Columbus Petitions Portuguese Court

1484

The Genoese navigator presented his audacious plan for a westward sea route to Asia to King Joao II of Portugal. A royal committee of experienced mathematicians and navigators rejected it, correctly noting that Columbus had drastically underestimated the earth's circumference and that the open ocean between Europe and Asia was far too vast for his small ships to cross. Dismissed by the court that knew the most about oceanic navigation, the stubborn Genoese turned his pitch to Spain.