Did pre-Columbian Americans know the spherical shape of the Earth? Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar Manara Planned maintenance scheduled April 23, 2019 at 23:30 UTC (7:30pm US/Eastern)How much did we know about heredity pre-Mendel?What did Native Americans know, or speculate, about the Old world?What, if anything, did Native Americans know about the rest of the world?Did Native-Americans Have Horses?How did pre-Columbian Americans shear their alpacas?How did the mortality of the Native Americans happen?Why did Pre-Columbian Americans not build city walls?Pre-columbus, what tools did Native Americans use to shave their heads and faces?Did medieval scholars believe the Earth was round?Apart from the Inuit, and candlefish on the northwest coast, did pre-Columbian America have lamps or candles?

If Windows 7 doesn't support WSL, then what is "Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications"?

Can you force honesty by using the Speak with Dead and Zone of Truth spells together?

What are the main differences between the original Stargate SG-1 and the Final Cut edition?

Why is std::move not [[nodiscard]] in C++20?

As a dual citizen, my US passport will expire one day after traveling to the US. Will this work?

Simple Http Server

How can a team of shapeshifters communicate?

New Order #6: Easter Egg

Is it dangerous to install hacking tools on my private linux machine?

What is the origin of 落第?

Why do early math courses focus on the cross sections of a cone and not on other 3D objects?

Asymptotics question

Weaponising the Grasp-at-a-Distance spell

Getting out of while loop on console

Sally's older brother

The test team as an enemy of development? And how can this be avoided?

Tips to organize LaTeX presentations for a semester

Putting class ranking in CV, but against dept guidelines

Resize vertical bars (absolute-value symbols)

Can an iPhone 7 be made to function as a NFC Tag?

Trying to understand entropy as a novice in thermodynamics

What is the "studentd" process?

Caught masturbating at work

AppleTVs create a chatty alternate WiFi network



Did pre-Columbian Americans know the spherical shape of the Earth?



Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar Manara
Planned maintenance scheduled April 23, 2019 at 23:30 UTC (7:30pm US/Eastern)How much did we know about heredity pre-Mendel?What did Native Americans know, or speculate, about the Old world?What, if anything, did Native Americans know about the rest of the world?Did Native-Americans Have Horses?How did pre-Columbian Americans shear their alpacas?How did the mortality of the Native Americans happen?Why did Pre-Columbian Americans not build city walls?Pre-columbus, what tools did Native Americans use to shave their heads and faces?Did medieval scholars believe the Earth was round?Apart from the Inuit, and candlefish on the northwest coast, did pre-Columbian America have lamps or candles?










1















The Maya are known for their astronomy and mathematics, most notably their famous calculation of the length of a year. I was surprised to learn that they supported a flat Earth model, though to be fair, a spherical Earth wasn't yet fully accepted in the Old World, either.



Do we know if other pre-Columbian societies knew the true shape of the Earth? It doesn't look like there's much research on this topic, which is maybe not surprising given the lack of written records. I'm interested in knowing what oral tradition says about this. In any case, you don't need advanced technology to discover that the Earth is a sphere, and the conclusion may have been reached independently many times in Eurasia.










share|improve this question







New contributor




Obus is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
























    1















    The Maya are known for their astronomy and mathematics, most notably their famous calculation of the length of a year. I was surprised to learn that they supported a flat Earth model, though to be fair, a spherical Earth wasn't yet fully accepted in the Old World, either.



    Do we know if other pre-Columbian societies knew the true shape of the Earth? It doesn't look like there's much research on this topic, which is maybe not surprising given the lack of written records. I'm interested in knowing what oral tradition says about this. In any case, you don't need advanced technology to discover that the Earth is a sphere, and the conclusion may have been reached independently many times in Eurasia.










    share|improve this question







    New contributor




    Obus is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
    Check out our Code of Conduct.






















