>>7912354>was wrong about the circumference of the EarthActually he was right about the size of the earth, because it was rather common knowledge for the mapmakers and explorers. Heck if you were to compare the latitude and longitude of where he thought he was to where he actually was, he was remarkably close to the mark.
The issue is less of him being wrong but the MAPMAKERS being wrong. See, everyone knew through math and astronomy how big the earth was, but they DID NOT know how big the Asian continent was, so they guessed and wound up with an ecksbawks hueg Asia. It was so big that Cipangu, their idea of Japan, was located on their globes and maps roughly where the west coast of US is actually located.
Columbus didn't think he landed in India, and honestly he actually was not hoping to hit India first, but instead some undiscovered island chains somewhere east of Cipangu and the west Indies. If you looked at old maps of the time and compared where he though he landed you would see he assumed he was indeed closer to Cipangu then India itself.
