I'm a bit confused as to what you mean by

As far as "the North from the South" is concerned, they could be as little a millimeters apart, whereas "East and West" never touch.

This passage doesn't say anything about the distance between "the North from the South," so I'm confused as to why you think they could be "as little as millimeters apart?" The passage is simply using the somewhat arbitrary terms (in this context) of East and West to signify a great distance, like someone today saying "from all four corners of the world." A phrase also rooted in the bible, where the word "corners" is often translated from the Hebrew word "kanaph," a better translation of which would be "extremity." This translation would suggest that biblical people viewed all four directions as arbitrarily distant things, instead of just East and West.

I'm just asking if you could clarify this question, I'm not understanding the wording.

And on the Columbus comment, the idea that people thought the Earth was flat before Columbus is simply a myth.

People have known that the earth was round as early as the 500s BCE.^[1]

Proof is obtained from the evidence of the senses. If the Earth were not spherical, eclipses of the Moon would not exhibit segments of the shape which they do. As it is, in its monthly phases the Moon takes on all varieties of shapes - straight-edged, gibbous and concave - but in eclipses the boundary is always convex. Thus, if the eclipses are due to the interposition of the Earth, the shape must be caused by its circumference, and the Earth must be spherical.

On the Heavens II, 14, Aristotle, 350 BCE.^[2]

Sources:

[1] Evans, James. The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy, Oxford University Press, (1998). p. 47.

[2] Aristotle, On the Heavens, (350 BCE). Book II, 14.