      1












      1








      1








      The Maya are known for their astronomy and mathematics, most notably their famous calculation of the length of a year. I was surprised to learn that they supported a flat Earth model, though to be fair, a spherical Earth wasn't yet fully accepted in the Old World, either.



      Do we know if other pre-Columbian societies knew the true shape of the Earth? It doesn't look like there's much research on this topic, which is maybe not surprising given the lack of written records. I'm interested in knowing what oral tradition says about this. In any case, you don't need advanced technology to discover that the Earth is a sphere, and the conclusion may have been reached independently many times in Eurasia.










      share|improve this question







      New contributor




      Obus is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.












      The Maya are known for their astronomy and mathematics, most notably their famous calculation of the length of a year. I was surprised to learn that they supported a flat Earth model, though to be fair, a spherical Earth wasn't yet fully accepted in the Old World, either.



      Do we know if other pre-Columbian societies knew the true shape of the Earth? It doesn't look like there's much research on this topic, which is maybe not surprising given the lack of written records. I'm interested in knowing what oral tradition says about this. In any case, you don't need advanced technology to discover that the Earth is a sphere, and the conclusion may have been reached independently many times in Eurasia.







      science native-americans geography history-of-ideas precolumbian-era






      share|improve this question







      New contributor




      Obus is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.











      share|improve this question







      New contributor




      Obus is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.









      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question






      New contributor




      Obus is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.









      asked 1 hour ago









      ObusObus

      91




      91




      New contributor




      Obus is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.





      New contributor





      Obus is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.






      Obus is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.




















          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          2














          Firstly, it is important to be aware that our understanding of the civilisations and culture of Pre-Columbian America is far from complete. Secondly, I don't propose to attempt to cover every civilisation, so this will - at best - be only a partial answer.



          However, with those caveats:



          As far as I am aware, we have no evidence that any pre-Columbian cultures or civilisations knew the true shape of the Earth. All the evidence we do have supports the idea that they all supported a flat-Earth model. What is more, there seems to be a considerable degree of overlap in the cosmologies of the major civilisations.




          Aztec:



          The Aztecs believed that the Earth had the approximate shape of a giant disk. That disk was divided into four cardinal directions. Above the Earth were 13 heavens, while below the Earth were the 'nine Hells of Mictlan'.



          • Encyclopedia Britannica 'Pre-Columbian civilizations'

          • Miguel León Portilla: Aztec Thought and Culture: A Study of the Ancient Nahuatl Mind


          Maya:



          The Mayans also believed that 13 heavens were stacked in layers above the Earth. The Earth itself was flat and four-cornered, and carried on the back of a giant reptile (probably a crocodile) which was, in turn,floating on the ocean. Below the Earth were nine underworlds once again.



          • Encyclopedia Britannica 'Pre-Columbian civilizations'

          • Canadian Museum of History


          Inca:



          The Inca called their land "Tahuantinsuyu" which (according to the course notes for Lecture 4 of Astronomy 161 at Ohio State) means "The Four Quarters of the Earth". This suggests that they had similar views to those of the Aztec and the Maya. In his paper Animals and Astronomy in the Quechua Universe, Gary Urton observed:




          "... the celestial River is believed to carry into the sky the actual water which flows through the Vilcanota River. As the Vilcanota River flows from the southeast to the northwest, it carries terrestrial water to the edge of the earth. The water then flows into the mar, the cosmic sea, which completely encircles the earth.




