Christopher Columbus did not discover America. There were human beings living throughout the continents of North and South America, and the various island systems around them, for thousands of years before Columbus.
Columbus wasn’t even the first European to come to the Americas. It has long been known that the Danish explorer Leif Erickson actually made it to the actual mainland of the North American continent almost 500 years earlier than Columbus, something even Columbus never achieved. And recent discoveries found that he made his way as far south as Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
Columbus did not even establish that the world is spherical. THAT had been known by all of the few, elite educated people, ever since Greek mathematician Eratosthenes not only proved it using geometry, but also accurately calculated its size.
Based on Eratosthenes correct calculation of the size of the earth, while all educated people knew you could get to Asia and the Indies by sailing west, the size was prohibitive for the kinds of ships they had.
Columbus ignored real scientists, did his own amateurish calculations, and figured that the earth was ONE THIRD of its actual size, with the Indies about where the east coast of the Americas is. So when he got there, he assumed he was right and called it the Indies and the stubborn old man never did acknowledge his error.
All Columbus managed to achieve was massive cruelty, torture and the religious terrorism of forced “conversions” to “Christianity.”
Christopher Columbus did not discover America. There were human beings living throughout the continents of North and South America, and the various island systems around them, for thousands of years before Columbus.
Columbus wasn’t even the first European to come to the Americas. It has long been known that the Danish explorer Leif Erickson actually made it to the actual mainland of the North American continent almost 500 years earlier than Columbus, something even Columbus never achieved. And recent discoveries found that he made his way as far south as Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
Columbus did not even establish that the world is spherical. THAT had been known by all of the few, elite educated people, ever since Greek mathematician Eratosthenes not only proved it using geometry, but also accurately calculated its size.
Based on Eratosthenes correct calculation of the size of the earth, while all educated people knew you could get to Asia and the Indies by sailing west, the size was prohibitive for the kinds of ships they had.
Columbus ignored real scientists, did his own amateurish calculations, and figured that the earth was ONE THIRD of its actual size, with the Indies about where the east coast of the Americas is. So when he got there, he assumed he was right and called it the Indies and the stubborn old man never did acknowledge his error.
All Columbus managed to achieve was massive cruelty, torture and the religious terrorism of forced “conversions” to “Christianity.”