The idea was established, almost contemporaneously, by a Frenchman and
an American, between whom I have not been able to establish a connection,
though they were both in Paris at the same time. One was Antoine-Jean Letronne
(1787-1848), an academic of strong antireligious prejudices who had studied
both geography and patristics and who cleverly drew upon both to misrepresent
the church fathers and their medieval successors as believing in a flat
earth, in his On the Cosmographical Ideas of the Church Fathers (1834).
The American was no other than our beloved storyteller Washington Irving
(1783-1859), who loved to write historical fiction under the guise of history.
His misrepresentations of the history of early New York City and of the
life of Washington were topped by his history of Christopher Columbus (1828).
It was he who invented the indelible picture of the young Columbus, a "simple
mariner," appearing before a dark crowd of benighted inquisitors and
hooded theologians at a council of Salamanca, all of whom believed, according
to Irving, that the earth was flat like a plate. Well, yes, there was a
meeting at Salamanca in 1491, but Irving's version of it, to quote a distinguished
modern historian of Columbus, was "pure moonshine. Washington Irving,
scenting his opportunity for a picturesque and moving scene," created
a fictitious account of this "nonexistent university council"
and "let his imagination go completely...the whole story is misleading
and mischievous nonsense."
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Resource Games
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Myth of the Flat Earth
In my research, I looked to see how old the idea was that medieval Christians believed the earth was flat. I obviously did not find it among medieval Christians. Nor among anti-Catholic Protestant reformers. Nor in Copernicus or Galileo or their followers, who had to demonstrate the superiority of a heliocentric system, but not of a spherical earth. I was sure I would find it among the eighteenth-century philosophes, among all their vitriolic sneers at Christianity, but not a word. I am still amazed at where it first appears.
No one before the 1830s believed that medieval people thought that the earth was flat.
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Globalmania
GLOBALMANIA: Master World Geography in Just 7 Months - retail value $12.95. We hope that you take the challenge and enjoy your learning moments together.
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Oil crisis triggers fevered scramble for the world's seabed - Telegraph 5/27/2008
The Law of the Sea allows the maritime powers to claim 200 miles of waters around their islands. They can win an extension to 350 miles if the geology of the seabed fits a set of complex technical conditions.
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Apple Learning Interchange - Google Earth, Geography, Holocaust Mash Up
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Rainbow Resource Center, Inc. - Geographic Features Chart (014844) Details
This colorful chart introduces students to 50 different geographical features, including a channel, a mesa and an isthmus. The back of the chart contains a list of each geographic feature and its definition. Also on the back are two activity sheets with instructions. The first is a black and white copy of the front illustration, where students test themselves by matching the correct geographic feature with its picture. The second activity is a page of flash cards with the geographic feature and its picture on the front and a blank space on the back to write its definition. Both activity sheets can be reproduced as many times as needed. Chart measures 17” x 22”. ~Alysia
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The Code4Lib Journal - Geocoding LCSH in the Biodiversity Heritage Library
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Countries of the World: Geography, maps, flags, history, and more — FactMonster.com
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