if the ancient people can see an eclipse, why didnt they know about N.America?

Question

maybe i dont know fully what an eclipse is all about

Answer 1

An eclipse of the moon is when earth is lined up directly in the middle of the moon and the sun, so that sun's light can't get to the moon, and thus the moon can't reflect that light back to earth. (The moon doesn't generate light on its own, it only reflects the sun's light.)
o----------o---------O
Moon----Earth------Sun
[Earth's alignment doesn't allow sunlight to reach the moon]

Likewise, and eclipse of the sun is when the moon gets in the way of our view of the sun from Earth:
o---------o----------O
Earth----Moon------Sun
[Moon's alignment doesn't allow sunlight to reach the earth]

Knowing about the geography of the earth itself, e.g., the presence of the other continents, is a completely separate issue. It's actually a lot easier to observe "heavenly" phenomena from the earth than it is to observe the rest of the earth from where you stand! If you look up at the sky from your house, you can see the stars -- but you can't see the other side of the earth, so you can't tell that the other continents are there.

Answer 2

Eclipses can be predicted by very careful observations of the movement of the sun and moon. The presence of the continent of North America on the other side of the world could not be predicted by any amount of observation.

Answer 3

eclipse is calculated by observing the movement of earth moon and sun.
that's why ppl were able to see eclipse.
but a continent can not be see jus with the movement of earth sun and moon.