Apatheist wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2026 12:30 pm
They did not believe the world was flat.
There are different groups of people to consider here. Educated people understood that world was spherical. That was known and proven well by ancient Greeks, for starters.
When Columbus set sail in 1492, he predicted he’d make landfall in Asia. Legend has it that he defied Spanish officials to do so, sailing west instead of East because he was certain the world was round.
There’s just one problem: It’s almost certain that in the 1490s, nobody thought the earth was flat. According to historian Jeffrey Burton Russell, “no educated person in the history of Western Civilization from the third century B.C. onward believed that the Earth was flat.”
That was thanks to scientists, philosophers and mathematicians who, as early as around 600 B.C., made observations that Earth was round.
Using calculations based on the sun’s rise and fall, shadows and other physical properties of the planet, Greek scholars like Pythagoras and Aristotle determined that the planet is actually a sphere.
During Columbus’ time, educated people carefully studied knowledge passed down by the ancient Greeks. Thus, it’s nearly impossible—and completely implausible—that rich Spaniards of the late 15th century thought Columbus would fall off the edge of the map.
However, Columbus ran into resistance when he tried to get funding for his landmark journey for a different reason. He mistakenly believed that the circumference of Earth was very small and that by traveling west toward what he thought was China, he’d open up new trade routes. After years of negotiation and argument over the actual length of the proposed journey, he finally convinced Ferdinand II of Spain and his wife Isabella to finance the expedition.
The myth of Columbus’ supposed flat earth theory is tempting: It casts the explorer’s intrepid journey in an even more daring light. Problem is, it’s completely untrue. The legend doesn’t even date from Columbus’ own lifetime. Rather, it was invented in 1828, when Washington Irving published The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus. (...)
Though Columbus never proved Earth was round, he did manage to upset long-held dogma in another way when he ran across a continent nobody in Europe even knew was there. (Of course, his “discovery” wasn’t new either as the Americas had been known to indigenous people for thousands of years, and Vikings since the 11th century.) He didn’t think Earth was flat, but by jumpstarting the Age of Exploration, he changed the course of human history.
https://www.history.com/articles/christ ... -was-round
What is in question is what the average man, or the common man, thought.
AI Summary
This AI-generated answer is powered by OpenAI. AI-generated content may sometimes contain inaccurate, incomplete, or biased information, so make sure you do additional research. You should not rely on this feature for medical, financial, or legal advice.
To clarify Columbus's beliefs about the shape of the Earth, consider the following points:
Columbus did not believe the Earth was flat; he understood it to be spherical.
His views were based on the knowledge of ancient Greek philosophers like Aristotle and Ptolemy.
The misconception of a flat Earth was more common among the general public than educated individuals of his time.
Columbus underestimated the Earth's size, which led him to believe he could reach Asia by sailing west.
His voyages ultimately demonstrated the Earth's roundness through exploration and navigation.
The myth of Columbus believing in a flat Earth emerged later, largely due to 19th-century narratives.
Now, what about those who sailed with Columbus on his initial voyage?
AI Summary
This AI-generated answer is powered by OpenAI. AI-generated content may sometimes contain inaccurate, incomplete, or biased information, so make sure you do additional research. You should not rely on this feature for medical, financial, or legal advice.
To clarify the beliefs of Columbus's sailors regarding the shape of the Earth, consider the following points:
Most educated Europeans in Columbus's time understood the Earth was round.
The idea of a flat Earth was largely a myth perpetuated in later centuries.
Sailors were aware of the spherical nature due to ancient Greek philosophers.
Columbus's crew was more concerned about the dangers of the voyage than the Earth's shape.
Some sailors were skeptical of Columbus's plans due to fears of the unknown, not the shape of the Earth.
Overall, the notion that sailors believed in a flat Earth is a misconception.
To me, one of the most compelling arguments about the spherical nature of the earth comes from sailing. How else can one readily explain the gradual disappearance of a ship over the horizon? Over many horizons from many lands? I think most sailors realized early on that the earth was very likely NOT flat.
ConfederateSS wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2026 8:41 pm
People in Europe, did believe the world was flat, and you would fall off...Most of His crews on 4 ships, yes, 4...one didn't make it out of the harbor...The crews were made of prisoners ....That were let out , to make up his crews....By The King and Queen...No one else would dare take the chance of falling off The Earth...You keep believing crap they teach now a days...FAKE HISTORY...[/size]...
ConfederateSS.out!(The Blue and Silver Rebellion)...
FACTS:
Christopher Columbus' crew on the first voyage were from small towns in from Andalucia, and nearly all experienced seamen. The Spanish Sovereigns offered amnesty to convicts who signed up for the voyage, but only four men took up the offer: one who had killed a man in a fight, and three of his friends who then helped him escape from jail.
Of the four voyages of Columbus, only the crew of the first voyage is completely known. Alice Bache Gould spent decades combing various archives in Spain, eventually accounting for each of the 87 crewmen of the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria. She spent four decades in Spain, tracing the data. She could be aggressive and relentless in persuading an archives custodian or a parish priest to allow her to search for documents they assured her were not there. Samuel Eliot Morison, author of Admiral of the Ocean Sea and other books on Columbus, credited her help in Spain for enabling him to find what he could not find himself. He remembered her as a "distinguished, gray-haired lady, dressed usually in black bombazine with a vintage hat, striding resolutely into the Archive of the Indies to find some document for me that the archivist insisted did not exist."
https://www.christopher-columbus.eu/ships-crew.htm
and
AI Summary
To clarify the number of ships that sailed with Columbus on his first voyage from Spain, consider the following points:
Columbus set sail in 1492 with three ships: the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María.
There was no fourth ship that accompanied him on this voyage.
The Santa María was the largest and served as the flagship.
The Niña and Pinta were smaller caravels, designed for speed and maneuverability.
Columbus's fleet was specifically chosen for exploration and trade routes to Asia.
and
The ships for the first voyage—the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María—were fitted out at Palos, on the Tinto River in Spain.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ch ... rst-voyage
I think that it is possible that ConfedSS confused the FOUR voyages of Columbus to this "new world" with 4 ships. I looked and found NO evidence for a fourth ship; sorry, ConfedSS. Perhaps you can offer proof of your claim.
One question to ask is who is actually peddling fake news and fake history here?
Keep up that Great Work....!
