How Columbus Proved the Earth Was Round—Not!

World history students in the U.S.A. claim that Christopher Columbus proved the earth was round, and many adult Americans also believe this historical "truth." From the celebrations of Columbus Day to cartoons about premodern peoples believing the earth was flat to the hero stories used by elementary school teachers, most Americans learn that the Genoese mariner Christopher Columbus accomplished the extraordinary feat of going against all accepted geographical ideas of his day. It is extremely challenging for history teachers to disprove this myth about Columbus, because the historiographical record is obscure for many teachers. I will attempt to disprove this myth by revealing the historiography of the idea that Columbus alone had the courage to prove that the earth was round. I will begin by showing how Washington Irving started this myth in his famous nineteenth-century biography of Columbus. Moreover, I plan to discuss the role of later 19th century American historians in perpetuating this myth and the way their work was incorporated into American history textbooks. My paper will trace the historiography of the Columbus myth in the way Columbus has been used by politicians and show how the myth permeates the K-12 history curriculum. Finally, I will analyze the ways that the Columbus myth is heavily supported by multimedia resources often used by teachers. Ultimately, my goal is to show how the Columbus myth is a "historical truth" that complicates a world history goal of placing Columbus in a global context of expanding European involvement in the larger hemispheric trade networks of the early modern world.