Why did people think the world was flat?

Answer 1

A lot of them haven't. The ancient Greeks knew that the world was not flat, they didn't all believe it was round, some thought it a kind of circular spiral, but that knowledge was lost during the Dark Ages. By 1500, many educated people believed that the world was round, but it was not until the 1800's that that knowledge became widespread. this is mainly due to people who went against the beliefs of the time, generally got themselves killed. It is possible that the ancient Hebrews always knew that the world was round: Isaiah 40:22 says "he sits enthroned above the circle of the earth"

Answer 2

Answer:

Actually it's a fallacy to think that before Columbus people thought the world was flat. Even in Biblical days there was a strong belief in a spherical earth. The fallacy derives from the ideas that people have adopted from Genesis - which are allegorical both in description and theology - that heaven is 'up there' whereas we are on a 'flat' earth - despite the idea of a flat earth not mentioned at all in Genesis - or even anywhere in The Bible for that matter.

In fact, ancient Greeks knew that the earth was round. Eratosthenes (276-195BC) even calculated its circumference - and did it so accurately as to be just a few percent out of today's accurate figure. He also calculated the tilt in the earth's axis, invented the leap day, and some say even the distance between the earth and sun, centuries before Jeremiah Horrocks and Captain Cook did so by observing transits of Venus.

His ideas were passed on throughout society so that most people of intelligence knew the spherical nature of the earth.

The idea that Columbus traveled to America to 'prove' the earth was round is another fallacy. He did so, not to PROVE it was round, but, KNOWING it was round, sailed west to try to find a short cut to India. In those days the Suez Canal did not exist and so any passage to India for trade in eastern goods, spices and so on, had to be done by passing round the Cape of Good Hope - treacherous waters for the small ships of that day. Therefore any short cut would be safer and quicker, and provide better trade profits.

However, Columbus did discover the West Indies in error thinking he had arrived in India. He didn't discover 'America'. Many knew of America long before Columbus - including the 11th and 12th century Vikings and, some say, even some Welsh explorers.

Answer:

People thought the Earth was flat because they could not imagine it being any other shape - if it was a sphere, supposedly they would "fall into space" if they were on the other side of the world.

Answer:

People thought that if they sailed over the horizon they might fall straight down.

Answer:

Biblical Thought:

If any searched the Scripture like the Bereans did, perhaps they would have known the Earth was round like a circle:

Isaiah 40:22

New International Version (NIV)

22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,

and its people are like grasshoppers.

He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,

and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

Answer 3

Back in the days before ocean going ships, trains and cars, people didn't travel much. And those who did, traveled slowly.

If all the evidence you have is what you yourself can see, then the world does look flat.

Sure, the occasional mountain adds some wrinkles, but the overall impression is flatness. You can't really see the curvature of the Earth from the surface of the Earth.

And they didn't have a clue about gravity either. And without some insight into that, it's really hard to understand why things just wouldn't fall off unless the Earth was flat.

Answer 4

A lot of people because it's "obvious",

but the Greeks knew it was a sphere,

and so did the Portugese navigators of 1400.

(The first known globe of the world was built in 1491.)

Answer 5

Yes, but Christopher Columbus changed that