On October 12th, 1492, Christopher Columbus and his crew finally saw land, which they thought was India but was actually the Americas. They had been at sea for 10 weeks, so the sight of land was huge relief for the crew. This was critical event as it considered Europe’s most noteworthy interaction with people not located in Afro-Eurasia. This began the European idea of exploration of new lands for resources and eventually colonization. This information came from www.americaslibrary.gov. This photo is from Wikimedia Commons and is free to share.