We must not suppose that the idea of the roundness of the earth wasinvented by Columbus

　　We must not suppose that the idea of the roundness of the earth wasinvented by Columbus. Although there were other theories about its shape,many intelligent men well understood that the earth was a globe, and thatthe Indies, though they were always reached from Europe by going to theEast, must be on the west of Europe also. There is a very funny story inthe travels of Mandeville, in which a traveler is represented as havinggone, mostly on foot, through all the countries of Asia, but finallydetermines to return to Norway, his home. In his farthest easterninvestigation, he hears some people calling their cattle by a peculiar cry,which he had never heard before. After he returned home, it was necessaryfor him to take a day's journey westward to look after some cattle he hadlost. Finding these cattle, he also heard the same cry of people callingcattle, which he had heard in the extreme East, and now learned, for thefirst time, that he had gone round the world on foot, to turn and come backby the same route, when he was only a day's journey from home,Columbus was acquainted with such stories as this, and also had theastronomical knowledge which almost made him know that the world wasround, "and, like a ball, goes spinning in the air." The difficulty was topersuade other people that, because of this roundness, it would be possibleto attain Asia by sailing to the West.
　　Now all the geographers of repute supposed that there was not nearlyso large a distance as there proved to be, in truth, between Europe andAsia. Thus, in the geography of Ptolemy, which was the standard book atthat time, one hundred and thirty-five degrees, a little more than one-third of the earth's circumference, is given to the space between the extremeeastern part of the Indies and the Canary Islands. In fact, as we now know,the distance is one hundred and eighty degrees, half the world'scircumference. Had Columbus believed there was any such immensedistance, he would never have undertaken his voyage.
　　Almost all the detailed knowledge of the Indies which the people ofhis time had, was given by the explorations of Marco Polo, a Venetiantraveler of the thirteenth century, whose book had long been in thepossession of European readers. It is a very entertaining book now, andmay well be recommended to young people who like stories of adventure.
　　Marco Polo had visited the court of the Great Khan of Tartary at Pekin, theprince who brought the Chinese Empire into very much the condition inwhich it now is. He had, also, given accounts of Japan or Cipango, whichhe had himself never visited. Columbus knew, therefore, that, well east ofthe Indies, was the island of Cipango, and he aimed at that island, becausehe supposed that that was the nearest point to Europe, as in fact it is. Andwhen finally he arrived at Cuba, as the reader will see, he thought he wasin Japan.
　　Columbus's father-in-law had himself been the Portuguese governor ofthe island of Porto Santo, where he had founded a colony. He, therefore,was interested in western explorations, and probably from him Columbuscollected some of the statements which are known to have influenced him,with regard to floating matters from the West, which are constantly borneupon that island by the great currents of the sea.