Columbus reaches the “New World”

Also Within this year in history

1492 was the year “Columbus sailed the ocean blue” on the first of his four transatlantic voyages. But the year wasn’t all smooth sailing. Spain’s Catholic monarchs ended centuries of Muslim rule on the Iberian Peninsula, eventually driving out 3 million Muslims. The Spanish also expelled close to 200,000 Jews who refused to convert to Catholicism. And in what was surely a marvel to medieval farmers, the first recorded meteorite slammed into an Alsatian wheat field.

Jan

Exploration

Reconquest of Spain

The kingdom of Granada falls to the Christian forces of King Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella I, and the Moors lose their last foothold in Spain.

Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images

Mar

Religion

Spain announces it will expel all Jews

In 1492, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castille issue the Alhambra Decree, mandating that all Jews be expelled from the country. This comes not long after they had conquered the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, finally freeing Spain from Muslim rule after nearly 800 years.

Aug

Exploration

Columbus sets sail from Spain

From the Spanish port of Palos, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sets sail in command of three ships—the Santa Maria, the Pinta and the Nina—on a journey to find a western sea route to China, India and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia.

Oct

Exploration

Columbus reaches the “New World”

After sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sights a Bahamian island on October 12, 1492, believing he has reached East Asia. His expedition went ashore the same day and claimed the land for Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, who sponsored his attempt to find a western ocean route to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia.

A depiction of Genoese navigator Christopher Columbus (1451 - 1506) claiming possession of the New World, 1492. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Getty Images

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