this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2024
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[–] magic_lobster_party@kbin.run 16 points 7 months ago (2 children)

And the reason why Columbus managed to get funding for his journey was because he used incorrect estimations of the earth’s circumference, which indicated a much shorter distance to India than previous (much more accurate) estimations.

[–] kbin_space_program@kbin.run 23 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Oddly enough it seems the same is true for Mansa's trip. Except that as regent, he gave himself the funding, twice.

However, as wikipedia notes: ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_voyage_of_the_predecessor_of_Mansa_Musa )

  1. No african artifacts have ever been discovered in South or Central America.
  2. Only one of the ships returned, and it only reported the existence of the "Canary Current" which that ship did not enter.

In addition. The dark skin of some South Americans is genetically distant to modern Africans, but has ties to the same markers in some asian cultures, implying its addition was prehistoric and happened in the old world.

[–] PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee 11 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Not incorrect measurements of the earth's circumference, rather he used incorrect maps that showed Asia as being like 4 times bigger than it actually is, with the Polynesian islands and Japan being a continent sized chain, each at minimum the size of Sardinia

The reason people think he was using an incorrect circumference is because one of his journal entries can be read to either say he was close to mount purgatory, which would have been super far from where he'd have been, or that he believed he was heading in that direction, which to be fair he actually would have been had the mountain existed.

I forget who but someone put it like this, if you asked Columbus for what continent he was on, he'd have been wrong, but if you asked for his coordinates on the earth's surface, he'd have actually been pretty close to accurate.

He knew "where" he was, he just didn't know where that where was.