4 ms·

But it was certainly a consensus in educated Western Europe, or Columbus wouldn't have been heading west to get to the East Indies (his innovation was to be obs

But it was certainly a consensus in educated Western Europe, or Columbus wouldn't have been heading west to get to the East Indies (his innovation was to be obstinately wrong about the diameter of the Earth, which would have doomed the voyage but for the fortunate collision with the Carribean) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df-uemc-e3w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df-uemc-e3w

raverbashing 7y ago
I wonder what he was really thinking: a) "I believe the distance is smaller and that we'll be able to get there no problem (as much as a trip like that could be ""no problem"")" b) "distance is bigger but there might be something in between, etc, and I like adventures" c) "distance is (or might be) bigger and this will be a very boring trip but we'll eventually get there but might have to wing it.
- Galanwe 7y ago
  d) I will open up a new commercial route starting directly from western Europe to reach India without the hassle of crossing the whole Europe on ground.
  - raverbashing 7y ago
    Yes but you have to get there first. Going west from Europe to India doesn't make sense today, it seems the Cape of "Good Hope" was reached (but not crossed) before Columbus's voyage.
    - soneil 7y ago
      It's still a very popular route for sailing. You essentially ride the tropical conveyors from the Azores until the Indian Ocean. The Americas are a minor inconvenience, solved by the Panama Canal. It's getting back which is the issue - your have the disastrously weathered cape of good hope, or the pirate-infested Aden. It's quite ironic that if you want to sail around the world, it's the ancient routes that are the worst parts. If Columbus had discovered the Americans were an archipelago, or if the gulf of mexico had properly separated north and south, the discovery would have been a very popular trade route - even today.
      - lonelappde 7y ago
        What if rising sea level puts Panama under water?
        soneil 7y ago
        A bit out of my wheelhouse, but I tend to believe the drawbacks would outweigh the benefits.
- nwallin 7y ago
  We don't have to wonder, because he wrote it down. Ptolemy estimated that the continents of Europe and Asia collectively spanned 180 lines of longitude, leaving 180 to travel by sea. Most contemporary scholars believed this too. In actuality, the continents span about 130 from China to Spain, leaving 230 that would need to be travelled by sea. The best sources available to Columbus were wrong, and the other available sources typically erred on the ocean being too small. Few, if any, people thought Europe and Asia spanned less lines of longitude than estimated by Ptolemy. Additionally, he read that each line of longitude spanned 56 2/3 miles at the equator. Unfortunately, his source was quoting Arabic miles, but Columbus was only familiar with Roman miles, which are shorter. He didn't believe that he discovered something the scholars of the day didn't. The fragmentation of the Mongol Empire meant that overland trade was growing more expensive, meanwhile nautical technology and seamanship was rapidly advancing. It would have been impossible to have made Columbus' planned (as he understood it) sea voyage in, say 1300. But now, the overland route wasn't well run, and the caravels used by Columbus were much better suited to ocean travel. If Columbus hadn't done it, the economic necessity of the rising price of goods and dropping costs of sea travel would have resulted in someone else doing the same thing. Some people say he was a unique visionary, other people say he was dumb and lucky. Neither were true. He did his research and came to the natural (if wrong) conclusion. (he was lucky though) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus#Geographical_considerations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus#Geographi...
  - raverbashing 7y ago
    Thanks for this comment, I didn't know about those details. And yes if it wasn't him it would have been someone else.
  - foogazi 7y ago
    > The fragmentation of the Mongol Empire meant that overland trade was growing more expensive, meanwhile nautical technology and seamanship was rapidly advancing. The fall of Constantinople and the the Ottoman Empire Also made trade routes more expensive There were also efforts to circumnavigate Africa for this reason

raverbashing 7y ago

I wonder what he was really thinking: a) "I believe the distance is smaller and that we'll be able to get there no problem (as much as a trip like that could be ""no problem"")" b) "distance is bigger but there might be something in between, etc, and I like adventures" c) "distance is (or might be) bigger and this will be a very boring trip but we'll eventually get there but might have to wing it.

Galanwe 7y ago
d) I will open up a new commercial route starting directly from western Europe to reach India without the hassle of crossing the whole Europe on ground.
- raverbashing 7y ago
  Yes but you have to get there first. Going west from Europe to India doesn't make sense today, it seems the Cape of "Good Hope" was reached (but not crossed) before Columbus's voyage.
  - soneil 7y ago
    It's still a very popular route for sailing. You essentially ride the tropical conveyors from the Azores until the Indian Ocean. The Americas are a minor inconvenience, solved by the Panama Canal. It's getting back which is the issue - your have the disastrously weathered cape of good hope, or the pirate-infested Aden. It's quite ironic that if you want to sail around the world, it's the ancient routes that are the worst parts. If Columbus had discovered the Americans were an archipelago, or if the gulf of mexico had properly separated north and south, the discovery would have been a very popular trade route - even today.
    - lonelappde 7y ago
      What if rising sea level puts Panama under water?
      - soneil 7y ago
        A bit out of my wheelhouse, but I tend to believe the drawbacks would outweigh the benefits.
nwallin 7y ago
We don't have to wonder, because he wrote it down. Ptolemy estimated that the continents of Europe and Asia collectively spanned 180 lines of longitude, leaving 180 to travel by sea. Most contemporary scholars believed this too. In actuality, the continents span about 130 from China to Spain, leaving 230 that would need to be travelled by sea. The best sources available to Columbus were wrong, and the other available sources typically erred on the ocean being too small. Few, if any, people thought Europe and Asia spanned less lines of longitude than estimated by Ptolemy. Additionally, he read that each line of longitude spanned 56 2/3 miles at the equator. Unfortunately, his source was quoting Arabic miles, but Columbus was only familiar with Roman miles, which are shorter. He didn't believe that he discovered something the scholars of the day didn't. The fragmentation of the Mongol Empire meant that overland trade was growing more expensive, meanwhile nautical technology and seamanship was rapidly advancing. It would have been impossible to have made Columbus' planned (as he understood it) sea voyage in, say 1300. But now, the overland route wasn't well run, and the caravels used by Columbus were much better suited to ocean travel. If Columbus hadn't done it, the economic necessity of the rising price of goods and dropping costs of sea travel would have resulted in someone else doing the same thing. Some people say he was a unique visionary, other people say he was dumb and lucky. Neither were true. He did his research and came to the natural (if wrong) conclusion. (he was lucky though) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus#Geographical_considerations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus#Geographi...
- raverbashing 7y ago
  Thanks for this comment, I didn't know about those details. And yes if it wasn't him it would have been someone else.
- foogazi 7y ago
  > The fragmentation of the Mongol Empire meant that overland trade was growing more expensive, meanwhile nautical technology and seamanship was rapidly advancing. The fall of Constantinople and the the Ottoman Empire Also made trade routes more expensive There were also efforts to circumnavigate Africa for this reason