Columbus proved the earth was round, and other hogwash

Actually, people before Columbus believed the earth was round. There were two schools of thought. One said the earth was big, and if you sail west you will run out of food and provisions before you reach the Indes. The other, led by Columbus, said it was a lot smaller, and that you could reach the Indes in a reasonable length of time. Columbus was wrong about the size of the earth. But neither group expected there to be a whole different continent between here and the Indes. In fact, Columbus never figured it out. Hence the misnomer “Indians” which survives to this day.