Columbus: Pears And Nipples

"In 1490, virtually every educated Westerner believed that the Earth was spherical...

Columbus and the advisors to Ferdinand and Isabella did disagree, but their disagreement was about the size of the Earth, not its shape. ... Columbus argued that the Earth was even smaller than Ptolemy thought [about 18,000 miles circumference. In fact, it's about 24,900.] ... the cost of outfitting an expedition for the longer voyage and the increased risk would have been prohibitive. ...

To his death, Columbus believed that he had reached the Spice Islands to the east of India [i.e. Indonesia]. He knew that it took far longer to get to them than by sailing around Africa and he struggled to reconcile this with his own observations. He writes: "I find that the earth is not as round as it described, but it is shaped like a pear which is round everywhere except near the stalk where it projects strongly, or it is like a very round ball with something like a woman's nipple in one place, and this projecting part is highest ands nearest heaven."

The Poincaré Conjecture Donal O'Shea, Walker and Company, 2007.

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Sooooooooo... As he got older Columbus thought the world had gone pear-shaped and that a woman's breast was close as you'll get to heaven.

Hey. We've all been there...

E@L