Searching for a Patron.

Driven by his belief in the possibility of quickly reaching Asia by sailing west, as well as by his notion of having a divinely ordained role in preparing the world for the apocalypse, Christopher Columbus in the 1480s actively sought financial support for his ambitious scheme. Columbus first brought his "enterprise of the Indies" to the attention of Portuguese king John II, who was initially excited by the idea. In 1484 or 1485, however, a crown-appointed committee of Portuguese scholars rejected Columbus's plan as unsound. The committee's decision was not, contrary to popular myth, founded upon a rejection of the idea that the earth was round. The committee's decision was based upon three considerations. First, the committee believed that Eratosthenes's ancient estimate of an earth nearly twentyfive thousand miles in circumference was correct. Second, they rejected...