I could be wrong, but I believe that Columbus severely underestimated the size of the earth. I think that fact is why the experts of the time rejected his idea—he thought that Asia was 3-4000 miles west of Europe. They knew, or at least had a good idea of the true size of the earth. There is no way he could have sailed the 12,000 miles to China.
No living European of his time had seen a Chinese/Indian. He knew from Marco Polo’s book that Chinese had straight black hair and very little body hair. They spoke a language that no one in Europe understood and all kinds of exotic flora and fauna. When he landed in the Caribbean he found everything he expected to find—except the great civilizations.
But somehow the royalty listened to this guy and not the experts.
“I could be wrong, but I believe that Columbus severely underestimated the size of the earth. I think that fact is why the experts of the time rejected his idea—”
Yes. Wiki has a short but good writeup.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus#Nautical_considerations
Until the MOSLEMS were defeated, no trans-Atlantic voyage would have taken place. At that time.
Imagine, if you will, Ali Mohammad Columbus.