Columbus Reaches San Salvador — First Contact

After 70 days at sea, lookout Rodrigo de Triana spots land. Columbus lands on an island in the Bahamas he names San Salvador (probably present-day Watlings Island). He claims the island for Spain, names the indigenous Lucayan people 'Indians' (believing he has reached India), and notes they would make good servants. Within a generation, the entire Lucayan population will be enslaved and transported to Hispaniola, effectively extinct.