Questions tagged [christopher-columbus]
An Italian explorer active during the late 15th and early 16th centuries. His 1492 AD voyage to the New World kicked off a wave of European exploration and settlement in the Americas.
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How did Columbus calculate the size of the Earth?
Eratosthenes' calculations of the size of the Earth were very precise and very accepted during Columbus' time. Still, Columbus was convinced that the world was significatively smaller and that getting ...
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How quickly did the knowledge of the existence of the new world spread into the old world?
After Columbus's voyage to the new world, how quickly did this knowledge spread into the other parts of the old world? For example, when did the existence of the new world become "common knowledge" (...
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Why is Christopher Columbus credited for "discovering" America?
Even if we ignore the millions of native Americans who lived in the continent before Columbus "discovered" it, even if we ignore other civilizations (eg: Polynesians, Phoenicians, Chinese, Arabs, etc.)...
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Did anyone in Europe predict the existence of the Americas?
According to the answer of this question, Columbus was pretty much unique in his belief that the world was small enough and Asia was big enough to make sailing west to Asia possible. Everyone else ...
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Did Columbus really never know he reached a new continent?
A widespread knowledge is that Columbus died without knowing he reached a new continent.
But:
In Columbus Journal of the Third Voyage (1498) it is written:
"I have come to believe that this is a ...
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Why aren't the Americas named after Christopher Columbus
I was reading the question Why is Columbus Credited with Discovering America, and I wondered why aren't the Americas named after him?
I was under the impression that although he is the one we credit ...
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Why did Christopher Columbus think he had arrived near Japan?
This question came to our mind as a long discussion in chat between some users over ELU including me and we thought to post the question here. Wikipedia states he thought he had arrived Japan.
In ...
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Did Portuguese fisherman visit New England prior to 1492?
This might blow your mind a little bit, but one thing I notice, living in New England as I do, that there are the remnants of a tiny Portuguese community here going way, way back. For example, there ...
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