Though it is contested, Columbus supposedly first landed in the New World at Guanahani, which is an island within what we now call the Bahamas. This occurred during Columbus's first voyage on October 12, 1492, the day that is now commemorated as Columbus Day or, in protest of Columbus's subsequent actions toward the native Taino people, as Indigenous Peoples Day.
Other historians claim that he actually landed on San Salvador Island, or what is now known as Watlings Island, also in the Bahamas. Though the exact island of first landing is disputed, all agree that he first arrived in the Bahamas.
Of course, at the time, Columbus did not know where he was. After sailing from the Bahamas, he landed next in Cuba, which he mistook for Cipango, or Cipangu -- what we now call Japan. He then moved on to Hispaniola, or present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic. On second thought, he considered that this island might in fact be Japan, or an island similar to the biblical kingdom of Sheba.
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