Which statement about Columbus's measurement errors is true?

Which statement about Columbus's measurement errors is true?

• A. Underestimated How Far Marco Polo Traveled
• B. He Had No Idea Of Anything In The Way
• C. They Were Perfectly Accurate
• D. Overestimated How Far Marco Polo Traveled

Answer: (D)

Columbus based his plan on Marco Polo’s reports, treating Polo’s distances as a guide to how far Asia lay from Europe. But Polo’s travels were by land and the miles in his tales aren’t precise, sometimes exaggerating the distances. Because Columbus overestimated how far Polo had traveled, he read the distance to the Indies as smaller than it actually was, which made a westward voyage seem feasible. In reality, the distance and scale were greater than Polo’s numbers implied, contributing to his miscalculation.

Columbus based his plan on Marco Polo’s reports, treating Polo’s distances as a guide to how far Asia lay from Europe. But Polo’s travels were by land and the miles in his tales aren’t precise, sometimes exaggerating the distances. Because Columbus overestimated how far Polo had traveled, he read the distance to the Indies as smaller than it actually was, which made a westward voyage seem feasible. In reality, the distance and scale were greater than Polo’s numbers implied, contributing to his miscalculation.