Final answer:
False. Educated individuals in the eastern Mediterranean region knew Earth was round at least 2000 years before Columbus.
Step-by-step explanation:
False. Almost everyone in 1492 believed that the world was round, not flat. Educated individuals in the eastern Mediterranean region knew Earth was round at least 2000 years before Columbus. Ancient philosophers like Pythagoras believed in a spherical Earth, and the Greeks cited the fact that the Moon is a sphere as evidence.