How did Columbus voyage change European perceptions of the world?

Answer 1

Not very much. Since the days of the ancient Greeks it was already known that the Earth was a globe, that its axis was slightly tilted (the Greeks had even exactly calculated the number of degrees of that tilt) and the size and circumference of the Earth's globe had also been exactly known for well over1,000 years. So the idea that Columbus' sailors (or anyone else) thought that the Earth was flat and that travellers migh fall off at some point is no more than a myth.

When Columbus first tried to get funding from the Portuguese he was rejected because Portugal's experts had looked at his calculations and knew that he was totally off the mark, calculating the Earth's circumference at about 1/3rd of its real size. They knew he could never find the Indies where he thought they were.

So basically the only 'expert' with a totally wrong perception of the world was Columbus himself. The Spanish experts also realized that Columbus had his calculations wrong, but the King and Queen of Spain decided to help him on his way regardless, since it was only a small expedition and you never knew what he might come up with: most experts knew from experience that there must be more land to discover than they knew of at the time.

The only change in perception really was that there apparently was a 'new world' between Europe and the Indies along the Western route. This by the way was not a conclusion of Columbus, who remained convinced to his dying day that he had reached unknown islands near the coast of either India or China. It was Amerigo Vespucci who first published the opinion that the newly discovered land could not in any way be part of the East Indies.

Answer 2

He found continents previously unknown to Europe.

Answer 3

He found continents previously unknown to Europe

Answer 4

They believed there was more in the world to discover.

Answer 5

He died beliving he had reached India. But his voyages changed European view of the worLd

Answer 6

coz he did