Columbus reaches the New World. Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sights an island in the Bahamas and believes he has reached East Asia. That same day, the expedition lands and claims the land for Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, who had sponsored his attempt to find a western route to the fabled cities of India. Days later, Columbus sighted Cuba, which he believed to be mainland China, and in December, the expedition landed on Hispaniola, which Columbus believed to be Japan. There, he established a small colony with 39 of his men. The explorer returned to Spain with gold, spices, and “Indian” captives in March 1493 and was received at court with the highest honors. Columbus led three more expeditions to the “New World,” making numerous discoveries, never realizing that the lands he explored were part of a new, as yet unknown, continent.
