Until recently, San Salvador was considered one of the least important islands of The Bahamas. However, with the quincentennial celebrations in 1992, San Salvador attracted much attention for being the site of the first landfall of Christopher Columbus in the New World, on October 12, 1492. The island is about 12 miles long and 5 miles wide.

The capital and largest city of San Salvador is Cockburn Town, in which is located the San Salvador Museum. The museum features artifacts and replicas highlighting Columbus, the Lucayans (the indigenous peoples of the island), the plantation period, and 19th-century life on San Salvador.

Four monuments honoring Columbus' landfall are located on San Salvador. The Heloise Monument, on the outskirts of Cockburn Town, was erected by the yawl Heloise while on her around-the-world cruise in 1951. A white cross known as the Columbus Monument was erected in 1956 by Ruth Durlacher Wolper, an artist and writer, and stands next to the Mexican Olympic Monument, which was erected in 1968 to commemorate the landfall of Columbus and the holding of the Olympic Games in the New World (Mexico City) that year. Another Columbus monument is located at Long Bay.

SEE ALSO
Christopher Columbus

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This page was last updated on 07/10/2018.