the indigenous population suffered a massive demographic collapse and the Amazonian forest quickly reclaimed indigenous settlements and their surrounding agricultural landscapes. Shortly thereafter, Europeans began to colonize the region, launching expeditions to collect cacao, sarsaparilla, and clove, among other resources. In the process, Amazonia became integrated into the broader global economic system. By the late