Product Details

• Format: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Nat'l Geographic Vid
• DVD Release Date: March 16, 2010
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0032LV4LS
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,528 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

History books traditionally depict the pre-Columbus Americas as a pristine wilderness where small native villages lived in harmony with nature. But scientific evidence tells a very different story: When Columbus stepped ashore in 1492, millions of people were already living there. America wasn't exactly a "New World," but a very old one whose inhabitants had built a vast infrastructure of cities, orchards, canals and causeways. But after Columbus set foot in the Americas, an endless wave of explorers, conquistadors and settlers arrived, and with each of their ships came a Noah's Ark of plants, animals—and disease. In the first 100 years of contact, entire civilizations were wiped out and the landscape was changed forever.

National Geographic embarks on an expedition into the mysterious world of ancient American history to shed a different light on the history of the Americas.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Introducing the Columbian Exchange, June 17, 2010

By 

Michael Gunther (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: National Geographic: America Before Columbus (DVD)

In spite of its misleading title, this National Geographic video isn't really about America "before Columbus." It is about America _after_ Columbus, specifically the transformation of North America's ecology due to the impact of European settlement.

The video's production quality is excellent, with beautiful photography and a competent but introductory-level story line. Most people who have read some history won't find anything new here, since the information is presented at about a junior-high-school level. However, the video can be effortlessly enjoyed by the general public, and would also be a suitable introduction to the Columbian Exchange for supplementary use (about grades 6-10) in the classroom or homeschool.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good, interesting content about contact between two continents, December 18, 2011

By 

Marcella Smith (Erie, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: National Geographic: America Before Columbus (DVD)

I am a teacher of 4th through 6th graders and this movie - about 90 minutes long - held everyone's interest throughout. It is really about the Columbian exchange, but it brings up the broader issues of the exchanges that happen when two places explore and trade with each other. Was the Columbian exchange good, bad, a bit of both? Is the exchange inevitable? Can we prevent invasive (non-native) species from coming into our waters and land? Can anyone?
One of the most important ideas the video so aptly makes is that the North America that Europeans settled in was a continent that looked very different than it would have if they had come 300 years earlier, before the Columbian Exchange had bee in full swing for 300 years. Imagine them finding a large population of settled, farming native peoples - would history have been different?
An interesting point in the movie that I hadn't really considered before was the one-sidedness of the Columbian Exchange. Why are horses running wild in the American West and dandelions sprouting in every American lawn, but bison don't roam Europe and our native wildflowers haven't taken over Europe's roadsides? The movie gave me a more in depth look at the Columbian Exchange.
If you are considering it for a school setting or younger than 12, there is a thirty second mention of syphilis about 70 minutes in. Other than that, no worries.
I highly recommend the video.

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful video, May 25, 2010

By 

D. Day "am lit prof" (Fort Worth, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: National Geographic: America Before Columbus (DVD)

National Geographic videos are consistently high quality, and I plan to use this one in my American literature course to introduce Native American creation stories and lead into the European conquest of North America.