October 12, 1492

Voyages of Christopher Columbus

Columbus's expedition lands on Guanahani

Land was sighted at 2 a.m. — and the crews shortened sail and waited out the darkness rather than risk an unknown shore.

12 October 1492: sighting and landfall

On 12 October 1492, at about 2 a.m., Rodrigo de Triana, a sailor aboard the faster Pinta sailing ahead of the other two ships, made the first confirmed sighting of land; Columbus had reported a faint, uncertain light around 10 p.m. The fleet shortened sail and waited for daylight before approaching the Lucayan island its inhabitants called Guanahani.

A royal reward of 10,000 maravedís a year had been promised for the first sighting.

Ashore with banners

Columbus went ashore in an armed boat with the captains Martín Alonso Pinzón and Vicente Yáñez Pinzón and other members of the expedition. They displayed royal and green-cross banners, and Columbus formally claimed the island for the Castilian monarchs before witnesses, naming it San Salvador.

Islanders gathered at the landing. The parties exchanged red caps, glass beads and small bells for cotton, parrots and spears — and Columbus recorded, on that first day, his intention to carry six people away to learn Castilian.

What the record can and cannot say

The island was neither uninhabited nor unknown: its Lucayan inhabitants had their own name for it and belonged to longstanding Caribbean networks. Nor did Columbus think he had reached the modern nation of India; his “Indies” meant expected Asian islands and territories associated with accounts of China and Japan.

Two limits sit under everything above. Columbus's original journal is lost, and the principal narrative is Las Casas's later abstract; and the modern identity of Guanahani remains disputed, with San Salvador Island traditional but Samana Cay, Plana Cays, Grand Turk and other sites proposed.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 3 audit passes

How this was checked

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What the sources leave uncertain

The date is recorded as Friday, 12 October under the contemporary Castilian calendar and is conventionally retained without conversion to a proleptic Gregorian date.
Columbus's original journal is lost; the principal narrative is Las Casas's later abstract, which includes passages represented as Columbus's exact words.
The modern identity of Guanahani remains disputed. San Salvador Island is traditional, but Samana Cay, Plana Cays, Grand Turk and other sites have been proposed.
Rodrigo de Triana made the first confirmed sighting. Columbus's earlier faint light was uncertain and not universally visible.