by Keith Hamburger

Created on: December 03, 2008   Last Updated: April 30, 2010

Revered by some, reviled by others, Christopher Columbus is often misunderstood.

Many of the basic facts that we all learned in school are true. Columbus sailed across the Atlantic with three ships, the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, and discovered the New World. All the while thinking that he had sailed to Asia.

All of this is true. But, what of the other parts? Was Columbus a great navigator with an insight that the world wasn't flat but was in fact round? Was Columbus the one to actually discover a great new land? Was he a terrible villain that brought ruin and destitution to the Native Americans?

Looking at the facts surrounding these types of claims we find a lot of confusion.

GREAT NAVIGATOR?

It is claimed that Columbus, observing ships sailing to the harbors of his homeland, came up with the idea that the Earth was round. Many have been taught that he was much more insightful than the rubes around him who all thought that the planet was flat.

This myth could in no way be true.

The ancient Greeks knew that our world was round. In 200 BC the Greek philosopher Eratosthenes measured the diameter of the Earth within 15% above the currently calculated value. And, three centuries later, Ptolemy made another calculation of the Earth's diameter, but he was 28% low. By Columbus' time all educated Europeans knew that the Earth was round.

The really great error of Columbus' navigation comes to play after this. Columbus used Ptolemy's number for the Earth's diameter and decided that his small ships could sail that distance. After sailing for weeks his crew was losing hope in his abilities as a navigator and were preparin to mutiny when land was sighted.  Arriving in the Americas he believed he had reached Asia. But, even using the smaller of the Greek distances, he hadn't even traveled halfway to Asia.

With such an error there is no reason to admire Columbus' navigational skills. While there were no accurate timepieces in his age, so it was impossible to accurately calculate longitude from celestial sightings, even by counting days he should have been more accurate in his location.

FIRST EUROPEAN?

There is some truth to the claim that Columbus was the first European to discover the Americas. But, that claim only holds if one considers that a place isn't truly discovered until it is documented and remembered. Others came here first.

The Vikings traveled to the Northeastern coast of North America some five hundred years before Columbus. The reason they

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>