Of the late boyhood and early manhood of Columbus little is known. He seems to have traveled much, and it is certain that he studied much. It was popularly supposed in the time of Columbus that the earth was flat; that it was surrounded by a great world-river called "Oceanus" or the ocean, and that if one should come to the edge he would plunge down into illimitable space. From the time of Eratosthenes and Aristotle, Greek thinkers and scholars who lived several hundreds of years before the birth of Christ had known that the earth was round, and Columbus believed this fact too. He mastered the books, both ancient and contemporary, on geography and navigation, learned to draw charts and to construct spheres, and fitted himself to be a practical seaman and navigator. In 1470 he arrived at Lisbon, Portugal, after he had been shipwrecked in a sea fight and had escaped to land on a plank. In Portugal he married the daughter of an old sea captain. He pored over the logs and papers of his father-in-law, and talked with old seamen of their voyages and of the mysteries of the western sea. About this time he seems to have arrived at the conclusion that much of the world remained undiscovered. There were strange rumors about the western sea. Navigators had seen queer pieces of wood and some canes in the ocean, and the bodies of two strange men had been washed ashore, "very broad-faced, and differing in aspect from Christians." European commerce was in need of a shorter route to Asia than the overland route then in use. Columbus hoped that he could reach the eastern coast of Asia by sailing west. He did not believe the earth as large as it really is, and he over-estimated the size of Asia, so that he did not realize the breadth of the Atlantic or the magnitude of the task before him. Columbus was poor, and money was required for so huge an undertaking as a voyage to Asia. It was necessary, therefore, for him to seek aid in the enterprise. He asked help first from the senate of his native town, Genoa; but Genoa turned to him an unhearing ear. He applied next to King John of Portugal. The king referred the matter to a council of geographers, who reported against it. With the lurking hope that there might be something in the plan, the king was dishonorable enough to send out an expedition secretly to test it. The sailors who made the attempt soon lost heart and returned without having accomplished anything. When Columbus learned of the king's secret attempt, he was so outraged that he left Portugal for Spain. At about the same time he sent his brother Bartholomew to England to enlist the assistance of the British sovereign, King Henry VII. After much waiting and much vexation, Columbus at last gained the interest of the Spanish king, Ferdinand, who referred the proposition to a council of his astronomers and geographers. They finally decided that the project was vain and visionary and that they could have nothing more to do with it.