Columbus Predicted a 1504 Eclipse and Avoided Starvation in Jamaica

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25 points·kerooke··16 comments

There are far better articles on the subject, with more interesting facts or details, e.g. [0]

[0]: https://www.space.com/27412-christopher-columbus-lunar-eclip...

Were the Indians really unaware of lunar eclipse? People living in the nature probably were quite familiar with the phenomenon, so they couldn't predict it, but were not surprised when happened. This sounds like a made-up story from the time of Enlightenment illustrating the deification of Knowledge.

Is not the phenom in itself, is the fact that someone can predict/call upon it that was surprising. The fact that they had already given esoteric meanings to the phenom previously is just the icing of the cake.

And I for one am grateful for the Enlightenment illustrating the deification of Knowledge

Reminds me of how Tintin predicted a 1948 eclipse and avoided being burned at the stake by a hidden tribe of Incas.

The story has beed reused many times in Arts. One more example is in A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court from Mark Twain (1890) and I am sure is many more examples

And now we know that the Incas had a sophisticated understanding of astronomy and detailed astronomical records and observatories. It is highly unlikely that trick would've worked on them, they would've probably predicted the eclipse themselves.

Knowing the future is the ultimate superpower.

The original cargo cult?

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