European Discovery and Exploration

European Discovery and Exploration

In his first journey, Columbus visited San Salvador in The Bahamas (which he was convinced was Japan), Cuba (which he thought was China) and Hispaniola (where he found gold).

After 29 days out of sight of land, on October 7, 1492, the crew spotted "[i]mmense flocks of birds", some of which his sailors trapped and determined to be "field" birds (probably Eskimo curlews and American golden plovers). Columbus changed course to follow their flight.^[27]

Land was first sighted at 2 a.m. on October 12, 1492, by a sailor named Rodrigo de Triana (also known as Juan Rodriguez Bermejo) aboard La Pinta.^[28] Columbus would later assert that he had first seen the land and, thus, earned the reward of 10,000 maravedís.^[29][30] Columbus called the island San Salvador, in present day the Bahamasor the Turks and Caicos, although the indigenous residents had already named it Guanahani. Exactly which island in the Bahamas or Turks and Caicos this corresponds to is an unresolved topic; prime candidates are Samana Cay, Plana Cays, Grand Turk, or San Salvador Island (named San Salvador in 1925 in the belief that it was Columbus' San Salvador).

The indigenous people he encountered in their homelands were peaceful and friendly. At the time of the European discovery of most of the islands of the Caribbean, three major Native-American indigenous peoples lived on the islands: the Taíno in theGreater Antilles, The Bahamas, and the Leeward Islands; the Island Caribs (Kalina) and Galibi in the Windward Islands andGuadeloupe; and the Ciboney (a Taíno people) and Guanahatabey of central and western Cuba, respectively. The Taínos are subdivided into Classic Taínos, who occupied Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, Western Taínos, who occupied Cuba, Jamaica, and theBahamian archipelago, and the Eastern Taínos, who occupied the Leeward Islands.^[31] Trinidad was inhabited by both Carib speaking and Arawak-speaking groups. Most of modern Central America was part of the Mesoamerican civilization. The Native American societies of Mesoamerica occupied the land ranging from central Mexico in the north to Costa Rica in the south. The cultures of Panama traded with both Mesoamerica and South America and can be considered transitional between those two cultural areas.

Columbus proceeded to observe the people and their cultural lifestyle. Columbus also explored the northeast coast of Cuba, landing on October 28, 1492, and the northern coast of Hispaniola, present day Haiti and Dominican Republic, by December 5, 1492. Here, the Santa Maria ran aground on Christmas morning, December 25, 1492, and had to be abandoned. Columbus was received by the native cacique Guacanagari who gave him permission to leave some of his men behind. Columbus founded the settlement, La Navidad, leaving behind 39 men.