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>At some point in history, it was considered common knowledge that the world is flat, and seafaring too far in any given direction runs the risk of falling off
by ChrisLomont 11y ago
>At some point in history, it was considered common knowledge that the world is flat, and seafaring too far in any given direction runs the risk of falling off the edge.
I'm unable to find any historical evidence this statement was ever true.
For example, pop culture thinks it was true in the Middle Ages, but it was not [1].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth_of_the_flat_Earth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth_of_the_flat_Earth
- Elrac 11y agoYou say "I'm unable to find any historical evidence this statement was ever true." I can only guess that your failure is based on a reluctance to even try, or you would have found a whole raft of ancient cultures and their public intellectuals documenting flat-earth beliefs in the Wikipedia article on "Flat Earth." I am and was very aware that knowledge about the Earth's sphericity is more ancient than some people may think; so I intentionally made my statement sufficiently vague to avoid your kind of quibble.