Final answer:
Columbus believed sailing west would quickly lead to Asia, a view based on underestimating the Earth's size and unawareness of the Americas.
Step-by-step explanation:
The assertion that Columbus devised a route to sail west across the Atlantic to reach Asia, believing it would be quicker and safer, is indeed true. Columbus aimed to find an alternative trade route due to the dangers and expense of overland trade following the decline of the Mongol Empire and the disruptions of the fourteenth-century plagues.
While he successfully convinced Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain to finance his voyage, Columbus's navigation was based on a significant underestimation of the Earth's circumference and a lack of awareness of the Americas' existence. He reached the Bahamas, Cuba, and Hispaniola instead of Asia, and went to his grave convinced he had found a new route to the East Indies, not understanding he had encountered what would be known as the New World.