[1] Prince Henry of Portugal, often called "Henry the Navigator" built
the first naval observatory in Europe at Sagres. He may be said to have
laid the foundation of the Portuguese and later Spanish discoveries. In
the time of Columbus the Mappe-Mondo or Map of the World of a Venetian
monk was considered the most complete map yet made.
[2] The statement has been carelessly made in some juvenile books
dealing with the age of discovery, that in the time of Columbus nobody
knew that the world was round. This of course is not even approximately
the case. The conception of the earth as a sphere was generally set
forth in what might be called books of science, and even in some popular
works like that of Sir John Maundeville, who died in 1372. Its
acceptance by the public, however, may be said to have followed somewhat
the course of the Darwinian theory in the nineteenth century. Long after
evolution was admitted as a truth by scientific men there were schools
and even colleges which refused to teach it, and in fact it was not
accepted by the public until the generation which first heard of it had
died.