Puzzle corner Columbus and the idea of flat earth

The puzzle Pythagoras' pupils, if not the great man himself, knew that the Earth was round. Traveller's tales of ships disappearing over the horizon and the Pole Star shifting to a higher position in the sky as one journeyed north suggested a curved Earth. Here an Ancient Greek geographer is shown holding a globe showing Europa and Asia, about 1500 years before Columbus. Now think about the idea that people at the time of Columbus thought the earth was flat. So why did people in Columbus' time (1490) still believe in a ‘flat earth’, when the Ancient Greeks knew it was a globe.

In your pairs come up with as many possible ideas as you can. We’ll then select the 4 most plausible

❶ People in Columbus’ time were more interested in religious faith than scientific facts. Many were very superstitious. ❷Many of the advanced ideas of the Ancient Greeks were lost for hundreds of years in what were called the ‘Dark Ages’ and weren’t re- discovered until after Columbus sailed. ❸People did not really believe in the idea of the ‘Flat Earth’ at all. It was just an idea that people used later to make fun of the old fashioned ideas of people in the Middle Ages. ❹Some educated people in Columbus’ time did, of course, know about the earth being a globe but many more were ignorant and preferred to accept a simpler view of the world.