O.K. I didn’t expand before, because I didn’t want to go too far off the track of this thread.
I first considered writing “popular opinion”, or “received wisdom” — and that was certainly the case, in Columbus’ time. Amongst the masses, probably only navigators had an opinion grounded in empirical evidence. The overwhelming majority (if they thought of it at all) believed in a flat earth. I was using “scientific consensus” in much the same way as Gorebots talk about “global warming”. (Only I thought I was being clever and ironic. Unlike Gorebots, I know that science is not based on consensus.) An overwhelming majority of people, in 1492, would have told you the world was flat. If they used the language of today’s warmist masses, they’d say that the “scientific consensus” said the world was flat.
My point remains: however many people “knew” the earth was round; however many people “discovered” that fact before Columbus; it was Columbus that finally did something with the knowledge. That’s why there’s a Columbus Day; and that’s why Steve Jobs deserves credit for introducing the GUI to the great unwashed masses.
Any man with an education knew that the earth is round. They figured it out in ancient Greece and by 1492 it was common knowledge. The misconception that Columbus's journey had any connection whatsoever with a belief in a flat earth is a modern fabrication. This error can still be found in some textbooks so it is not surprising that you would have read it somewhere.