In 1492, a Spanish-based transatlantic maritime expedition led by Italian explorer Christopher Columbus encountered the Americas, continents which were largely unknown in Europe and were outside the Old World political and economic system. The four voyages of Columbus began the Spanish colonization of the Americas.
the earliest known painting[5]
about the discovery of the
Americas,
First voyage
At 8:00 on the morning of 3 August 1492, Columbus departed from
Castilian Palos de la Frontera (on the river Saltes, at the confluence
of the rivers Rio Tinto and Rio Odiel
Land was first sighted at 2 a.m. on
October 12, 1492, by a sailor named
Rodrigo de Triana
Columbus would later assert that he had first
seen the land and, thus, earned the reward of
10,000 maravedís.[31][32] Columbus called the
island San Salvador, in the present-day Bahamas
or Turks and Caicos
Columbus called the island San
Salvador, in the present-day
Bahamas or Turks and Caicos