The small town Palos de la Frontera was the starting and ending point of Columbus’s famous expedition.
Columbus’s expedition returned from its first voyage on this date in 1493. Columbus had set sail from the Spanish harbor at Palos de la Frontera in Andalusia on 3 August 1492, and returned to the same place the next year. This was the end of what is usually considered the most famous journey of exploration in human history. This journey lasted a total of seven months and 12 days.
Columbus’s first journey was conducted using the ships Santa María, Niña and Pinta, with the first one acting as the leading ship. However, it failed to survive the journey.
The small town of Palos de la Frontera, located around 40 km from the border with Portugal, was important to Columbus’s journey because many of his crew came from there, and because of the nearby Franciscan convent of Rábida. Columbus spent some time at the convent preparing for his journey, and was aided by the local monks. Visitors to Palos de la Frontera can today visit a local museum with reconstructions of Columbus’s ships.
