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Originally Posted by Dude111
Yes its bloody stiupid!!!!!!!!
The world IS NOT FLAT!!!!!!!! (Columbus discovered this in 1492)
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Actually... it was already known the world was round then, the point in dispute was the size of the globe, and whether ships of his size would be able to sail the way around
From here :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth_o...hy_of_Columbus
Quote:
The issue in the 1490s was not the shape of the Earth, but its size, and the position of the east coast of Asia, as Irving in fact points out
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The disputed point was not the shape of the Earth, nor the idea that going west would eventually lead to Japan and China, but the ability of European ships to sail that far across open seas. The small ships of the day (Columbus's three ships varied between 20.5 and 23.5 m – or 67 to 77 feet – in length and carried about 90 men) simply could not carry enough food and water to reach Japan. The ships barely reached the eastern Caribbean islands. Already the crews were mutinous, not because of some fear of "sailing off the edge", but because they were running out of food and water with no chance of any new supplies within sailing distance. They were on the edge of starvation.[20] What saved Columbus was the unknown existence of the Americas precisely at the point he thought he would reach Japan. His ability to resupply with food and water from the Caribbean islands allowed him to return safely to Europe. Otherwise his crews would have died, and the ships foundered.
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---------- Post added at 12:07 ---------- Previous post was at 12:06 ----------
Also (off topic) an interesting view of Columbus is here :
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/columbus_day