Ancient people believed that the earth was flat. Among the proponents then was a Greek named Homer. They could not imagine earth being in any other shape. Hinting of a circular earth would have earned the cruel ridicule, if not the ire, of intellectuals then. The only problem was how to explain getting to the other flat side of the earth. Some said sailing to the extreme end of a flat earth would cause ships to fall into a deep abyss. Furthermore, where did sea water flow to upon reaching earth’s extreme ends?
Plato, a Greek philosopher, put one of the most important facts about earth’s discovery–his theory of a spherical earth. With this theory, the planet would have no extreme ends and would have a continuous circumference without beginning or end. Pythagoras, a mathematician, later confirmed the theory: the earth was round.
In the 16th century, an ambitious sea expedition was made by Ferdinand Magellan. Born in Portugal, he later acquired Spanish citizenship and served the king of Spain. By circumnavigating the earth, he proved it to be round, once and for all.
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