On 02 Jan 05  19:53:24, Bj”rn Felten got back to Douglas Connor 
-> Re: Fight'onet

 BF> Waldseem�ller that suggested the name "America", when all
they did was
 BF> minding their own businesses for centuries and centuries before the
 BF> 16th century Europeans finally overcame their fear of travelling
 BF> beyond the edge of the world platter. :) 

Erasthanes(sp) already demonstrated that the earth was round many 
centuries before that.  

The problem was in navigation in the open ocean.  Latitude was 
already measurable.  It was longitude that caused problems.  

Pacific Islanders had been navigating in the open ocean long before 
Europeans dared venture far out of the sight of land without 
those tools.  

Too an extent, Columbus was lucky.  He used a much smaller estimate 
of the circumference of the globe and ran into America.  BTW, 
he never stepped foot on the continent, only some of the islands 
around the north easter Carribean.  



--- OMX/Blue Wave/DOS v2.30