          • p 111 (my emphasis)

          Again, this suggests that the Inca also believed that the Earth was flat and four-cornered.






          share|improve this answer

























            Your Answer








            StackExchange.ready(function()
            var channelOptions =
            tags: "".split(" "),
            id: "324"
            ;
            initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

            StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
            // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
            if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
            StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
            createEditor();
            );

            else
            createEditor();

            );

            function createEditor()
            StackExchange.prepareEditor(
            heartbeatType: 'answer',
            autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
            convertImagesToLinks: false,
            noModals: true,
            showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
            reputationToPostImages: null,
            bindNavPrevention: true,
            postfix: "",
            imageUploader:
            brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
            contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
            allowUrls: true
            ,
            noCode: true, onDemand: true,
            discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
            ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
            );



            );






            Obus is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.









            draft saved

            draft discarded


















            StackExchange.ready(
            function ()
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fhistory.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f52223%2fdid-pre-columbian-americans-know-the-spherical-shape-of-the-earth%23new-answer', 'question_page');

            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown

























            1 Answer
            1






            active

            oldest

            votes








            1 Answer
            1






            active

            oldest

            votes









            active

            oldest

            votes






            active

            oldest

            votes









            2














            Firstly, it is important to be aware that our understanding of the civilisations and culture of Pre-Columbian America is far from complete. Secondly, I don't propose to attempt to cover every civilisation, so this will - at best - be only a partial answer.



            However, with those caveats:



            As far as I am aware, we have no evidence that any pre-Columbian cultures or civilisations knew the true shape of the Earth. All the evidence we do have supports the idea that they all supported a flat-Earth model. What is more, there seems to be a considerable degree of overlap in the cosmologies of the major civilisations.




            Aztec:



            The Aztecs believed that the Earth had the approximate shape of a giant disk. That disk was divided into four cardinal directions. Above the Earth were 13 heavens, while below the Earth were the 'nine Hells of Mictlan'.



            • Encyclopedia Britannica 'Pre-Columbian civilizations'

            • Miguel León Portilla: Aztec Thought and Culture: A Study of the Ancient Nahuatl Mind


            Maya:



            The Mayans also believed that 13 heavens were stacked in layers above the Earth. The Earth itself was flat and four-cornered, and carried on the back of a giant reptile (probably a crocodile) which was, in turn,floating on the ocean. Below the Earth were nine underworlds once again.



            • Encyclopedia Britannica 'Pre-Columbian civilizations'

            • Canadian Museum of History


            Inca:



            The Inca called their land "Tahuantinsuyu" which (according to the course notes for Lecture 4 of Astronomy 161 at Ohio State) means "The Four Quarters of the Earth". This suggests that they had similar views to those of the Aztec and the Maya. In his paper Animals and Astronomy in the Quechua Universe, Gary Urton observed:




            "... the celestial River is believed to carry into the sky the actual water which flows through the Vilcanota River. As the Vilcanota River flows from the southeast to the northwest, it carries terrestrial water to the edge of the earth. The water then flows into the mar, the cosmic sea, which completely encircles the earth.




            • p 111 (my emphasis)

            Again, this suggests that the Inca also believed that the Earth was flat and four-cornered.






            share|improve this answer





























              2














              Firstly, it is important to be aware that our understanding of the civilisations and culture of Pre-Columbian America is far from complete. Secondly, I don't propose to attempt to cover every civilisation, so this will - at best - be only a partial answer.



              However, with those caveats:



              As far as I am aware, we have no evidence that any pre-Columbian cultures or civilisations knew the true shape of the Earth. All the evidence we do have supports the idea that they all supported a flat-Earth model. What is more, there seems to be a considerable degree of overlap in the cosmologies of the major civilisations.




              Aztec:



              The Aztecs believed that the Earth had the approximate shape of a giant disk. That disk was divided into four cardinal directions. Above the Earth were 13 heavens, while below the Earth were the 'nine Hells of Mictlan'.



              • Encyclopedia Britannica 'Pre-Columbian civilizations'

              • Miguel León Portilla: Aztec Thought and Culture: A Study of the Ancient Nahuatl Mind


              Maya:



              The Mayans also believed that 13 heavens were stacked in layers above the Earth. The Earth itself was flat and four-cornered, and carried on the back of a giant reptile (probably a crocodile) which was, in turn,floating on the ocean. Below the Earth were nine underworlds once again.



