Columbus' Miscalculation: How Far Around is the Round Earth?

American Minute ^ | October 12, 2019 | Bill Federer

[Pelham]

“It’s possible that the idea of a flat Earth has only caught on in quite modern times.”

The idea that the ancients thought the Earth was flat is a modern conceit. Romans knew that the Earth is round, as did the Greeks before them.

Any culture capable of sailing over the horizon figured it out.

[Ozark Tom]

Torsional pendulum was added as the regulation component for a clock to allow time keeping on a ship. British Navy secret for a bit.

[Openurmind]

Thing was, even with an accurate time piece, a universal global standard had to be in place first. And where did it start in longitude? Athens or Greenwich or Deli?

Until there was an agreed or forced upon global starting longitude line to time it from it was just never going to happen and ever be accurate. :)

Let alone the huge hurdle that Sailboats could not navigate in a straight line at a consistent speed... honestly? it was kind of an incredible thing that they actually figured it out. :)

[elbook]

“did not sail west in search of the east Indies..”

Earlier ... (perhaps some did but getting back is the problem - just like the vikings/irish monks/fishermen/others are thought/known to have reached the eastern coast of canada centuries before Columbus’ voyages.

It had to do with unfavorable winds in the north atlantic, so sailing far south and then west was the actual route used a great deal and why Brazilians speak Portuguese today. The route up the northern coast america - northeast and then east was the common return route later because of the wind patterns.