![]() The Washington Post, for example, observed that: Yet uncertainty remains among historians about the "official" or "original" names of the ships, as opposed to the nicknames given to them by their crews. ![]() No contemporaneous images of his famous 1492-93 expedition's three ships exist, but we at least know the names of those vessels, right?Īs we all learned by rote in school, they were the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. It turns out that even some inconsequential basic "facts" about Columbus' famed first voyage are problematic. The big question for Columbus, it turns out, was not the shape of the Earth but the size of the ocean he was planning to cross. Several books published in Europe between 12 discussed the Earth’s shape, including “The Sphere,” written in the early 1200s, which was required reading in European universities in the 1300s and beyond. Columbus in fact owned a copy of Ptolemy’s Geography, written at the height of the Roman Empire, 1,300 years before Chris Columbus set sail. That information was already a generally accepted fact among educated people of Columbus' time, and, in any case, Columbus didn't definitively establish it by circumnavigating the globe:Īs early as the sixth century B.C., Pythagoras - later followed by Aristotle and Euclid - wrote about Earth as a sphere, and historians say there is no doubt that the educated in Columbus’s day knew quite well that the Earth was round. And finally, Columbus certainly didn't " prove" the Earth was round, nor did he set out to do so. And even if Columbus had reached North America proper by ship at some point, it's unlikely he would have been the first person, or even the first European, to do so. During his first expedition (1492-93), Columbus' ships touched on various islands that we now know as the Bahamas, Cuba, and Hispaniola, i.e., the Dominican Republic and Haiti. At no time during any of his four voyages across the Atlantic did Christopher Columbus make landfall at, or set foot on, the North American continent. We're now more aware that much of that simple historical narrative is inaccurate. If you’re a fan of Kentucky history, you’ll love these incredible photos that are some of the oldest ever taken in the state! And if you’re looking for another cool historic locale to explore, make your way to the amazing Henry Clay Estate.One of the primary historical "facts" many of us learned as schoolchildren was that "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue," and in three ships named the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, the intrepid Italian explorer -sponsored by Spanish monarchs - sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and "discovered America," in the process finally proving to the world that the Earth was round. For more on the ships and their other Kentucky destinations, visit The Nina & Pinta Columbus Ships website here. You can find more information about the first event in July in Grand Rivers on Facebook here. Will you attend these unique floating history museums? Share your thoughts with us in the comments! It’s pretty remarkable that these historic ships have been recreated for us to experience today, and it’s especially exciting that you can step aboard both of them in Kentucky this year. No matter where you are in Kentucky, these historic ships will be arriving near you soon, and you'll want to take advantage of this unique opportunity to step back in time as you step aboard two of history's most famous ships. You can view the complete schedule on the website (linked below).
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