Where did Columbus first land in the new world?

Sailing for Spain, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus
(1451–1506) and his crew reached the New World (the European term for North and South
America) on October 12, 1492, with three ships—the Nina, the
Pinta, and the Santa Maria. They landed on a
small island in the present-day Bahamas (a group of islands southeast of Florida), which
Columbus claimed for Spain and named San Salvador. Not knowing where they were, Columbus
incorrectly assumed they had reached "the Indies" (Asia), his original destination. He
therefore gave the name "Indians" to the Tainos (Native Americans) he met on the island.
When the Tainos told Columbus about a larger island to the south, he thought it must be
part of China or Japan. Actually, it was the island now called Cuba. After leaving San
Salvador, Columbus and his party spent a month sailing along the coast of Cuba in search
of gold. In early December they reached another large island, which Columbus named
Hispaniola (or Española, the Spanish word for Spain; today
Hispaniola is comprised of the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic). On this
island, Columbus met an important Taino chief who was wearing gold ornaments that he
gladly traded to Columbus for European goods. On Christmas Eve (December 24), Columbus
invited the chief and his people to come aboard the Santa Maria for
a holiday celebration. After the festivities everyone fell asleep and the ship hit a
coral reef, sustaining damages that could not be repaired. On Christmas Day the Tainos
helped the Spanish sailors unload the Santa Maria and carry the
cargo ashore. Columbus then founded the first European settlement in the Americas on the
site, a small bay where the Haitian village of Limonade-Bord-de-Mer now stands. He named
the settlement La Navidad ("the birth"; meaning the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, also
called the Christ, the founder of Christianity) since he had founded it on Christmas
Day. When Columbus left La Navidad a few weeks later to return to Spain, twenty-one of
his men remained behind. Thus began the Spanish colonization of the
Americas.

Further Information:
Jones, Mary E., ed. Christopher Columbus and His Legacy: Opposing
Viewpoints. San Diego: Lucent, 1992; Mariners' Museum. The Age of
Exploration. [Online] Available href="http://www.mariner.org/age/menu.html"
target="_blank">http://www.mariner.org/age/menu.html, October 22, 2000;
Pelta, Kathy. Discovering Christopher Columbus: How History Is
Invented. Minneapolis, Minn.: Lerner, 1991; Phillips, William D., Jr., and
Carla Rahn Phillips. "Voyage of Destiny." American History
Illustrated. September-October, 1992, pp. 28–47; Scavone, Daniel.
Christopher Columbus. San Diego: Lucent,
1992.