Why did people feel that christopher Columbus's goal to sail west to reach china was not practical?

Answer 1

He sailed west instead of east because he didn't know the existence of North and South America. That's why he bumped into the Americas and thought it was the East Indies. He thought he had found another way, but he really didn't. If he had known about the Americas, he wouldn't have gone that way.

He believed that the earth was round and that you could go West to reach India instead of sailing East. Many people did not believe the earth was round or that the earth was so large you couldn't go around it.

Answer 2

Christopher Columbus wanted to prove the world was round.

Columbus knew that the Earth was Round, what he thought was that the Earth was a lot smaller than it really is, and it would be easy to reach the east by sailing west. What he wasn't counting on, was a whacking great continent being in the way.

Answer 3

The estimates of the distance between Europe and Asia was off by quite a few thousand miles.

Answer 4

At that time, it was against the rules of the church to believe that the Earth was round, and not flat. So people did not exactly support Columbus's expedition.