Where did Columbus actually first land?

Nobody knows. The abstract records the Taíno name Guanahaní and a landfall on 12 October 1492, but not a position that can be plotted. San Salvador (Watlings Island) has been the traditional identification since the nineteenth century; Samana Cay, the Plana Cays and Grand Turk have all been argued for on the basis of reconstructed courses and distances. This atlas draws the traditional identification for continuity and marks the whole leg disputed.

Did Columbus discover America?

No. The Caribbean islands he reached had been settled for thousands of years, and the people who met his boats were Taíno. Norse settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland predates him by around five centuries. What the voyage began was sustained contact between the hemispheres, with consequences — demographic collapse, enslavement and colonisation — that followed directly from it.

Is the surviving journal really Columbus's?

Not directly. The original log did not survive. What we have is an abstract made by Bartolomé de las Casas in the sixteenth century, which shifts between quoting Columbus in the first person and summarising him in the third. Anything attributed to Columbus from it is at one remove, and the boundary between his words and Las Casas's is not always clear in the text.

Columbus — The First Atlantic Crossing, 1492 — 1493

3 August 1492 01 / 10 Palos de la Frontera Castile

Three ships sailed on the morning tide before sunrise: the Santa María, a nao, with the Pinta and the Niña, both caravels. The crews came largely from Palos and the neighbouring ports, recruited with the help of the Pinzón brothers, whose local standing mattered more to the manning than any royal order did.

“I propose to construct a new chart for navigating, on which I shall delineate all the sea and lands of the Ocean in their proper positions under their bearings; and further, I propose to prepare a book, and to put down all as it were in a picture, by latitude from the equator, and western longitude.” — Christopher Columbus, in the words copied by Bartolomé de las Casas

Departure from Palos.

6 September 1492 02 / 10 La Gomera Canary Islands

A month in the Canaries repairing the Pinta's rudder and re-rigging the Niña. Sailing west from here put the ships in the north-east trades, which is the single most important navigational fact of the voyage: the trades carried them out, and the westerlies further north carried them back.

“The Admiral says that on that day, and ever afterwards, they met with very temperate breezes, so that there was great pleasure in enjoying the mornings, nothing being wanted but the song of nightingales.” — Bartolomé de las Casas, summarising the lost log

Departure west into the trade winds. The last known land for thirty-six days.

September 1492 03 / 10 The Sargasso Sea Mid-Atlantic

Weed on the water, false landfalls cried from the mastheads, and a compass variation that alarmed the pilots. The abstract records Columbus keeping two reckonings of the distance run — a shorter figure given to the crew and a longer one he believed true — though which was actually the more accurate is itself argued over.

“At dawn, on that Monday, they saw much more weed appearing, like herbs from rivers, in which they found a live crab, which the Admiral kept. He says that these crabs are certain signs of land.” — Bartolomé de las Casas, summarising the lost log

Crew unease at the length of the crossing, reported in the abstractapproximate Growing unrest as the crossing lengthens.

12 October 1492 04 / 10 Guanahaní Bahamas — island disputed

Landfall at an island whose Taíno name the abstract gives as Guanahaní and which Columbus renamed San Salvador. The people who met the boats had lived in these islands for centuries. Within days the abstract records Columbus assessing them as servants and as easy converts, and noting that fifty men would be enough to subject them — the voyage's consequences are legible in its own first week.

“But the Admiral, at ten in the previous night, being on the castle of the poop, saw a light, though it was so uncertain that he could not affirm it was land.” — Bartolomé de las Casas, summarising the lost log

Content note: Language of enslavement and conquest in the source text

disputed First landfall. Contact with the Taíno.

28 October 1492 05 / 10 Cuba Greater Antilles

Columbus took Cuba for a mainland province of Asia and sent an embassy inland carrying a letter for the Great Khan. It came back having found villages, tobacco and no court. The Pinta parted company here under Martín Alonso Pinzón and went off on her own for six weeks.

