Columbus Day
A sailor on board the Pinta sighted land early in the morning of October 12, 1492, and a new era of European exploration and expansion began. The next day, the 90 crew members of Christopher Columbus's three-ship fleet ventured onto the Bahamian island of Guanahan#, ending a voyage begun nearly ten weeks earlier in Palos, Spain. See http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/oct12.html.