Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Earth as a Whole
Its Form. - Hundreds of years ago, before America was discovered, men thought the earth was ?at. They travelled so little that they had no idea of its form or of its size.
A few men who had studied the matter believed that the earth was a round ball, and that if one travelled straight on in any direction, he would in time return to the place from which he started. You can understand this by pushing your finger around on the outside of an orange, until it comes back to the starting-point.
Christopher Columbus believed this, and went to Spain, hoping to obtain money to secure ships for a long voyage to prove it.
Men were at that time in the habit of going to a land, called India, for spices, Silks, and jewels. To reach India from Spain they travelled thousands of miles eastward; but Columbus said that if the earth were round, like a ball, India might be reached by going westward across the ocean, and the distance would be much less. He therefore asked the king of Spain for Ships and men to make such a journey.
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