prize7-10, Exercise 2: Correcting a myth

Model answer (myth: "Columbus proved the Earth was round"; check the details):

Correction: By 1492 educated Europeans already knew that the Earth is a sphere, a view found in Greek writers such as Aristotle and in medieval teaching. The argument over Columbus's plan concerned the distance from Europe to Asia by sailing west. Scholars at the Spanish court, using figures close to Eratosthenes's estimate of the Earth's size, judged the distance too great for the ships of the day. Columbus used a smaller figure for the Earth and a larger one for Asia, so he thought the distance was short. He was wrong about the size, and the voyage succeeded in reaching land only because the Americas lay in the way. The idea that his voyage showed the world to be round was popularised in the nineteenth century.

Evidence to cite: Greek and medieval texts on the sphere, accounts of the debate at the Spanish court, and modern histories of the myth.