This isn't the only childish myth that refuses to die. The so-called Galileo affair and Copernicus' alleged fear and trembling over publishing "his" heliocentric theory are two notorious and by now classical examples. In both cases, the supposedly grand Manichean battle between Religion and Science was nothing but the fallout of the provincial squabbling of petty men. Copernicus -- who was a classically educated cleric -- was reluctant to publish De Revolutionibus on account of hostility from rival astronomers (and though the Church had no doctrinal interest in something as theologically irrelevant as which rock orbits which other rock, Paul III and Cardinal von Schoenberg did take interest in his work). Furthermore, Copernicus' original contribution was not the idea of a heliocentric "universe", but the mathematization he produced that "saved the appearances" accounted for in the geocentric model. The Galileo "affair", which stretched for some 30 years IIRC, culminated in house arrest in the papal apartments overlooking the papal gardens, a fate far better than that of many in the 15th century or the 21st century for that matter. Ultimately, his house arrest was largely the result of Galileo's habit of harassing people and making enemies, some of whom were clerics, and nothing to do with doctrine (the story goes that Galileo was arrested and forced to abjure the very same heliocentrism Paul III and others encouraged and found so fascinating under pain of death, but anyone free of prejudice and acquainted with the history knows this account to be comically stupid as it is presented). There are many more such fabrications and misconceptions.<p>At least some of these myths are known to have their origins in the 19th century and in the slanderous writings of fanatical Enlightenment and Protestant writers whose rabid hatred for Rome seems to have, in their minds, given them license to resort to libel or corrupted their thinking. The author credits two men in the article who certainly had an axe to grind.
It turned out Columbus was wrong and everyone else was right. The Earth was simply too large to sail around the other way.<p>The only thing that kept Columbus' expedition from certain doom was bumping into a continent that was unknown to most of Europe, despite some Norse having settled there in earlier centuries.<p>Imagine if the Americas hadn't existed. He would likely have died in the middle of a huge ocean.
Wait. There are people who believe Columbus was the first person to establish as common knowledge that the world was round? Is this an American thing again?
What's really amazing is how calumny works: the bigger the better.<p>It's very likely <i>nobody</i>, since men walked the earth, who gave it a moment's thought ever believed the earth to be flat; it's absolutely certain nobody in Europe or the Middle East post Aristotle ever believed it either (as many comments already point out).<p>And yet, a myth invented in the 19th century to make fun of "medieval times" and the Catholic Church is still around today, and needs to be constantly refuted.<p>I think it works because it flatters us, making us feel sooo superior to those ancient characters that must have been sooo stupid and smug. Well, in this case at least, we're the smugs and the stupids.
I blame Stan Freberg.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Freberg_Presents_the_United_States_of_America_Volume_One:_The_Early_Years" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Freberg_Presents_the_Unit...</a>
Of course they knew it was round. Under the belief that the Earth isn't round, land discovered by sailing west would have been taken for granted to be a new discovery, and not India, which lies to the east. Its inhabitants wouldn't have been dubbed Indians.
I'm pretty sure there were many Europeans who thought the Earth was flat. And given the quality of the Columbus' crew, some among them as well. The idea that it must be all or none is ridiculous. How many people today still reject Evolution?
God != Religion;<p>Religions are ~2000 years old;<p>Humans are ~200,000 years old;<p>Earth is ~4,000,000,000 years old;<p>Religion was born when first con-man met the first fool;<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_earth" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_earth</a><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_ancient_history" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_ancient_history</a>