People used to think the Earth was flat because that’s what they saw. Imagine you're standing on a big, open plain, it looks like everything is going straight out in all directions, so it makes sense to think the whole world is just a flat surface. But when sailors went further out to sea and saw ships disappear over the horizon, people started wondering if maybe the Earth wasn’t flat after all.
Examples
- A kid on a beach sees ships disappear over the edge of the world
- A farmer thinks the sky is just above a flat Earth like a lid
- A sailor’s ship vanishes as it goes further out to sea
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See also
- How Did Ancient Empires Decide on Borders?
- Did slaves have slaves?
- How Did the Concept of Time Evolve from Ancient Civilizations to Modern Clocks?
- How Did the Moon Influence Ancient Navigation?
- How Did the First Maps Influence Explorers?