Columbus Makes First Landfall in the Americas
October 12, 1492 · Early Modern
On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus and his crew made their historic first landfall in the Americas, arriving at an island in the Bahamas that the native Taíno people called Guanahani and which Columbus renamed San Salvador. This moment marked the first documented European contact with the Americas since the Viking explorations centuries earlier.
Key Figures
Christopher ColumbusMartín Alonso PinzónVicente Yáñez PinzónJuan de la Cosa
Locations
San Salvador
Topics
colonizationChristopher Columbusexploration
Connected Events — 4 Connections
Columbus established La Navidad the first European settlement in the Americas on Hispaniola during the same 1492 voyage Founding of La Navidad Settlement
Columbus landfall in the Americas prompted Spain and Portugal to negotiate the Treaty of Tordesillas dividing newly discovered lands Treaty of Tordesillas Divides the New World
70-day transatlantic crossing culminated in first European landfall in the Americas since the Viking era Columbus Departs Spain with the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María
The Portuguese embassy to Kongo arrived one year before Columbus reached the Americas — both were part of the same Iberian expansion into Atlantic and African worlds Kingdom of Kongo Receives Portuguese Embassy and Converts to Christianity
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