causal claim
Columbus's estimates were completely wrong; an unknown continent lay in the location where he believed Japan, China, and the Spice Islands to be, which enabled his voyage to encounter land.
Si Sheppard · Si Sheppard – How did a few hundred Spanish soldiers topple two empires? · 1 Oct 2026
In their words
The transcript segments this claim was taken from
“Of course, his figures were completely wrong, and he was saved by the fact that unknown to him, there was an entire continent in the place where he thought Japan,”
“China,”
“the spice islands would be.”Play from 2:30Report a misattribution
95%how strongly it was put, not whether it is true
80%importance to the conversation
92%confidence the claim was read correctly