Misconceptions and miscalculations of geographical knowledge in the Age of Exploration

During the Age of Exploration, there was a common misconception that people didn't attempt to sail west across the Atlantic prior to Columbus because they thought the world was flat and they would fall off the edge. However, the debate in the Middle Ages actually centered around the scale of the globe - with people believing the Earth was larger than it actually is. This led to the belief that it was more convenient to trade luxury goods from the Indian Ocean world through land routes or by sailing around Africa. Columbus proposed sailing west to reach the east, based on the idea that the Earth was smaller than previously thought. His calculations were based on the work of Al-Fagani, a Muslim scholar, who underestimated the size of the Earth. Columbus further erred by not accounting for the distance accurately between the Canary Islands and Japan, not realizing the calculation was in Arabic miles, and being unaware of the landmass of the Americas. Additionally, Marco Polo's reports and letters he received further convinced Columbus of a shorter distance between Europe and Asia.