I’ve been thinking for a little while about putting a post up here on the whole flat earth myth – basically, that if you read Jeffrey Burton Russell’s (1991) “Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern Historians”, you’ll see how (mainly 19th century) anti-religious propagandists twiddled with history so much that the (fallacious) version they peddled [i.e. that Columbus thought ’round’ while everyone else thought ‘flat’] somehow became accepted wisdom. Even though it was nonsense.
Actually, the real history was simply that Columbus argued his case for why his voyage should succeed by taking the most optimistically small (though completely wrong) estimates for the circumference of the Earth, whereas his (many) detractors pointed to the generally accepted (and broadly correct) figures.
Hence, if an extra continent hadn’t happened to be sitting in the way on his hopeful way West around to the Far East, Columbus and his crew would surely have all died of thirst (which at sea kills you much faster than hunger), just as those naysayers had predicted. But luckily for him, etc etc.
As a result, I always find myself grinding my teeth a little whenever the whole Columbus-vs-the-flat-Earthers myth pops its foolish head up on TV or radio or wherever (which it does fairly regularly).
However, the only issue here is that xkcd recently made essentially the same point, but with the added power that stick figures and sarcasm bring:-
I guess xkcd wins on this occasion, even if Randall Munroe did previously get the Voynich Manuscript flat wrong. 😉
Am I “drawing conclusions” on the cartoon hairdo shapes? North American continent vs flat hat?
Fun!
Nick, can you give us an overview/comparison of the navigational skills of Columbus and Magellan? From what I’ve been able to read, Magellan’s navigator was Prince Henry ‘The Navigator’, who supposedly never did sail anywhere, after the only sorty with his father when 14-16 y.o. So, who did the navigating for Columbus?
Yes, I did find the cartoon conversation funny!
ps: I still have in my home library a Time-Life publication which I offered to mail to your Compelling Press mailbox: “THE PACIFIC NAVIGATORS – The Seafarers”. It is yours if yea. 🙂
Nick: Ever contemplated addressing the modern-flat earth theory. I wonder what the next big conspiracy to take hold with the public will be, surely you can’t realistically or unrealistically go much farther than the flat earth conspiracy before you fall off the edge and into frothing at the mouth insanity.