What caused columbus to think he had reached asia?

Most people at that time thought the world was flat. When you sailed out to sea and they could no longer see your ship they assumed you fell off the edge of the world. Columbus figured out (not by himself, other educated people also knew this) that the world was round. He figured it was a lot smaller though. He thought he could sail out into the ocean and come out in India, there by taking a short cut and putting one over on Spain. What Columbus didn't realize was the world was alot bigger than he thought and there was a whole Continent out there nobody knew about. S when he landed in S. America he thought he was in India.

Because he thought that if he went by the shortcut, than it would be quicker.But he did not know that there was lands that he did not know about.He was so wrong. He thought he would end in india in a couple of days cause the world was small. the world was actually big. He accidently landed in the Bahamas. But the thing is, that when he saw the people at the Bahamas, it fitted the descriptions of how the indians looked like. In that way, he was really convinced that he landed in india.

He didn't know America existed so when he hit land he assumed it was Asia.

Democracy and darwinism would be my answer.