Chris Columbus: The Flat Earth Myth.
October 14th 2006 20:40
Dogmatist
The people at the time of Columbus did not believe that the earth was flat, a fact since ancient Greece. Yet this was taught us in Primary School where an image was created of the Italian explorer regaling the Iberian Courts with stories of China, how you could get there and how long it would take you by sailing the 'other' way while every one cried, “Heresy. The World is Flat.” . What I was not told in school was that Ferdinand and Isabella the King and Queen of Spain appointed a royal committee to examine whether the hair brained scheme of Columbus could be realized.
Catholic Majesties
The learned committee concluded that the calculations of Columbus were wrong and he could not, in a reasonable time, possibly reach China by sailing the ‘other’ way around by sea. The learned committee was correct and although their calculations were far from exact their conclusions that it was not practical for Columbus to reach China the way he was claiming were later to be born out. Neither Columbus nor the committee realized that sticking half way around in the middle of the voyage was America. Most sensible people in Spain concluded that the Americas were unique and not part of China, but not Columbus. Even towards the end he was still convinced that what he discovered was really the Southern Part of Cathay. Wrong until the end.
Nino and Friends
So who was the scholar responsible for this myth? This is something that I had always wondered. Two nineteenth-century “villains” are identified as the primary sources of the myth: the American writer Washington Irving and (more significant) the French historian and polemicist Antoine-Jean Letronne (1787–1848). The authority for this is J.B. Russell, historian and author of Inventing the Flat Earth.
Yet these scholars were lampooned in the academic community. But primary school children didn’t know this and in every Western school the myth was promulgated by nefarious teachers, leading one to conclude how it could be possible that such errant scholars could have so much influence in the world of education.
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Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
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Well written post.
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Comment by spain01
Juan Carlos
spain again
While your'e about it
Viva l'difference
Fire News Blog
Cities dying of thirst.
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Comment by spain01
Juan Carlos
spain again
While your'e about it
Viva l'difference
Fire News Blog
Cities dying of thirst.