From en.wikipedia.org:
[the geographical zone][Equatorial region of Earth thought to be uninhabitable
by classical scholars]
The TORRID ZONE was the name given by ancient Greek and Roman geographers to
the equatorial area of the Earth, so hot that it was thought to be
impenetrable to sailors or explorers. That notion became a deterrent for
European explorers until the 15th century.
** Origin
Aristotle, like all classical thinkers, knew that the world was a sphere. He
posited that the western half of the temperate zone on the other side of the
globe from Greece might be habitable and that, because of symmetry, there must
be in the Southern Hemisphere a temperate zone corresponding to that in the
northern. He thought, however, that the excessive heat in the torrid zone
would prevent the exploration.[1]
Strabo referred to:
{{quote|the meridian through Syene is drawn approximately along the course of
the Nile from Meroë to Alexandria, and this distance is about ten thousand
stadia [~1,800 km]; and Syene must lie in the centre of that distance; so that
the distance from Syene to Meroë is five thousand stadia [~900 km]. And when
you have proceeded about three thousand stadia [~550 km] in a straight line
south of Meroë, the country is no longer inhabitable on account of the heat,
and therefore the parallel though these regions, being the same as that
through the Cinnamon-producing Country, must be put down as the limit and the
beginning of our inhabited world on the South.[2]}}
In 8 AD the poet Ovid wrote in his _Metamorphoses_.
{{quote|...the celestial vault is cut by two zones on the right and two on the
left, and there is a fifth zone between, hotter than these [i.e., _the Milky
Way_], so did the providence of God mark off the enclosed mass with the same
number of zones, and the same tracts were stamped upon the earth. The central
zone of these may not be dwelt in by reason of the heat[3]}}
Pomponius Mela, the first Roman geographer, asserted that the Earth had two
habitable zones, a north and a south one. The second population were known as
Antichthones. However, it would be impossible to get into contact with each
other because of the unbearable heat at the equator (_De situ orbis_ 1.4).
The term _torrid_ is from Latin _torridus_, "burned, parched."[4]
** Proved wrong
Many Europeans had assumed that Cape Bojador, in Western Sahara, marked the
beginning of the impenetrable torrid zone until 1434, when the Portuguese
sailed past the cape and reported that no torrid zone existed.[5]
** References
References:
[1]. [last1=Sanderson ]
[2]. [last1=Strabo ]
[3]. [last1=Ovid ]
[4]. [url=https://www.mobot.org/mobot/latindict/keyDetail.aspx?keyWord=torridus]
[5]. [last1=Hansen ]
Category:Cartography Category:Maritime folklore Category:Maritime history of
Portugal Category:Portuguese exploration in the Age of Discovery