What year did people figure out the world was round?

Question

When did the general public give in to the fact that the earth was round? Would people in Italy still think it was flat in 1565?

Answer 1

Ancient Greeks knew the Earth is (nearly :) round; Eratosthenes of Cyrene even calculated Earth size in 240 B.C. using simple geometry applied to how shadows of the Sun looked at the same time in two different places (Alexandria and Siene, Egypt).

Then, a lot of knowledge went lost, hence the term "Dark Ages", and things had to be "discovered again".

Cristoforo Colombo (Christopher Columbus) reached America in 1492, but the idea was going to the Indies sailing toward west; that idea was possible only knowing Earth is a sphere.

Perhaps the concept was unknown to the majority of the people, the erudite one were aware, instead.

Even more outside of what we call "western world"...

Answer 2

Ping something was right, Eratosthenes correctly measured the diameter of the earth and was off by perhaps a few dozen miles. I want to say it was 46 miles difference....

give the best answer to the guy above, he is on the money and earned it.

Answer 3

Most people knew the world was round even in the ancient days. It was probably discovered about the time man started building ships and getting out on the open sea. Anyone who has been on a boat where you cant see any land can tell you the horizon is curved.

Answer 4

This gives a pretty extensive history of the idea, which is surprising for Wiki.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_earth

Answer 5

you speak italian??