Columbus wants to find a western water route to trade with India Columbus receives funding through King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain

Columbus leaves Spain with three ships in 1492 Columbus arrived later that year on the island of Hispaniola (Modern day Haiti and Dominican Republic) He believes he has arrived in India and calls the people “Indians.”

 What discouraged others from taking this voyage? What was it about the journey to America that scared people?

 “Columbus was one of the comparatively few people who at that time believed the earth to be round. The general belief was that it was flat, and that if one should sail too far west on the ocean, he would come to the edge of the world, and fall off.”  SOURCE: Eggleston, E. (1904). The new century history of the United States. New York: American Book, p. 12).

 “Many a bold navigator, who was quite ready to brave pirates and tempests, trembled at the thought of tumbling with his ship into one of the openings into hell which a widespread belief placed in the Atlantic at some unknown distance from Europe. This terror among sailors was one of the main obstacles in the great voyage of Columbus.”  SOURCE: White, A.D. (1896). A history of the warfare of science with theology in Christendom.  New York: Appleton., p. 97.

 “Columbus met with members of the Clergy and Spanish elite at Salamanca, who told him: ‘You think the earth is round, and inhabited on the other side? Are you not aware that the holy fathers of the church have condemned this belief?… Will you contradict the fathers? The Holy Scriptures, too, tell us expressly that the heavens are spread out like a tent, and how can that be true if the earth is not flat like the ground the tent stands on? This theory of yours looks heretical.’”  SOURCE: Russell, J.B. (1997). Inventing the flat earth: Columbus and modern historians. New York: Praeger. (Original work in J. Johonnot [1887]. Ten great events in history[pp ]. New York: Appleton.), pp. 5- 6).

 Take 5 minutes to summarize your thinking on Columbus and his voyage to America on your guided notes sheet.

 I will pass out a worksheet with space to comment on two documents.  We will do the first one together on the powerpoint and the second you will do individually or with a partner.

 In 1575, this marble figure of Atlas holding a celestial globe was found in Rome

 In around 200 BCE, Eratosthenes of Greece calculated the circumference of the Earth using this method below:

 Did they really think the world was flat or did they make it up later? Did everyone in Columbus’ time already know about the earth being round?  The first three documents are what type of source?  The second two documents are what type of a source?