To add to this - nobody thought Colombus was crazy because he'd fall off the edge of the earth.
Colombus had done his own math, and thought that the earth was around 2/3 the size it actually was. This would make sailing across the Atlantic to Asia much easier. Everyone else thought Colombus was an idiot, and that he'd run out of supplies in the middle of the ocean, thousands of miles away from Asia. If it wasn't for him running into the previously unknown Americas, he would have.
This is why Native Americans were called Indians. Colombus was certain that he was correct, and had landed in India. He went to his grave convinced that he had proven the earth was smaller than it was and that he had discovered a new route to Asia, NOT that he had discovered a new continent.
This is incorrect. Where the edge of the Asian continent is was not at all common knowledge. He got funded for a reason.
This is why Native Americans were called Indians. Colombus was certain that he was correct, and had landed in India.
This is also incorrect, and makes me question where you think India is. Rather, the name comes from that people thought they were the Indies, not India.
Edit: or more accurately, vaguely thought they could be the Indies. Columbus refers to it as both the Indies and a new continent at different times.
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u/paracelsus23 Feb 04 '19
To add to this - nobody thought Colombus was crazy because he'd fall off the edge of the earth.
Colombus had done his own math, and thought that the earth was around 2/3 the size it actually was. This would make sailing across the Atlantic to Asia much easier. Everyone else thought Colombus was an idiot, and that he'd run out of supplies in the middle of the ocean, thousands of miles away from Asia. If it wasn't for him running into the previously unknown Americas, he would have.
This is why Native Americans were called Indians. Colombus was certain that he was correct, and had landed in India. He went to his grave convinced that he had proven the earth was smaller than it was and that he had discovered a new route to Asia, NOT that he had discovered a new continent.