The idea that the world was a sphere, it was found, actually was shared in 
Europe in the l5th century by most intelligent people. Any popular impression 
that it originated with Columbus is quite wrong. Still it was only a theory. 
Nobody had tested it, or seemed inclined to do so until Columbus made his first 
voyage. 
Probably the foremost proponent of the idea was the Florentine cosmographer 
Toscanelli. He became a n crank ,! on the subject. He was convinced not only that 
the world was round but also that it was practical to sail around it westward to 
Asia. Toscanelli himself was no navigator, and he presumably was a poor man. His 
only hope was to persuade somebody else to test out his theory. 
He had tried in vain to interest the king of Portugal, which then was Europe 1 
chief maritime nation. He had laboriously constructed his chart, based on scanty 
records of the geography of far eastern Asia, possible rumors of westward voyages, 
and his own mathematical deductions on the size of the earth. The latter were 
quite wrong. 
In his letter to the Portuguesescourt, Toscanelli stressed the great wealth 
and glory which would come to any nation or individual first to reach Asia by 
sailing westward. Apparently, he sought nothing for himself other than vindica- 
tion of his theory. 
Columbus had the same idea at about the same time. In ll;7li he himself was at 
Lisbon, trying to persuade the king of Portugal to finance a voyage of discovery 
to the westward. He failed to make any headway but heard about the Toscanelli 
chart. He wrote to the Florentine requesting a copy and also any other informa- 
tion he might have abo7it lands across the Atlantic. Toscanelli complied at 
