Editing Flat Earth (section)

=== Myth of flat-Earth prevalence ===
{{Main|Myth of the flat Earth}}
In the 19th century, a historical myth arose which held that the predominant cosmological doctrine during the Middle Ages was that the Earth was flat. An early proponent of this myth was the American writer [[Washington Irving]], who maintained that Christopher Columbus had to overcome the opposition of churchmen to gain sponsorship for his voyage of exploration. Later significant advocates of this view were [[John William Draper]] and [[Andrew Dickson White]], who used it as a major element in their advocacy of the thesis<ref>{{Citation | last = Russell | first = Jeffrey Burton | author-link = Jeffrey Burton Russell | year = 1991 | title = Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern Historians | publisher = Praeger | location = New York | pages = [https://archive.org/details/inventingflatear00russ/page/37 37–45] | isbn = 978-0275939564 | url = https://archive.org/details/inventingflatear00russ/page/37 }}</ref> that there was a long-lasting and essential [[Relationship between religion and science|conflict between science and religion]].<ref>{{Citation | editor-last = Lindberg | editor-first = David C. | editor-link = David C. Lindberg | editor2-last = Numbers | editor2-first = Ronald L. | editor2-link = Ronald L. Numbers | year = 1986 | title = God and Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter between Christianity and Science | chapter = Introduction | publisher = University of California Press | location = Berkeley and Los Angeles | pages = 1–3 | isbn = 978-0-520-05692-3}}</ref> Some studies of the historical connections between science and religion have demonstrated that theories of their mutual antagonism ignore examples of their mutual support.<ref>{{Citation | last = Lindberg | first = David C. | author-link = David C. Lindberg | editor-last = Shank | editor-first = Michael H. | date = 2000 | title = The Scientific Enterprise in Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Readings from ''Isis'' | chapter = Science and the Early Christian Church | publisher = University of Chicago Press | location = Chicago and London | pages = 125–146 | isbn = 978-0-226-74951-8 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation  | editor-last = Ferngren | editor-first = Gary | year = 2002 | title = Science & Religion: A Historical Introduction | chapter = Introduction | publisher = Johns Hopkins University Press | place = Baltimore | page = ix | isbn = 978-0-8018-7038-5}}</ref>

Subsequent studies of medieval science have shown that most scholars in the Middle Ages, including those read by Christopher Columbus, maintained that the Earth was spherical.<ref>{{Citation | last = Grant | first = Edward | author-link = Edward Grant | date = 1994 | title = Planets. Stars, & Orbs: The Medieval Cosmos, 1200–1687 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge | pages = 620–622, 626–630 | isbn = 978-0-521-56509-7}}</ref>