this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2026
2 points (62.5% liked)

AskHistorians

1403 readers
6 users here now

QUESTIONS

  1. Be civil.
  2. Be specific.
  3. Historical topic must be from at least 20 years ago.
  4. Post questions in the title. Elaboration is for the text box.

RESPONSES

  1. Be civil.
  2. Provide comprehensive answers.
  3. Please provide primary and secondary sources upon good faith request. Tertiary sources, like Wikipedia, are not accepted.

askhistorians is a community for academic answers to questions about history. Polls, opinions, bigotry, grammar pedantry, and personal insults will be removed.

Be sure to check out our partner community at: !askscience@lemmy.world !ireland@lemmy.world !dataisbeautiful@lemmy.world !canada@lemmy.ca

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
Patnou@lemmy.world
PugJesus@piefed.social
Rat_in_a_hat@lemmy.ca
Wrufieotnak@feddit.org
2
How easy was it to get lost at sea back in the day? During Roman and Greek periods. Or how did Columbus stumble upon America without getting lost? Highly doubt he just set out in a straight direction. (lemmy.world)
submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by Patnou@lemmy.world to c/askhistorians@lemmy.world
7 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

How did Columbus and his crew not give up after a while with no sight of land?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] nocturne@slrpnk.net 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

how did Columbus stumble upon America without getting lost?

He was lost, he was sailing for the Orient. He grossly misunderestimated the circumference of the world.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

misundereatimated

... So he over estimated it?

[–] nocturne@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 days ago

It is a Bush is meaning to mistakenly underestimate something.