Why is the exact location of Guanahani still debated?

The exact location of Guanahani, the island where Christopher Columbus made his first landfall in the New World on October 12, 1492, remains a subject of historical debate because the primary accounts of his voyage are incomplete or reconstructed, and the geographic descriptions provided in his journals are subject to varying interpretations.1234

While many scholars traditionally identify the site as San Salvador Island in the Bahamas, others argue that the evidence points to Samana Cay, located about 65 to 80 miles southeast of San Salvador. Proponents of the Samana Cay theory, including the National Geographic Society, have utilized computer analyses of Columbus’s transatlantic route, his courses through the Bahamas, and specific scenic descriptions from his journals to support their claims. Conversely, the identification of San Salvador remains a long-standing historical consensus based on traditional interpretations of his travels. Because the original journals are lost and rely on later transcriptions, definitive physical or documentary proof to settle the dispute remains elusive.1234