500 years ago people thought the world was flat. Why do you think this is the case?

Question

Please Answer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

Because they didn't have any information that told them otherwise. If you look to the left and then to the right does anything tell you the world is anything but flat?

Answer 2

Actually, it's the fact that they ever figured out it was round that fascinates me. After all, some peasant standing in a field might very well say it is flat; hills get in his line of sight, and nothing which suggests curvature ever gets to him. Most people never went more than a few miles from home in their whole lives.

But those who lived by the ocean noticed that ships appeared to sink as they sailed away toward the horizon, and eventually some bright character worked out the theory that this was because the world was round. It was not considered proven until the whole push to circumnavigate the globe of which Christopher Columbus was such a notable part. It was not just to get to the riches of Asia, after all. Scientifically, it was thought to be the best proof available at the time if a ship traveled consistently west and ended up in the east.

Answer 3

The truth is, no one thought the earth was flat. In fact Columbus didn't sail to discover the earth's shape, they all knew it was spherical or at least disk shaped. The flat earth myth was propagated by a writer named Washington Irving who wanted to show the intolerance and ignorance of religious people who were blocking scientific progress. All myth.

There's good evidence this was myth as well because before the time of Copernicus, the ancients with Aristotle and Plato believed in the beauty of forms, and that the earth and the cosmos was spherical b/c it fulfilled the most beautiful form. And there was the idea of the potency of place everything had to fall to the center of the earth, and all of Aristotle's cosmologies relied on a spherical earth and a spherical cosmos. Dante (the medieval writer) had a simliar theme in his writing in the "Inferno" trilogy where he states the center of the universe, the earth was the base of the universe, all the sump of the universe fell to the center, so hell he wrote was at the center of the earth.

The idea that ppl thought the earth was flat was a MYTH and used to propagate the illusion that science trumps theology. The fact is, early science was heavily reliant on what we now call "religious belief" and what is better known as a "worldview".

Answer 4

It's been known for several thousand years that the world is round. The ancient Greeks knew it, and even calculated a roughly accurate figure for the diameter of the Earth based on the lengths of shadows at various locations. It was only the uneducated who thought it was flat, based on some of the reasons you've been given above. The knowledge that it's round has become current due mostly to relatively universal education.

Answer 5

(1) All the above answers are true -- that people generally experienced the world as flat, and did not all have equal access to means or education to explain or prove otherwise.

(2) However, this does not explain why some people TODAY still teach the world is flat; that the pictures of the astronauts from the moon are fake, and it's all part of a conspiracy to mislead the public. This phenomena shows the "mob" mentality of people, and their tendency also to react and reject what they fear is a "mob" conspiracy against them.

For everyone who blindly believes out of faith, there will be those who blindly reject out of mistrust. So that is another factor why "new ideas," whether supported by the minority or majority, can meet with opposition or denial.

(3) Modern examples of similar situations:
(a) The first scientist who theorized that deaths after surgery were caused by "invisible" germs spread if the doctors didn't wash their hands. This man was ostracized by the medical profession, and ridiculed for asking people to believe in such "invisible" things. Later, microscopes were used to prove that bacteria and viruses were causing infection and death.
(b) People who have experienced the presence or affliction of "demons" or negative spiritual energies, and those who have delivered or healed people of addictions or oppression related to these "demons." Again, the majority of people do not publicly accept these as everyday phenomena, and tend to reject or ridicule those who do believe these things are real. But since scientists have developed nanotechnology and MRI machines, these "invisible" energy demons could in fact be measured in terms of chemical or electrical changes in the brain chemistry of patients before and after they are treated for spiritual disorders.
So one day soon, we may see these things proven scientifically, as with the idea of "invisible bacteria" and a heliocentric solar system, both ideas equally rejected until proven by science.

Answer 6

It was a hypothesis based on common knowledge, and thus, widely accepted . The world LOOKS flat, so it must be flat . We accept the fact that the world is a sphere because we've seen pictures of it since we were small children.

Answer 7

If you sailed North from Europe, you'd hit ice (The Artic Cirle).

If you sailed West from Europe, you'd sail for days and days in endless water (Atlantic Ocean).

From Africa, if you sailed South, you'd hit ice (Antartica)

From China, if you sailed East you again sail for days and days and hit nothing but water (Pacific Ocean).

As far as the civilized world was concerned.. Europe, Africa and Asia.. that was it. If you sailed TOO far you'd fall off the edge of the world. (It was the belief at the time)

It wasn't until Christopher Columbus age that they thought the world was ROUND. And even then Christopher Columbus thought that Europe and Asia shared ONE ocean that surrounded Europe/Africa/Asia. So he was sailing FROM Europe TO Asia. It was this journey that led him to run across the Americas.

That is assuming we totally forget about the vikings several hundred years earlier. But then again history often forgets thier efforts since they never recorded thier findings.

Answer 8

They went by what they saw. I see flat, not spherical. Most people didn't know (of) anyone who had traveled around the world and back.

Answer 9

it was an educated guess based on the facts available during that time period, im sure in 500 years most of todays hypothesis will be incorrect.

Answer 10

cause they couldn't get far enough away from it to see the curve. After all if everything wasn't rolling away then it must be flat right?