First Landing of Columbus on the Shores of the New World – At San Salvador, West Indies, October 12, 1492

In August 1492, Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer and navigator sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I of Spain, embarked on his first voyage west across the Atlantic Ocean seeking a direct sea route to China and India, and the riches they promised. On October 12, 1492, Columbus and his men landed on an island in the Bahamas, which he called San Salvador (the natives called it Guanahani) -- a landing which is commemorated 400 years later by this print based on a painting of the scene as imagined by the nineteenth-century Spanish artist Dióscoro Teófilo Puebla Tolín. While Columbus did not discover the sought-for passage to Asia, Europeans credited him with "discovering" the Americas, thereby launching centuries of European exploration (and colonialism) of the Western Hemisphere.

In 1892, the United States President Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation that established October 12th as a day to honor the "400th anniversary of the discovery of America," known as Discovery Day (Columbus Day became a federal holiday in 1937). It was originally intended to recognize the Native Americans who were here before Columbus, as well as the countless immigrants who came after (although decades later this October 12th holiday became controversial). In 1892, New Yorkers celebrated its first Discovery Day holiday with parades, Brooklyn Bridge fireworks displays, and a music festival. The firm of Currier & Ives was eager to provide a printed picture that would promote this important commemorative occasion to its customers, as well as to add this image to depictions of American history and identity.


Nathaniel Currier, whose successful New York-based lithography firm began in 1835, produced thousands of hand-colored prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life and its history. People eagerly acquired such lithographs featuring picturesque scenery, rural and city views, ships, railroads, portraits, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments. As the firm expanded, Nathaniel included his younger brother Charles in the business. In 1857, James Merritt Ives (the firm's accountant since 1852 and Charles's brother-in-law) was made a business partner; subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm continued until 1907.