In 1492 , Columbus sail the ocean blue … and entirely missed his mark . His journey may not have go exactly as planned , but there were some interesting roundabout way along the way .
1. THE CANARY ISLANDS
When Columbus define sail from the Spanish port of Palos on August 3 , 1492 , he already had his first Inferno stop planned . TheNiña , Pinta , andSanta Mariaheaded to the Canary Islands off the seacoast of Morocco for last - mo preparation and restocking . It ’s a in force thing , too . By the clock time they arrived , thePinta ’s rudder had disconnected and the ship was taking on urine . ( Columbus suspected some of the crew had second view about the ocean trip and counteract the watercraft . ) There was talk of leaving the ship behind — but what were they going to do , order another one online ? The man repaired thePintaduring the layover and officially headed west on September 6 .
2. SAN SALVADOR ISLAND
We know Columbus — or perhaps a leghorn on thePintanamed Rodrigo de Triana — first spotted earth on October 12 . But what we do n’t know is where precisely they were . Not that there ’s anything incorrect with that — Columbus thought he was in the East Indies ! The island was by all odds in the Bahamas and already live by the Taino people , who called it Guanahani . Columbus named it San Salvador and memorialize that it was " very flat and with very green tree " with a surrounding reef and laguna in the eye . A bit of island accommodate the description , but many scholars later hold that it was probably what used to be known as Watling Island . The Bahamanian governance renamed it San Salvador Island in 1925 .
3. CUBA
4. HISPANIOLA
After China , which was actually Cuba , Columbus place off for Japan . The trip was no pleasure sail : On Christmas Day , theSanta Mariaran aground after make a reef . Columbus ordered his men to dismantle the ship and progress a temporary fort called Villa de la Navidad with some " help " from the locals . Columbus headed back to Spain on theNiñaa few week later , go forth 39 sailors behind on La Isla Española , with his schoolmarm ’s first cousin Diego de Arana act as as regulator . When Columbus returned a year later on , the fortress was destroy and all of the men were dead . Today , Hispaniola is one of only two apportion Caribbean islands , split between Haiti and the Dominican Republic .
5. SANTA MARIA ISLAND
The journeying back to Spain was miserable . After a number of violent storm , the crews of theNiñaandPintadisembarked in the Baía make Anjos on Portugal ’s Santa Maria Island around February 15 . capital of Ohio set off seeking boat haunt while half his gang went to Christian church ( presumably to give thanks God they were still live ) . Alas , the local anesthetic were suspicious of strangers after legion sea rover attacks and quickly arrested the sailor . So first Columbus lost the shipSanta Maria , and then he almost lost half his crew on Santa Maria . Fortunately , he was capable to reason out with the Portuguese to get the sailors free , plus to get some boat repairs . Then they finally head home .
6. DOMINICA
Columbus did n’t have much to show for his adventures when he bring back to Spain , but he quick secured financing for a second voyage . repay to the fort on Hispaniola was his first precedence , but he got a short distrait . On November 3 , 1493 , Columbus spotted a heavily forested island and had to take a spirit - see . The Kalinago natives were n’t very welcoming — and the Europeans thought they were man-eater — so Columbus quickly constitute the island Dominica and headed out to search the neighbour tiny island , including modern - day Antigua and Montserrat . Why did he call this novel place Dominica ? Because it was Sunday ( Domingoin Spanish ) and , if you have n’t notice by now , Columbus was n’t especially original in the designation department .
7. JAMAICA
Columbus was horrified when he finally generate to Hispaniola and found La Navidad in shambles . He and his men build a new colonisation called La Isabela , which was subsequently struck by two of the earliest hurricanes ever observe in North America in 1494 and 1495 . But before the instinctive catastrophe , Columbus made his own trouble by mistreating the local anesthetic and alienating his fellow sailors , who were thirsty , sick , and mutinous . When they failed to find gold , Columbus headed back to Cuba and shortly detect his way to St. Ann ’s Bay in Jamaica . The Taino natives were unfriendly , so Columbus continued exploring and land at Discovery Bay , Montego Bay , and Portland Bight . He did n’t find amber in Jamaica , either , so he went back to Hispaniola before returning to Spain .
Columbus later devolve to — well , was shipwrecked in — Jamaica on his fourth voyage in 1503 after lose his four - sauceboat fleet in a serial publication of storms . He and his men were strand for a twelvemonth , until captain Diego Mendez row a canoe to Hispaniola . By that point , Columbus was n’t even allowed to visit Hispaniola , and it took months of talks before Mendez could hire a rescue caravel .
8. TRINIDAD
9. VENEZUELA
Contrary to what many masses believe , Columbus did not light upon America . But he did get through South America on August 1 , 1498 . As he and his men gathered H2O in Trinidad , they blot the coast of South America . They explored the Gulf of Paria for eight day , discovering the " Pearl Islands " of Cubagua and Margarita and reaching the Orinoco River in Venezuela . Ever wrong about geographics , Columbus admired this verdant fresh land and conclude he ’d reached the Garden of Eden . Sigh .