              • Encyclopedia Britannica 'Pre-Columbian civilizations'

              • Canadian Museum of History


              Inca:



              The Inca called their land "Tahuantinsuyu" which (according to the course notes for Lecture 4 of Astronomy 161 at Ohio State) means "The Four Quarters of the Earth". This suggests that they had similar views to those of the Aztec and the Maya. In his paper Animals and Astronomy in the Quechua Universe, Gary Urton observed:




              "... the celestial River is believed to carry into the sky the actual water which flows through the Vilcanota River. As the Vilcanota River flows from the southeast to the northwest, it carries terrestrial water to the edge of the earth. The water then flows into the mar, the cosmic sea, which completely encircles the earth.




              • p 111 (my emphasis)

              Again, this suggests that the Inca also believed that the Earth was flat and four-cornered.






              share|improve this answer



























                2












                2








                2







                Firstly, it is important to be aware that our understanding of the civilisations and culture of Pre-Columbian America is far from complete. Secondly, I don't propose to attempt to cover every civilisation, so this will - at best - be only a partial answer.



                However, with those caveats:



                As far as I am aware, we have no evidence that any pre-Columbian cultures or civilisations knew the true shape of the Earth. All the evidence we do have supports the idea that they all supported a flat-Earth model. What is more, there seems to be a considerable degree of overlap in the cosmologies of the major civilisations.




                Aztec:



                The Aztecs believed that the Earth had the approximate shape of a giant disk. That disk was divided into four cardinal directions. Above the Earth were 13 heavens, while below the Earth were the 'nine Hells of Mictlan'.



                • Encyclopedia Britannica 'Pre-Columbian civilizations'

                • Miguel León Portilla: Aztec Thought and Culture: A Study of the Ancient Nahuatl Mind


                Maya:



                The Mayans also believed that 13 heavens were stacked in layers above the Earth. The Earth itself was flat and four-cornered, and carried on the back of a giant reptile (probably a crocodile) which was, in turn,floating on the ocean. Below the Earth were nine underworlds once again.



                • Encyclopedia Britannica 'Pre-Columbian civilizations'

                • Canadian Museum of History


                Inca:



                The Inca called their land "Tahuantinsuyu" which (according to the course notes for Lecture 4 of Astronomy 161 at Ohio State) means "The Four Quarters of the Earth". This suggests that they had similar views to those of the Aztec and the Maya. In his paper Animals and Astronomy in the Quechua Universe, Gary Urton observed:




                "... the celestial River is believed to carry into the sky the actual water which flows through the Vilcanota River. As the Vilcanota River flows from the southeast to the northwest, it carries terrestrial water to the edge of the earth. The water then flows into the mar, the cosmic sea, which completely encircles the earth.




                • p 111 (my emphasis)

                Again, this suggests that the Inca also believed that the Earth was flat and four-cornered.






                share|improve this answer















                Firstly, it is important to be aware that our understanding of the civilisations and culture of Pre-Columbian America is far from complete. Secondly, I don't propose to attempt to cover every civilisation, so this will - at best - be only a partial answer.



                However, with those caveats:



                As far as I am aware, we have no evidence that any pre-Columbian cultures or civilisations knew the true shape of the Earth. All the evidence we do have supports the idea that they all supported a flat-Earth model. What is more, there seems to be a considerable degree of overlap in the cosmologies of the major civilisations.




                Aztec:



                The Aztecs believed that the Earth had the approximate shape of a giant disk. That disk was divided into four cardinal directions. Above the Earth were 13 heavens, while below the Earth were the 'nine Hells of Mictlan'.



                • Encyclopedia Britannica 'Pre-Columbian civilizations'

                • Miguel León Portilla: Aztec Thought and Culture: A Study of the Ancient Nahuatl Mind


                Maya:



                The Mayans also believed that 13 heavens were stacked in layers above the Earth. The Earth itself was flat and four-cornered, and carried on the back of a giant reptile (probably a crocodile) which was, in turn,floating on the ocean. Below the Earth were nine underworlds once again.



