Why did Spain look Westward for the Indies?

Answer 1

In the 15 th century conventional wisdom said that the world was flat. Therefore if you sailed too far West you could fall off the edge. However, there was a valuable trade with the far East. The only way to get there was to sail South around the bottom of Africa and then up to the North and over toward the East. That was a exceptionally long, arduous round trip. Columbus postulated that the world was not flat, but was, in fact, round. He reasoned that the world was small enough, and round, and that would enable him to go to the West and reach the Indies. In that way he could avoid the trip around the Continent of Africa. He expected this new route to reach the Indies in much less time. He didn't know that there were two completely unknown continents in his way. When he reached islands off the coast of North America he assumed that he had reached the Indies. As we now know, he was mistaken. He had discovered islands off the coast off one new continent. Eventually he found the othe new continent too.. It took almost another century for spomeone to sail around the tip of South America and reach the Pacific Ocean.