12/10/2026
WHAT HAPPENED TODAY IN HISTORY?
OCTOBER 12, 1492 - COLUMBUS REACHES THE AMERICAS
On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus and his expedition made landfall in the Caribbean after crossing the Atlantic Ocean in search of a westward route to Asia. He arrived on an island in what is now the Bahamas, known to its Indigenous inhabitants as Guanahani, which he renamed San Salvador.
Although Columbus believed he had reached islands near Asia, his voyage marked the first known sustained contact between Europeans and the Americas, opening the way for centuries of exploration, trade, colonization, and cultural exchange between the two hemispheres.
The event is considered one of the most significant turning points in world history. It profoundly transformed societies on both sides of the Atlantic, while also bringing dramatic consequences for Indigenous peoples through conflict, disease, and colonization in the centuries that followed.