Most people at that time thought the world was flat. When you
sailed out to sea and they could no longer see your ship they assumed
you fell off the edge of the world. Columbus figured out (not by
himself, other educated people also knew this) that the world was round.
He figured it was a lot smaller though. He thought he could sail out
into the ocean and come out in India, there by taking a short cut and
putting one over on Spain. What Columbus didn't realize was the world
was alot bigger than he thought and there was a whole Continent out
there nobody knew about. Sooooo when he landed in S. America he thought
he was in India.
