This Day in History: <br />Columbus Reaches <br />the New World October 12, 1492 After sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, the Italian explorer saw a Bahamian island, believing he has reached East Asia. His expedition went ashore the same day — on what was probably Watling Island in the Bahamas — and claimed the land for Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain. Columbus had set sail from <br />Palos, Spain, with three small <br />ships, the Santa Maria, the <br />Pinta and the Nina, on August 3. He was attempting to find <br />a western ocean route to <br />China, India and the fabled <br />gold and spice islands of Asia. Instead, Columbus became <br />the first European to explore the <br />Americas since the Vikings set up <br />colonies in Greenland and Newfoundland. Over the next century, <br />the riches of the New World <br />would help make Spain the <br />wealthiest and most powerful nation on Earth.
