Imagine you're on a ship sailing away from the shore. At first, it looks like the land is getting smaller, but after a while, the whole land disappears below the water. To someone who hasn’t seen that before, it might seem like the world ends at the edge of a flat plane. That’s why many people believed the Earth was flat for a long time.
Examples
- A child looks out from a hill and thinks the sky is touching the ground.
- An old sailor believes that if he sails far enough, he will fall off the edge of the world.
- A farmer sees the sun set behind a mountain and thinks it's going to sleep.
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See also
- How Does Every Continent's Name Explained Work?
- When did people first know the Earth was a sphere?
- How Did Ancient Empires Decide on Borders?
- How Did the Concept of Time Evolve from Ancient Civilizations to Modern Clocks?
- Did slaves have slaves?