# Back when the world was flat, how was climate explained? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 27, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425 "2008-08-27T15:25:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425/1 "2008-08-27T15:25:09Z")
Once the world was determined to be a sphere, and orbiting the sun, a reasonable explaination for warm and cold climates could be formulated. How did people explain the difference in climate between say England and Italy when the world was flat? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425/2 "2008-08-27T15:43:34Z")
If you had enough wealth to be able to travel more than a few miles, chances are you had enough education to know that the Earth was a sphere. Even if you didn’t believe in heliocentricity, seasons could be explained by observing that the sun follows regular patterns of fluctuating orbit – low in the sky during winter and high up during summer. I’m sure some ancient dude meticulously worked out the geocentric geometry to explain it all, but I don’t know who. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425/3 "2008-08-27T16:04:43Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] How did people explain the difference in climate between say England and Italy when the world was flat? [/QUOTE] That’s easy – the Sun goes through the southern part of the sky, so it’s closer to places in the south, such as Italy. Once you get to Africa, the Sun is so close that it burns people’s skins, turning them black. Pretty obvious, oce you think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425/4 "2008-08-27T16:33:50Z")
Gods send whatever weather they want. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425/5 "2008-08-27T16:37:03Z")
What? The weather is that much different somewhere else? Never heard of such nonsense… ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425/6 "2008-08-27T16:41:00Z")
The idea that things in the world have understandable explanations is a relatively new one. It was one of the big changes that came out of the age of enlightenment a few hundred years ago. People didn’t explain climate. It just was. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425/7 "2008-08-27T16:53:00Z")
Doesn’t Sirius figure into this somehow? ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425/8 "2008-08-27T17:21:37Z")
[QUOTE=DrFidelius] What? The weather is that much different somewhere else? Never heard of such nonsense… [/QUOTE] You jest (I think) but I had a roomate who didn’t understand why Los Angeles needed to be in a different time zone than New York. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425/9 "2008-08-27T17:28:54Z")
Cro-Magnon kid: Dad, why is it raining ? Dad: Don’t ask silly questions ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425/10 "2008-08-27T18:41:26Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] That’s easy – the Sun goes through the southern part of the sky, so it’s closer to places in the south, such as Italy. Once you get to Africa, the Sun is so close that it burns people’s skins, turning them black. Pretty obvious, oce you think about it. [/QUOTE] Maybe its the reverse…all those white folks in the northern climes reflect all that heat away, cooling the place down…meanwhile all those “dark” folks near the equator are absorbing all the heat and warming up their areas… Makes perfect sense to me! Ahhh…the solution to global warming…breed/clone a gazillion albino zombies…just selective breed the meaness out em! Blll ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425/11 "2008-08-27T21:43:07Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] How did people explain the difference in climate between say England and Italy when the world was flat? [/QUOTE] Nobody in Italy knew of the existence of England until Rome conquered Gaul and began poking around its seacoast in the first century BC. (Likewise, nobody in England knew of the existence of Italy until that time.) By then, the ancient Greeks had worked out the sphericity of the Earth. Before the Greeks, there were empires spanning hundreds of miles (the Persian and Egyptian, for example), but they had primarily an east-west orientation. Sphericity wouldn’t have helped much in explaining climate variations within those empires even if the inhabitants had known about it. There was more significant variation due to elevation and rainfall, having little correlation with latitude. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425/12 "2008-08-27T21:52:26Z")
[QUOTE=gazpacho] The idea that things in the world have understandable explanations is a relatively new one. [/QUOTE] One which hasn’t entirely caught on everywhere, even our public schools. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425/13 "2008-08-27T22:10:33Z")
Educated people have known the earth was round since the 4th century BC. > **[Flat Earth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_earth)** > > Flat Earth is an archaic and scientifically disproven conception of the Earth's shape as a plane or disk. Many ancient societies subscribed to a flat-Earth cosmography. The model has undergone a recent resurgence as a conspiracy theory in the 21st century. > The idea of a spherical Earth appeared in ancient Greek philosophy with Pythagoras (6th century BC). However, the early Greek cosmological view of a flat Earth persisted among most pre-Socratics (6th–5th century BC). In the early 4th centu... [QUOTE=Laughing Lagomorph] You jest (I think) but I had a roomate who didn’t understand why Los Angeles needed to be in a different time zone than New York. [/QUOTE] They don’t need to be. We could easily all go by the same time, but people like the sun to be generally above them at noon. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425/14 "2008-08-27T23:50:28Z")
It’s somewhat of a related question, and I don’t feel like starting another thread: When is the first recorded mention of understanding that sunrise is not simultaneous worldwide? It’s an assumption that is easily made and it’s not really a practical consideration unless you have high speed communication or transport. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425/15 "2008-08-27T23:56:12Z")
[QUOTE=Santo Rugger] [Times in New York and L.A.] don’t need to be [different]. We could easily all go by the same time, but people like the sun to be generally above them at noon. [/QUOTE] You make an interesting point, since we don’t adjust the calendar for the Southern Hemisphere, yet people in Australia seem to be doing fine having Christmas at the height of summer. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425/16 "2008-08-28T00:00:34Z")
[QUOTE=groman] When is the first recorded mention of understanding that sunrise is not simultaneous worldwide? It’s an assumption that is easily made and it’s not really a practical consideration unless you have high speed communication or transport. [/QUOTE] I don’t have an answer to your question, but unless you have accurate, portable clocks or simultaneous communication, it’s not an easy assumption to make for a flat earther. Would be for a round earther, tho. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425/17 "2008-08-28T00:15:43Z")
[QUOTE=Speaker for the Dead] …yet people in Australia seem to be doing fine having Christmas at the height of summer. [/QUOTE] But strangely our Christmas cards still feature snow, sleighs, holly, etc… the world is odd. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425/18 "2008-08-28T00:28:23Z")
[QUOTE=Apollyon] But strangely our Christmas cards still feature snow, sleighs, holly, etc… the world is odd. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Don’t forget the yule log that starts the rangeland fires during the summer dry season. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425/19 "2008-08-28T02:39:46Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] Doesn’t Sirius figure into this somehow? [/QUOTE] This is the Dope. You can’t be Sirius, can you? ---
**Author:** ![Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425/20 "2008-08-28T02:46:15Z")
[QUOTE=Freddy the Pig] Nobody in Italy knew of the existence of England until Rome conquered Gaul and began poking around its seacoast in the first century BC. [/QUOTE] Not quite true: [QUOTE=Wikipedia] Pytheas (ca. 380 – ca. 310 BC) was a Greek merchant, geographer and explorer from the Greek colony Massilia (today Marseille, France). He made a voyage of exploration to northwestern Europe around 325 BC. He may have travelled around a considerable part of Great Britain, circumnavigating it between 330 and 320 BC. Pytheas is the first person on record to describe the Midnight Sun, the aurora and polar ice, the first to mention the name Britannia and Germanic tribes and the one who introduced the idea of distant “Thule” to the geographic imagination. He may have been the first Mediterranean observer to distinguish between the Germanic and Celtic “barbarian” peoples of northern and western Europe. [/QUOTE] And hundreds of years before that the phoenicians were sailing to Britain for tin. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-when-the-world-was-flat-how-was-climate-explained/461425.md?page=2)