# Did Columbus ever set foot in what is now the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 5, 2017, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-columbus-ever-set-foot-in-what-is-now-the-us/798042 "2017-10-05T18:16:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-columbus-ever-set-foot-in-what-is-now-the-us/798042/1 "2017-10-05T18:16:39Z")
He landed on many of the caribbean islands, as well as Central America, but I can’t seem to find anything about him making it to what is now the US. Did he ever set foot on any place that is now part of the USA? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-columbus-ever-set-foot-in-what-is-now-the-us/798042/2 "2017-10-05T18:20:04Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > He landed on many of the caribbean islands, as well as Central America, but I can’t seem to find anything about him making it to what is now the US. Did he ever set foot on any place that is now part of the USA? No. He never really got close. Since it’s GQ, [here](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/14/christopher-columbus-3-things-you-think-he-did-that-he-didnt/?utm_term=.337fc3cb13de)is a cite from Washington Post: > [@](#): > > \*Columbus didn’t “discover” America — he never set foot in North America. > > During four separate trips that started with the one in 1492, Columbus landed on various Caribbean islands that are now the Bahamas as well as the island later called Hispaniola. He also explored the Central and South American coasts. But he didn’t reach North America, which, of course, was already inhabited by Native Americans, and he never thought he had found a new continent. You may also remember that it is believed that Norse explorer Leif Erikson reached Canada perhaps 500 years before Columbus was born, and there are some who believe that Phoenician sailors crossed the Atlantic much earlier than that. Um…well, he did go to Puerto Rico, if you consider that part of the US (I was actually thinking of the North American continent). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-columbus-ever-set-foot-in-what-is-now-the-us/798042/3 "2017-10-05T18:26:01Z")
From Wikipedia, here’s a map of his four voyages: > **[Christopher Columbus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus#/media/File:Viajes_de_colon_en.svg)** > > Christopher Columbus\[b\] (/kəˈlʌmbəs/; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italian\[c\] explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and European colonization of the Americas. His expeditions were the first known European contact with the Caribbean and Central and South America. > The name Christopher Columbus is the... According to [the Wikipedia entry itself](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus), during his second voyage, he landed on Puerto Rico (which he named for John the Baptist, a name which endured as the name for the city of San Juan). But, he apparently never came within sight of the mainland United States, much less landing there. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-columbus-ever-set-foot-in-what-is-now-the-us/798042/4 "2017-10-05T18:34:49Z")
To pre-answer a logical followup question, here’s an old thread about who _was_ the first European to set foot on what is now the USA: > **[The First European to Set Foot in What is Now The US?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=379644)** > > This is something that, by all means, I should remember from high school, if not junior high school. I’m very ashamed and embarrassed to admit that I don’t know this. :smack: Anyway, who was the first European to set foot in what is now the United... ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-columbus-ever-set-foot-in-what-is-now-the-us/798042/5 "2017-10-05T18:47:35Z")
During his second voyage he also set foot on St Croix which is now part of the US Virgin Islands. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-columbus-ever-set-foot-in-what-is-now-the-us/798042/6 "2017-10-05T19:03:38Z")
Not on the mainland. If you are even remotely curious about Columbus, I HIGHLY recommend this book: > **[Amazon.com: Last Voyage of Columbus, The: 9780316154567: Dugard, Martin: Books](https://www.amazon.com/Last-Voyage-Columbus-Expedition-Including/dp/0316154563)** > > Amazon.com: Last Voyage of Columbus, The: 9780316154567: Dugard, Martin: Books IMHO, His first voyage discovery was the least exciting trip he made. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-columbus-ever-set-foot-in-what-is-now-the-us/798042/7 "2017-10-05T19:28:55Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Not on the mainland. If you are even remotely curious about Columbus, I HIGHLY recommend this book: > > [https://www.amazon.com/Last-Voyage-Columbus-Expedition-Including/dp/0316154563](https://www.amazon.com/Last-Voyage-Columbus-Expedition-Including/dp/0316154563) > > IMHO, His first voyage discovery was the least exciting trip he made. Seconded. Columbus’s disastrous Fourth Voyage, in which he spent over a year shipwrecked in Jamaica, was probably his most dramatic. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-columbus-ever-set-foot-in-what-is-now-the-us/798042/8 "2017-10-06T01:21:01Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > From Wikipedia, here’s a map of his four voyages: > > [Christopher Columbus - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus#/media/File:Viajes_de_colon_en.svg) > > According to [the Wikipedia entry itself](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus), during his second voyage, he landed on Puerto Rico (which he named for John the Baptist, a name which endured as the name for the city of San Juan). > > But, he apparently never came within sight of the mainland United States, much less landing there. There is also a monument on the beach in the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station to commemorate when he landed there on his second voyage.