4 ms·

Wasn't it to discover alternative trade routes and also to show physically that the world is round? I think they didn't know that there were usable land to grow

• mrguyorama 1y ago
  Humans have demonstrably known the world is round since at least ancient Greece. Columbus claimed it was radically smaller in diameter than previous calculations, and was begging for funding to go around the other side of the world to get a good trade route to India and China for trade goods. He was following some bad math, and adding his own worse math to the mix. People were sure he was going to die, because they did not bring enough provisions to actually go around the world.
  • pfdietz 1y ago
    Amusingly, Spain famously did set up trade to China through the New World. Silver was mined in South America and taken to China (or to the Philippines), traded for silk and other luxury goods, which were then taken back across the Pacific, over land to the Atlantic, and then on to Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_galleon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_galleon
• pfdietz 1y ago
  The first of those is banal, and the second is wrong -- they already knew the world was round, and had a more accurate estimate of the diameter than Columbus was claiming.
  • kreetx 1y ago
    Round, they knew, but still, to do it physically, was still somehow important - even for those who paid for it. Banal, depends on what you mean by this word.