1492 (Contact): On October 12, Christopher Columbus made landfall on Guanahaní in the eastern Bahamas, an island he renamed San Salvador.

1492 (Contact): On October 12, Christopher Columbus made landfall on Guanahaní in the eastern Bahamas, an island he renamed San Salvador. Archaeological excavations at the Long Bay site on this island have recovered European artifacts, including pottery, metals, and glass beads, which likely date to this initial encounter. While twelve other islands and even Florida have been proposed as the landfall location, the sailing directions and descriptions in Columbus’s journal most strongly support San Salvador. This event marked the beginning of documented European interaction with the indigenous communities of the Bahamas.