Exploration · 1492 CE
Columbus crosses the Atlantic
Guanahani (probably San Salvador Island, Bahamas)
Sponsored by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, Christopher Columbus sailed from Palos on 3 August 1492 with the Santa María, Pinta and Niña, hoping to reach Asia by sailing west. On 12 October he landed on an island its people called Guanahani, probably today's San Salvador in the Bahamas, then explored Cuba and Hispaniola.
He made four voyages in all (1492–1504) and maintained that he had reached the Indies.
Why it mattered
His voyages began lasting contact between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia: the Columbian exchange of crops, animals and diseases, and European conquest and colonization, as Old World diseases contributed to an estimated 80–95 percent fall in Native American populations within 100–150 years.
Related
- The world in 1492: Worlds About to Collide chapter
- The fall of Constantinople previous moment · 1453 CE
- Vasco da Gama reaches India by sea next moment · 1497–1499 CE