In 1492 Columbus Sailed The Ocean Blue…Or Did He ?

In fourteen hundred ninety two Columbus sailed the ocean blue. But then what ? Well the story-and reason there's a holiday named after him- says he discovered America and proved the world was not flat after all. But is that really how it happened ? According to a story on MSN.com there may be more to it than that.  Here's the first  "myth" Christopher Wanjek the author of the books "Bad Medicine" and "Food At Work" tries to debunk.

1. Columbus set out to prove the world was round.

If he did, he was about 2,000 years too late. Ancient Greek mathematicians had already proven that the earth was round, not flat.

Pythagoras in the sixth century B.C. was one of the originators of the idea. Aristotle in the fourth century B.C. provided the physical evidence, such as the shadow of the Earth on the moon and the curvature of the Earth known by all sailors approaching land. And by the third century B.C., Eratosthenes determined our planet's shape and circumference using basic geometry. In the second century, Claudius Ptolemy wrote the "Almagest," the mathematical and astronomical treatise on planetary shapes and motions, describing the spherical Earth. This text was well known throughout educated Europe in Columbus' time.

To read the entire article and find out what he has to say on the whole discovering America thing ,and other commonly believed Chris Columbus facts check out this link. I don't think I'll be changing my opinion, I'm just glad SOMEONE found this place regardless of who gets the credit :)