# If there were no Americas, was Columbus adequately prepared to go west to India?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-were-no-americas-was-columbus-adequately-prepared-to-go-west-to-india/361594>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 21, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-were-no-americas-was-columbus-adequately-prepared-to-go-west-to-india/361594 "2006-06-21T17:09:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-were-no-americas-was-columbus-adequately-prepared-to-go-west-to-india/361594/41 "2006-06-23T03:09:47Z")

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One other interesting item mentioned by Morison about the voyage:

> [@](#):
>
> “[Columbus] decided to reckon less than he made, so that if the voyage were long the people would not be frightened or dismayed.”

In other words, Columbus decided to tell the crew that they had actually traveled less distance than he himself estimated, so that they would not become frightened by how far they were from land.

Ironically, though, Columbus ended up fooling even himself:

> [@](#):
>
> But the amusing thing is that Columbus overestimated speed and distance in his own mind by almost the same amount that he underestimated it for the ignorant seamen; so that his “phony” reckoning was nearer the truth than his “true” one!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-were-no-americas-was-columbus-adequately-prepared-to-go-west-to-india/361594/42 "2006-06-23T03:15:02Z")

</div>

One other interesting item mentioned by Morison about the voyage:

> [@](#):
>
> “[Columbus] decided to reckon less than he made, so that if the voyage were long the people would not be frightened or dismayed.”

In other words, Columbus decided to tell the crew that they had actually traveled less distance than he himself estimated, so that they would not become frightened by how far they were from land.

Ironically, though, Columbus ended up fooling even himself:

> [@](#):
>
> But the amusing thing is that Columbus overestimated speed and distance in his own mind by almost the same amount that he underestimated it for the ignorant seamen; so that his “phony” reckoning was nearer the truth than his “true” one!

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