Resource

HISTORIC ARTICLE

Resource

HISTORIC ARTICLE

Oct 12, 1492 CE: Columbus Makes Landfall in the Caribbean

Oct 12, 1492 CE: Columbus Makes Landfall in the Caribbean

On October 12, 1492, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus made landfall in what is now the Bahamas.

Grades

5 - 12

Subjects

Geography, Physical Geography, Social Studies, World History

















NGS Resource Carousel Loading Logo
Loading ...

On October 12, 1492, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus made landfall in what is now the Bahamas. Columbus and his ships landed on an island that the native Lucayan people called Guanahani. Columbus renamed it San Salvador.

The modern identity of Guanahani remains a subject of historical debate, and over the years, multiple Bahamian islands have been suggested as candidates for “Guanahani”, including Sanama Cay, Rum Cay, Grand Turk Island, and the Plana Cays. However, the most popular theory is that Guanahani is the island today known as San Salvador (which was known as Watling Island until its name was officially changed to San Salvador in 1925 to recognize it as the site of Columbus’ first landing).

The confusion over Guanahani’s modern identity stems primarily from Columbus’ description of the island in his Diario, where he describes Guanahani as having “very green trees and many ponds and fruits of various kinds.” What Columbus couldn’t have known is that this can be said of a great number of the islands in the region.

Further complicating the issue is a map made by Juan de la Cosa. De la Cosa was a cartographer sailing with Columbus, and also the owner of Columbus’ largest vessel, the Santa Maria. Years after their historic voyage, in 1500, de la Cosa made a map of where they’d travelled. While he was fairly accurate of the position and shape of the islands we know as Cuba and Hispaniola, his inaccurate depictions of the Bahamas leave the exact location of Guanahani undetermined.

Media Credits

The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.

Writer
National Geographic Society
Producer
National Geographic Society
other
Last Updated

May 20, 2022

For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.

Media

If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.

Text

Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service.

Interactives

Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.

Related Resources