The native population of amazonia in 1492 reconsidered

Abstract

Since 1965 I have made several attempts to estimate the native population of Amazonia in 1492. My method was to determine rough habitat densities, which project to totals for Greater Amazonia of from 5.1 to 6.8 million. I now reject this method, given that the denser populations were mostly clustered rather than evenly dispersed. I nevertheless still believe that a total of at least 5 to 6 million is reasonable.