How did scholars, religious leaders & heads-of-state react to news of Colombus’s discovery of the New World?
amazement?
Confusion?
Denouncements of fraud?
Can Dopers recommend the titles of good books on this subject?
I may be assuming too much, but I get the feeling the OP has swallowed the old myth that Europeans of Columbus’ day believed the world was flat… and thus, should have been flabbergasted when Columbus discovered America, and “proved” the Earth is round.
In reality, every educated European knew the Earth is round. That had been common knowledge for centuries, and no one (including the Church) disputed that. Oh, they got many things (like the heliocentric nature of the solar system) wrong, but the shape of the Earth was not one of them.
The kings who refused to sponsor Columbus’ proposed voyage to the Indies did NOT do so because they thought the world was flat. Rather, they believed (correctly) that Columbus grossly underestimated the size of the Earth, and that the Indies were much farther away than he claimed.
i don’t see where the OP implied that 15th century intelligentsia thought the world was flat. Yes, people thought earth was round & that the indies were just too far. They just didn’t expect another couple of continents in the way. I think that’s what the big discovery/ surprise was.
WRONG!
I am well aware of the fact that educated Europeans knew about the fact that the world was round.
Old Stuff.
I am also aware that Colombus got his sums wrong about the size.
Also old. <yawn>
But an unknown continent (2, actually) was discovered.
Learned men rarely admitted that anything unfamiliar to the Ancients even existed.
Christian doctrine stated that, from the time if Christ’s birth, if you weren’t a Xtian, you were dammed, because the Word of God was able to go everywhere. But here were 2 whole continents that had no contact with the Xtian world.
How did these theologians view this situation?
How did the political leaders see things?
I really want a book title, if I can get one.
Bear in mind that Columbus didn’t return and say, “Guess what! I’ve discovered two gigantic new continents!” Instead, he said, “Guess what! I reached what I think are islands off of the Asian mainland by sailing west.” So the initial reaction was to finding a westward route to Asia, not to finding new continents.
(Columbus continued to maintain that what he’d sailed to Asia till the day he died, tho’ scholars debate whether he actually believed it or he was just putting the best face on what was, for him, a bad break. He had wanted to discover a quick way to the riches of the East, not a route to a virtually empty, desolate New World.)
A better question would be, “What was the reaction to the claims of Amerigo Vespucci and others that this was in fact a new continent and not Asia?”
Not entirely true. Given the level of scepticism about Columbus’ distance estimates in advance, it’s no great surprise that his assessment of what he’d done wasn’t universally taken at face value. Writing from the Spanish court, Peter Martyr’s announcement was that “the disclosure has begun of what was hidden from the first creation of the world”, a description he wouldn’t have used of Asia. Furthermore, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto (in his Columbus, Oxford University Press, 1991) states that this “seems to have been the dominant [opinion] among Italian humanists” at the time. Other people thought Columbus had rediscovered the lost island of Antillia. Yet others did think he’d done what he said he had.
The issue is surely discussed in greater detail elsewhere, but Fernandez-Armesto does spend a few pages summarising some reactions.
bump
You can imagine europeans, just having emerged from the boring dark ages where extremely happy to discover tobacco, mariachis, tequila, latin rhythms, ketchup, etc. I would compare their feeling with that of a kid who goes off to college for the first time. I hope that answers your question. 
Looking for titles, here.
The Felipe Fernandez-Armesto title helps, but I was hoping for something more on-target.
Did people discuss the wonder of two new continets? A New World?
Were books written in speculation of the possiblities?
I know Shakespeare refered obliquily to the “savauges” of the New World. But this was more than a century after Columbus.
I expect better from the vast intellect amassed here at the SDMB.