I went in, and found there a stoutish, middle-aged person, in a brown surtout and black tights and shoes, with no more hair upon his head (which was a large one, and very shining) than there is upon an egg, and with a very extensive face, which he turned full upon me.
Quick Answer. Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas on Oct. 12, 1492. He named the island San Salvador and continued on to Cuba and Hispaniola. After he returned to Spain, Columbus made a second voyage to the Caribbean. This voyage landed in Dominica on Nov. 3, 1493.
By Valerie Strauss October 10, 2011 Follow @valeriestrauss. If you learned in school that Christopher Columbus sailed from Spain in 1492 and crossed the Atlantic Ocean, disproving a common belief in those days that the Earth was flat, then the lesson was wrong.