Medieval Flat Earth Myth

There is a widespread myth that until relatively recent times (often the enlightenment) that the majority of people in the world believed in a flat earth. Many think that Columbus was hindered in gathering funds for his journeys as people thought he would simply drop of the side of the planet if he went too far toward the horizon. Nothing could be further than the truth.

The myth: People believed in a flat earth until the enlightenment.

“Either then the earth is spherical or it is at least naturally spherical. And it is right to call anything that which nature intends it to be, and which belongs to it, rather than which it is by constraint and contrary to nature. The evidence of the senses further corroborates this. How else would eclipses of the moon show segments shaped as we see them? As it is, the shapes which the moon itself each month shows are of every kind—straight, gibbous, and concave—but in eclipses the outline is always curved: and, since it is the interposition of the earth that makes the eclipse, the form of this line will be caused by the form of the earth’s surface, which is therefore spherical.” — Works of Aristotle, vol., I, p. 389

The flat earth concept was believed by most ancient cultures and probably the last to continue to believe it was the Chinese culture who finally moved to the spherical earth concept in the 17th century. However, despite what so many people have been told about the strange beliefs of the Middle Ages, no one believed in a flat earth in Europe. The myth was dispelled as far back as the 6th century BC with Pythagoras. It was all but completely smashed when Aristotle gave evidence for the spherical Earth based on rationality – as shown in the quote above and finally the scientific consensus was given in the 1st century AD as noted by Pliny the Elder and evidenced in the maps and globes of Ptolemy.

However, what may be helping this bizarre myth stay alive is the fact that the people of the Middle Ages did believe in a torrid zone – an area of extreme weather and ocean movements that they believed separated the two halves of the globe at the equator. This torrid zone was considered by many to be impossible to breach – forever keeping the “antipodes” unreachable.

As for Columbus – the main reason that he had difficulty finding funding for his most famous trip is that he had made an egregious error about the distance of his route. While he was wrong, his error ultimately led to his discovery of the new world, but there was never any hesitation based on the flat earth theory. Incidentally, Columbus was Italian, not Spanish.

Interesting Fact: In modern so-called enlightened times, a flat-earth society was founded which promotes the belief that the earth is a flat disc surrounded by what we call Antarctica. The society also believes that the moon landings were a hoax.

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Related Books

History of an Infamous Idea

Inventing the Flat Earth

The Last Voyage of Columbus

The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way

Further Reading

Listverse: 10 Debunked Scientific Beliefs of the Past
Listverse: Top 10 Myths about the Middle Ages
Listverse: Top 10 Misconceptions we want to Believe
Listverse: 10 Things You Ought to Know
Google WDYL: Flat Earth
Wikipedia: Myth of the Flat Earth
Wikipedia: Voyages of Christopher Columbus
Wikipedia: Flat Earth Society
Flat Earth Society: Home