Columbus set sail on his first voyage
On this day · 3 August 1492
Three small ships slipped out of a Spanish port bound west across an uncharted ocean toward a world Europe didn't know existed.
On August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from the port of Palos, in southern Spain, with about 90 men and three ships — the Nina, the Pinta, and his flagship, the Santa Maria. Backed by the Spanish crown, he aimed to reach Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic.
The fleet first put in at the Canary Islands to reprovision and make repairs before striking out into open ocean. Two of the vessels, the Nina and Pinta, were small caravels prized for speed and handling; the Santa Maria was a bulkier cargo ship.
After weeks at sea and a restless crew, Columbus made landfall in the Bahamas that October, convinced he had neared the Indies. He had instead opened sustained contact between Europe and the Americas — a voyage whose consequences, for better and far worse, reshaped two hemispheres.
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