On this day on the west coast of the island of Hispaniola (the part of the island now known as Haiti), the Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus, established a Spanish fort, La Navidad (‘The Nativity’ i.e. Christmas), built from the remains of his Spanish ship, the Santa Maria. While sailing around the island on Christmas eve, the Santa Maria had run aground and since Columbus had heard that there was gold on the island, he decided to use the wood from the grounded ship to build a fort and to leave the crew on the island as a settlement with the aim of finding the gold. The fort was destroyed and the settlers killed by the native Taíno people within the year.
Columbus Establishes “La Navidad”
26th December 1492