Wednesday, October 24, 1492

by | | Lucayan Islands

Columbus sails for Cuba, experiencing rainy weather and inconsistent winds. He didn’t yet understand how bad the weather could get. In future years, Columbus and Europeans would experience what the Taínos referred to as huracáns.

Monday, October 29, 1492

by | | Cuba

Having reached Cuba, Columbus was unable to establish contact with the local peoples, as they fled when sailors went ashore. Columbus dispatches one of the Guanahanían captives ashore as an emissary—but the locals abandon their homes and flee again.

Tuesday, October 30, 1492

by | | Cuba

Offshore the modern Bahía de Gibara, Cuba, Columbus believes he’s almost arrived at the kingdom of the Grand Khan of Cathay written about by Marco Polo. He prepares to dispatch an embassy of crewmen inland to meet the local ruler. Guanahanían captives offer to...

Thursday, November 1, 1492

by | | Cuba

Before dispatching the embassy ashore, Columbus again tries to establish relations with the local villagers. He sends a Guanahanían captive ashore with instructions to tell the villagers the Europeans are good and harm no one. The villagers lead the captive inside a...

Friday, November 2, 1492

by | | Cuba

Columbus dispatches his embassy ashore to find and meet the local ruler, who he believes resides four days inland. The embassy consists of two crewmen—one who had once led a mission to meet an African ruler, the other conversant in Arabic—as well as one of the...