5. The myth of Columbus proving the earth is round
For most of American history, primary school textbooks told the story of Columbus’s first voyage incorporating many myths. Some remain, often as a convenience for teachers of young minds. For example, the complex financing of the voyage is beyond the comprehension of even some adult minds. The utterly false story of Queen Isabella pawning her jewels to fund the voyage remains in many texts. Another part of the story, that of the widespread belief at the time that the world was flat, and that the ships would sail over the edge if they ventured too far westward, was added by a historical novel, written to entertain readers, in 1828.
A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, written by Washington Irving, combined biography and history in the form of an early historical novel. In it, in order to create tension among the crews of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, Irving described them as believing, with the sole exception of Columbus, that the world was flat. Nearly all persons of any level of education at the time accepted the world was round. Irving’s fictional device was the basis for perpetuating the myth that all people believed the earth was flat until Columbus proved otherwise. Some still believe the fallacy today. Columbus, and the funders of his voyage, knew the world was a globe, Irving’s fiction notwithstanding.