Columbus, 1492

Sailing for Spain

On August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus, a sailor from Genoa, left Palos, Spain, with three ships: the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa María. His voyage was paid for mostly by the crown of Castile, Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand II, with help from private backers. Spain hoped a western route would reach the rich trade of Asia without sailing around Africa.

The math mistake

You may have heard that people in 1492 thought the Earth was flat. That's a myth. Educated Europeans had known for centuries that the Earth was round.

The real argument was about size. Columbus combined a small estimate of the Earth's size with a map that stretched Asia too far east. He put Japan about 2,400 nautical miles west of the Canary Islands. The real distance is about 10,600 nautical miles, roughly four times farther. Scholars who advised against the trip were right about the distance. What none of them knew was that North and South America sat in the way.

Landfall in the Bahamas

Early on October 12, 1492, a lookout sighted land: an island in the Bahamas. Its people, the Lucayans, were part of the Taíno, the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean islands, and they called the island Guanahani. Columbus renamed it San Salvador. Which modern island it was is still debated; today's San Salvador Island is the leading candidate.

The Taíno had lived in the Caribbean for centuries, farming, fishing and traveling between islands by canoe. Their descendants and culture survive today.

Thought: the Indies. Reality: the Americas

Columbus was sure he had reached the Indies, the islands near Asia, so he called the people he met "Indians." The name stuck for centuries, even though it came from his mistake. Today it's better to use each nation's own name, like Taíno.

He made four voyages, in 1492, 1493, 1498 and 1502, and died in 1506 still claiming he had reached Asia. Historians debate whether he truly believed it by then, but he never admitted otherwise.

Try it yourself

Spin a globe or open a map app and trace a line west from Spain at the latitude of the Canary Islands. Measure how far you get before you hit the Bahamas, then keep going to Japan. The second line is about four times longer than the first.

Good to know

• The first voyage left Palos, Spain, on August 3, 1492, stopped in the Canary Islands, and sighted land early on October 12, 1492.
• Funding came mainly from the crown of Castile (Isabella and Ferdinand), with Genoese and Spanish private backers. "Spain's king and queen" is a simplification: Spain was then a union of crowns.
• The "flat Earth" belief is a myth. Critics objected to Columbus because his distances were too short.
• Columbus put Japan about 2,400 nautical miles west of the Canaries; the true distance is about 10,600 nautical miles, so "about a quarter."
• Guanahani's people were Lucayans, a Taíno group. Which modern island it was is debated; San Salvador Island is the leading candidate.
• Columbus died in 1506 still claiming he had reached Asia. Whether he truly believed it near the end is debated, which is why we say he "never admitted" it.
• Indigenous peoples had lived in the Americas for thousands of years, and Norse Greenlanders reached North America about 500 years earlier, so Columbus didn't "discover" it.
• The violence and enslavement that followed his arrival are covered in later episodes.

For AP US History learners

This is AP US History Period 1 (1491-1607): know that European exploration, like Columbus's voyages for Spain, aimed at new trade routes and wealth, and that it began lasting contact between Europe and the peoples of the Americas.