Centuries before, New World explorers in wooden ships had stood at a similar point in time. These bold explorers had to convince the royal courts of Europe that the vast ocean between Europe and the Indies could be crossed. They had to persuade the monarchs to invest in the research needed to make the crossing: ships, maps, mapmakers, people, supplies and equipment. They then had to prove that the barrier, the ocean, could be safely overcome. A few still believed the world was flat and that such a trip would bring only death. Others believed that the mapping calculations for trips such as these were incorrect and that the distance would be too great for the ships sailing at that time. Most did believe that this obstacle, the vast ocean, was impossible to cross. They believed that lives would be lost attempting to break this barrier.

Next