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Dream Big on Columbus Day
Who knows what you will achieve?
Was Christopher Columbus really the first European to discover the Americas? How could he "discover" a place already inhabited by native peoples? Despite the controversies, on Columbus Day we can still admire the feisty Italian's vision and determination.
On October 12, 1492, Columbus made his first landfall in the Bahamas, though the precise island is still a matter of debate. During that first voyage from Spain, he continued sailing to Cuba and Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
This dreamy watercolor of a West Indian landscape conjures the sense of wonder that Columbus and his crew must have felt when exotic Caribbean flora first came into focus from the watery distance!
Pictured: Abbott Handerson Thayer, 1849–1921, West Indies, n.d., watercolor, 9 1/2 x 13 1/2 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly.