The LOC.GOV Wise Guide : The First Cruise to the Caribbean

"In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue . . ." So says the school rhyme that calls to mind the date that Christopher Columbus set out on his first voyage to find a westward route to Asia and happened to discover the New World in the process. On Aug. 3, 1492, Columbus departed Spain with his ships the Santa Maria, Pinta and Niña. In the wee hours of the morning on Oct. 12, a sailor aboard the Pinta spotted land, which Columbus subsequently claimed and called San Salvador, in what is now the Bahamas. He also explored the northeast coast of Cuba and northern coast of Hispaniola.

Pre-Columbian duho, a ceremonial wooden stool, from the Caribbean region

In 1892, on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Columbus' landing, President Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation urging Americans to mark October 12. Some 40 years later, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt set aside Columbus Day as a U.S. holiday. Since 1971, the holiday has been commemorated on the second Monday of October.

Of the indigenous people Columbus encountered on his first voyage, he said "they are an uncommonly simple and honest people, very liberal in bestowing whatever they possess. They are neither sluggish nor rude; on the contrary, they are of an intelligent and piercing mind."

The full account of this voyage is detailed in a 1493 letter that Columbus wrote to Gabriel Sanchez, one of the explorer's financiers.

The online exhibition "1492: An Ongoing Voyage," sets the stage for the period of exploration from 1492 to 1600 and examines the encounters between the American people and European explorers that changed the way these natives led their lives.

Another online exhibition, "American Treasures of the Library of Congress," features Columbus's "Book of Privileges," a collection of documents granting the explorer and his descendants titles, privileges, money and powers.

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, which is held from September 15 to October 15, the Library has compiled many of its Hispanic resources as part of a Web portal in conjunction with the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Smithsonian Institution and U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Featured are a variety of presentations that document the exploration of the New World, including the "Parallel Histories: Spain, the United States and the American Frontier" presentation and "The Cultures and History of the Americas" exhibition.

A. The landing of Christopher Columbus. Prints and Photographs Division. SUMMARY: Christopher Columbus, a priest and two other men standing on shore in foreground. Reproduction Information: Reproduction No.: LC-USZ62-78301 (b&w film copy neg.); Call No.: BIOG FILE - COLOMBUS, CHRISTOPHER [item] [P&P]

B. Pre-Columbian duho, a ceremonial wooden stool, from the Caribbean region. A.D. 1000-1500. Rare Book and Special Collections Division. Reproduction Information: Reproduction information not available.