August 5, 1498

Third voyage of Christopher Columbus

Columbus’s expedition takes possession on the Paria Peninsula

The expedition claimed a continent while calling it an island — and the surviving accounts disagree over whether Columbus himself set foot on it.

5 August 1498, on the Paria Peninsula

Boats from Columbus's third-voyage squadron reached the Paria Peninsula, on the South American mainland in present-day Venezuela, on 5 August 1498.

A Spanish agent performed a formal act of possession on the mainland for Ferdinand and Isabella, following the customary ceremonies. Columbus called the country the "Island of Gracia," not realising that it was continental South America.

Who actually went ashore

The accounts disagree. Captain Pedro de Terreros reportedly planted a cross and took possession on Columbus's behalf, while Captain Hernán Pérez later maintained that Columbus himself came ashore.

Columbus was reportedly suffering from prolonged insomnia and badly impaired eyes at the time.

The date of the landing and the possession ceremony is well supported; whether Columbus personally stepped ashore that day is disputed by the surviving accounts.

Pearls, gold, and a report preserved indirectly

The squadron continued west along Paria's coast within the following days, encountered populated settlements, and traded for gold ornaments and pearls.

Columbus's own third-voyage report is not an intact daily log. It survives through later copies or digests, especially Bartolomé de las Casas's work, so fine-grained reconstructions depend on comparing derivative accounts.

The ceremony placed a formal European claim on Paria. It did not create ownership in the eyes of the Indigenous peoples already living there.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 2 audit passes

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

What the sources leave uncertain

The date of the expedition’s mainland landing and possession ceremony is well supported, but whether Columbus personally stepped ashore that day is disputed by the surviving accounts.
Columbus’s own third-voyage report is not an intact daily log. It survives through later copies or digests, especially Bartolomé de las Casas’s work, so fine-grained reconstructions depend on comparing derivative accounts.
The unconverted date is the contemporary Julian-calendar date conventionally used in histories of the voyage.