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Originally Posted by Amnorix
On this day, October 12, 1492, at about 2:00 a.m., a lookout named Rodrigo de Triana spotted moonlight shining off some cliffs or sand. Rodrigo de Triana was aboard the Pinta, one of Christopher Columbus's 3 ships, and his discovery came just as Columbus's crew was threatening to mutiny and return to Spain.
The 3 ships had left Palos, Spain, over two months ago on August 3, 1492, and had now arrived in the Bahamas. Despite having promised a bonus to the first man to find land, Columbus claimed he had seen the land the night before, and kept the bonus for himself.
In a fine example of how the winner writes the history books, Columbus's "discovery" of the "New World" ignores the simple fact that many millions (some estimate as many as 100 million) natives lived on the two continents later dubbed North and South America, as well as vast empires such as the Aztecs and Incas. In addition, some five hundred years earlier Leif Ericsson had followed in the footsteps of a prior Norseman in striking out from Greenland and reaching North America, and even established a colony in present day Newfoundland.
For all that, Columbus's discovery is, of course, tremendously significant for introducing the New World to the all of Europe, and triggering a rush for the riches of the New World in silver, gold and other riches. Ultimately, mostly due to diseases against which the natives had no natural defenses, an estimated 90% of the native population would die before the European settlement of the New World was complete.
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