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Where did Christopher Columbus make his first landfall in the Caribbean?
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European exploration
Map depicting the European exploration of the New World in the 15th and 16th centuries, including the voyages made by Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci, Pedro Álvares Cabral, Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián del Cano, Giovanni da Verrazzano, Jacques Cartier, Sir Francis Drake, and others. The lines of demarcation represent an early division between the territory of Spain (to the west) and Portugal (to the east).
On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus made his first landfall in the Caribbean on an island the Indigenous inhabitants called Guanahani, which he subsequently renamed San Salvador.123
The exact geographic location of this landing remains a subject of historical debate. While many scholars identify the site as present-day San Salvador Island in the Bahamas, other researchers have proposed alternative locations, most notably Samana Cay, as well as Cat Island.2431