Finding a new world

While the Portuguese were searching for an eastward sea route to Asia, Christopher Columbus, a sea captain from Genoa, looked to the west. Columbus developed a plan to reach Asia by sailing across the Atlantic Ocean. He was convinced that his plan would work. However, he underestimated the distance between western Europe and Japan—and he did not know that a large land mass lay in the way.

On Aug. 3, 1492, Columbus sailed from Spain in search of a route to the Indies across the Atlantic Ocean. On October 12, he reached an island that he called San Salvador. For many years, historians believed that Columbus's first landing took place on present-day San Salvador, shown on this map. But today, scholars do not agree on the exact site of this landing.

World Book map