# Canonical recap data for Colombian Exchange: First Transatlantic Voyage (1492)
# Source: https://recap.at/1492/colombus-first-voyage
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: colombus-first-voyage
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1492/colombus-first-voyage"
title: "Colombian Exchange: First Transatlantic Voyage"
aliases:
- Columbian Exchange
- Columbian Interchange
- Columbus's First Voyage
- "1492"
subtitle: Columbus's landfall initiated sustained contact between Old and New World, fundamentally reshaping global demographics, ecology, and commerce.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1492-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1492
decade: 1490
summaryShort: The Columbian exchange, also known as the Columbian interchange, was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, and diseases between the New World in the Western Hemisphere, and the Old World (Afro-Eurasia) in the Eastern Hemisphere, from the late 15th century on. It is named after the explorer Christopher Columbus an
summaryLong: The Columbian exchange, also known as the Columbian interchange, was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, and diseases between the New World in the Western Hemisphere, and the Old World (Afro-Eurasia) in the Eastern Hemisphere, from the late 15th century on. It is named after the explorer Christopher Columbus and is related to the European colonization and global trade following his 1492 voyage. Some of the exchanges were deliberate while others were unintended. Communicable diseases of Old World origin resulted in an 80 to 95 percent reduction in the Indigenous population of the Americas from the 15th century onwards, and their near extinction in the Caribbean.
lede: In August 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed west from Spain across the Atlantic Ocean, reaching the Caribbean islands and initiating sustained contact between Europe and the Americas. The voyage triggered centuries of biological, cultural, and economic exchange—crops, animals, diseases, and people moved between hemispheres, reshaping societies on both sides of the ocean in ways both transformative and catastrophic.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/VegCorn_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-VegCorn_%28cropped%29.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Columbian exchange"
importance: 88
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Voyage departure
  value: August 3, 1492 from Palos, Spain
- label: Ships in fleet
  value: 3 (Niña, Pinta, Santa María)
- label: Crew size
  value: Approximately 90 men
- label: First landfall
  value: October 12, 1492, Caribbean (likely San Salvador, Bahamas)
- label: Voyage duration
  value: 70 days across Atlantic
- label: Patron monarchy
  value: Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain
- label: Indigenous population decline
  value: Estimated 90% reduction in Caribbean indigenous populations within 100 years of contact
timeline:
- date: 1492-08-03
  title: Fleet departs Spain
  description: Columbus leaves Palos with the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María, funded by the Spanish crown.
- date: 1492-10-12
  title: First landfall in the Caribbean
  description: Columbus reaches an island in the Bahamas (identified by historians as likely San Salvador), making first documented European contact with the Caribbean.
- date: 1492-10-28
  title: Arrival in Cuba
  description: Columbus sails to Cuba, believing it to be part of Asia.
- date: 1492-12-05
  title: Santa María wrecks off Hispaniola
  description: Columbus's flagship runs aground; he establishes La Navidad settlement with 39 men remaining.
- date: 1493-03-15
  title: Columbus returns to Spain
  description: Columbus reaches Lisbon after Atlantic crossing, carrying indigenous captives and goods from the Caribbean.
- date: 1493-09-25
  title: Second voyage departs
  description: Columbus leads a larger fleet of 17 ships back to the Caribbean with colonization in mind.
- date: 1500-01-01
  title: Exchange accelerates
  description: Regular transatlantic voyages begin establishing sustained biological and cultural exchange between hemispheres.
- date: 1550-01-01
  title: Demographic catastrophe evident
  description: Indigenous population of the Caribbean has collapsed by an estimated 90% due primarily to introduced diseases.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbian_exchange"
  title: Columbian exchange
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: Columbus's 1492 crossing opened a permanent channel between two previously isolated worlds. What followed—the movement of potatoes and maize to Europe and Africa, horses and pigs to the Americas, and Old World diseases that decimated indigenous populations—reshaped global demographics, agriculture, and power structures for the next five centuries.
categories: []
taxonomy:
domain: cultural
eventTypes:
- cultural_movement
canonicalClasses:
- discovery
- exchange
- transformation
impactRadius: civilizational
velocity: cascading
predictability: black_swan
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: systemic
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: Columbus reaches the Caribbean in 1492, initiating the Columbian Exchange and reshaping the global order.
wikidataQid: Q767253
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260618065645/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbian_exchange"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-18
  label: Columbian exchange
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbian_exchange"
peoplesVoice:
- source: Christopher Columbus, Explorer and Admiral
  voiceType: developer
  context: Columbus writes to the Spanish monarchs immediately after landing in the Caribbean, seeking validation and additional funding for his expedition.
  excerpt: The Indians of this region are very well-formed people, with handsome bodies and very fine faces... they ought to make good and skilled servants, for they appear to have very acute intelligence.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 90
  attribution: Letter to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, 1492
  publishedAt: 1492-10-12
  originalLanguage: es
- source: Queen Isabella I of Castile, Monarch
  voiceType: official
  context: The Spanish crown responds to Columbus's reports with enthusiasm about territorial expansion and conversion opportunities, central to late medieval royal policy.
  excerpt: God has granted us a great victory in revealing these lands. The propagation of our Holy Faith shall be the principal end of this enterprise.
  sentimentLabel: supportive
  significance: 85
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Royal correspondence, 1493
  publishedAt: 1493-04-17
  originalLanguage: es
- source: Bartolomé de las Casas, Dominican Friar and Historian
  voiceType: skeptic
  context: Writing decades later as a witness to the aftermath, Las Casas becomes the first major European voice to challenge the conquest's brutality and its human cost.
  excerpt: The Spanish have brought nothing but war, enslavement, and pestilence to these innocent peoples who knew not Christ before we came with sword and greed.
  sentimentLabel: grieving
  significance: 75
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - His later historical writings, c. 1540s
  publishedAt: 1540-06-01
  originalLanguage: es
- source: Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, Court Chronicler
  voiceType: media
  context: The official historian of the Spanish court documents Columbus's voyage for European audiences, framing it as a momentous discovery worthy of publication.
  excerpt: A new world has been discovered, teeming with riches and peoples unknown to Christendom. Surely this shall transform all of Europe.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 72
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Decades of the New World, 1493 onward
  publishedAt: 1493-11-01
  originalLanguage: la
- source: Juan de la Cosa, Cartographer and Navigator
  voiceType: expert
  context: The expedition's mapmaker reflects on the voyage's geographic implications while beginning to chart the newly encountered lands for European knowledge.
  excerpt: The ocean is not as vast as Ptolemy claimed. We have proven a shorter route westward exists, though what lies beyond requires years of careful mapping.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 68
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Navigation logs and charts, 1492-1493
  publishedAt: 1493-03-15
  originalLanguage: es
