Late Middle Ages · North America · Exploration
1492
Columbus Makes Landfall
October 12, 1492
A lookout named Rodrigo de Triana spotted moonlit surf on a Bahamian island just after two in the morning. By daybreak, Columbus had landed on Guanahani, claimed it for Castile, and called its Taino inhabitants Indians, thinking himself off the coast of Asia. The Atlantic world had just been rewritten forever.
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In context
Also in 1492 (6 other events on record)
- Fall of Granada · Europe · War
- Columbus Sails from Palos · Europe · Exploration
- Alhambra Decree · Europe · Religion
- Lorenzo de Medici Dies · Europe · Politics
- Rodrigo Borgia Elected Alexander VI · Europe · Religion
- Nebrija's Castilian Grammar Published · Europe · Culture
Before and after in North America
Before and after in Exploration
Era
Late Middle Ages (1301–1500), one of 874 events from that era on Saeculum.