I'm not familiar with the book, Inventing the Flat Earth, but the true
situation about Columbus has been treated in many books, including
Samuel Eliot Morrison's old biography. Basically everyone educated knew
(centuries before Columbus) that the world was round, but Columbus
also argued that it was very small, much smaller than it was already
known to be. He also argued that from Europe to China and Japan, as
determined from reports of travelers like Marco Polo, was much farther
than was generally accepted. He was completely wrong about all this,
and the educated people consulted by Ferdinand and Isabella knew it
was wrong. The myth about the professors at Salamanca ridiculing
Columbus for believing in a round earth was invented by Washington
Irving, in his biography of Columbus. I think the misconception is
more prevalent in the US than in Europe.
Of course, there was something in between Europe and Asia going west,
and that made all the difference.
---
Laurent Hodges, Professor of Physics lhodges@iastate.edu
12 Physics Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011-3160
(515) 294-1185 (office) http://www.public.iastate.edu/~lhodges