After resupplying with food and water, from…
August 1498 CE
After resupplying with food and water, from August 4 to 12 Columbus explores the Gulf of Paria, which separates Trinidad from what is now Venezuela, near the delta of the Orinoco River.
He then touches the mainland of South America at the Paria Peninsula in the mainland region of present Venezuela, the homeland of the Carib and Arawak peoples, and thus becomes the European discoverer of South America.
Columbus correctly interprets the enormous quantity of fresh water that the Orinoco delivers into the Atlantic Ocean as evidence that he has reached a continental landmass.
As he sails the Gulf of Paria, he observes the diurnal rotation of the pole star in the sky, which he erroneously interprets as evidence that the Earth is not perfectly spherical, but rather bulges out like a pear around the newfound continent.
He also speculates that the new continent might be the location of the biblical Garden of Eden.
He then sails to ...