                • Encyclopedia Britannica 'Pre-Columbian civilizations'

                • Canadian Museum of History


                Inca:



                The Inca called their land "Tahuantinsuyu" which (according to the course notes for Lecture 4 of Astronomy 161 at Ohio State) means "The Four Quarters of the Earth". This suggests that they had similar views to those of the Aztec and the Maya. In his paper Animals and Astronomy in the Quechua Universe, Gary Urton observed:




                "... the celestial River is believed to carry into the sky the actual water which flows through the Vilcanota River. As the Vilcanota River flows from the southeast to the northwest, it carries terrestrial water to the edge of the earth. The water then flows into the mar, the cosmic sea, which completely encircles the earth.




                • p 111 (my emphasis)

                Again, this suggests that the Inca also believed that the Earth was flat and four-cornered.







                share|improve this answer














                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer








                edited 58 mins ago

























                answered 1 hour ago









                sempaiscubasempaiscuba

                55.1k6188237




                55.1k6188237




















                    Obus is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.









                    draft saved

                    draft discarded


















                    Obus is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.












                    Obus is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.











                    Obus is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.














                    Thanks for contributing an answer to History Stack Exchange!


                    • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                    But avoid


                    • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                    • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.

                    To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




                    draft saved


                    draft discarded














                    StackExchange.ready(
                    function ()
                    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fhistory.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f52223%2fdid-pre-columbian-americans-know-the-spherical-shape-of-the-earth%23new-answer', 'question_page');

                    );

                    Post as a guest















                    Required, but never shown





















































                    Required, but never shown














                    Required, but never shown












                    Required, but never shown







                    Required, but never shown

































                    Required, but never shown














                    Required, but never shown












                    Required, but never shown







                    Required, but never shown







                    Popular posts from this blog

                    Can not update quote_id field of “quote_item” table magento 2Magento 2.1 - We can't remove the item. (Shopping Cart doesnt allow us to remove items before becomes empty)Add value for custom quote item attribute using REST apiREST API endpoint v1/carts/cartId/items always returns error messageCorrect way to save entries to databaseHow to remove all associated quote objects of a customer completelyMagento 2 - Save value from custom input field to quote_itemGet quote_item data using quote id and product id filter in Magento 2How to set additional data to quote_item table from controller in Magento 2?What is the purpose of additional_data column in quote_item table in magento2Set Custom Price to Quote item magento2 from controller

                    How to solve knockout JS error in Magento 2 Planned maintenance scheduled April 23, 2019 at 23:30 UTC (7:30pm US/Eastern) Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar Manara Unicorn Meta Zoo #1: Why another podcast?(Magento2) knockout.js:3012 Uncaught ReferenceError: Unable to process bindingUnable to process binding Knockout.js magento 2Cannot read property `scopeLabel` of undefined on Product Detail PageCan't get Customer Data on frontend in Magento 2Magento2 Order Summary - unable to process bindingKO templates are not loading in Magento 2.1 applicationgetting knockout js error magento 2Product grid not load -— Unable to process binding Knockout.js magento 2Product form not loaded in magento2Uncaught ReferenceError: Unable to process binding “if: function()return (isShowLegend()) ” magento 2

                    Nissan Patrol Зміст Перше покоління — 4W60 (1951-1960) | Друге покоління — 60 series (1960-1980) | Третє покоління (1980–2002) | Четверте покоління — Y60 (1987–1998) | П'яте покоління — Y61 (1997–2013) | Шосте покоління — Y62 (2010- ) | Посилання | Зноски | Навігаційне менюОфіційний український сайтТест-драйв Nissan Patrol 2010 7-го поколінняNissan PatrolКак мы тестировали Nissan Patrol 2016рвиправивши або дописавши її