“This would cause me much delay, and I see that there is no gold mine here.” — Christopher Columbus, in the words copied by Bartolomé de las Casas

approximate Embassy sent to find the Great Khan. The Pinta separates.

6 December 1492 06 / 10 Hispaniola Greater Antilles

Named La Isla Española for its supposed resemblance to Castile. Here the gold ornaments the expedition had been looking for finally appeared in quantity, and with them the reason the second voyage would be seventeen ships instead of three.

“I have spoken in the superlative degree of the country and people of Juana, which they call Cuba, but there is as much difference between them and this island and people as between day and night.” — Christopher Columbus, in the words copied by Bartolomé de las Casas

approximate Gold found in trade. The economic case for return is made.

25 December 1492 07 / 10 La Navidad North coast of Hispaniola

The Santa María grounded on a reef on Christmas Day and could not be got off. Her timbers were used to build a stockade, and about thirty-nine men were left in it because the two remaining caravels could not carry everyone. When Columbus returned the following year, every one of them was dead.

“The king and all his people wept. They are a loving people, without covetousness, and fit for anything; and I assure your Highnesses that there is no better land nor people. They love their neighbours as themselves, and their speech is the sweetest and gentlest in the world, and always with a smile.” — Christopher Columbus, in the words copied by Bartolomé de las Casas

approximate Santa María wrecked. A garrison is left behind.

February 1493 08 / 10 Santa Maria, Azores Portuguese islands

The return crossing ran north to pick up the westerlies and then met severe February storms. The Niña reached the Azores badly knocked about, and part of a shore party sent to give thanks was briefly detained by the Portuguese governor, who suspected them of poaching in Guinea.

“As many beans were got as there were persons on board, and on one a cross was cut with a knife. They were then put into a cap and shaken up. The first who put in his hand was the Admiral, and he drew out the bean with a cross, so the lot fell on him; and he was bound to go on the pilgrimage and fulfil the vow.” — Bartolomé de las Casas, summarising the lost log

Severe winter gales on the return crossing, reported in the abstractprobable Storm-battered arrival. Part of the shore party detained.

4 March 1493 09 / 10 Lisbon Portugal

Another storm drove the Niña into the Tagus, which meant reporting a Castilian discovery directly to the King of Portugal before reporting it to his own sovereigns. The interview was reportedly tense. The territorial argument that followed led within eighteen months to the Treaty of Tordesillas.

“So terrible was the storm, that in the village of Cascaes, at the mouth of the river, the people were praying for the little vessel all that morning. After they were inside, the people came off, looking upon their escape as a miracle.” — Bartolomé de las Casas, summarising the lost log

Forced into the Tagus. The news reaches Portugal first.

15 March 1493 10 / 10 Palos de la Frontera Return

Home to the port he had left seven months earlier. The Pinta made harbour the same day. The letter Columbus had written on the crossing, addressed to Luis de Santángel, was in print within weeks and across Europe within months — the voyage's first press release and the beginning of its mythology.

“At noon, with the tide rising, they crossed the bar of Saltes, and reached the port which they had left on the 3rd of August of the year before.” — Bartolomé de las Casas, summarising the lost log

Return to Palos. The Santángel letter goes to press.

Columbus

Palos de la Frontera

The voyage in brief

Ship's Log

Landfalls & Plates

Reckoning

Difficulty

The route today

How to read the route

How the world was understood

Primary Sources

Further Reading

On Screen

Questions

Where did Columbus actually first land?

Did Columbus discover America?

Is the surviving journal really Columbus's?

Editorial note

Columbus

Palos de la Frontera

The voyage in brief

Ship's Log

Landfalls & Plates

Reckoning

Difficulty

The route today

How to read the route

How the world was understood

Primary Sources

Further Reading

On Screen

Questions

Where did Columbus actually first land?

Did Columbus discover America?

Is the surviving journal really Columbus's?

Editorial note

Counting readers