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Samana Cay is a small uninhabited island in the central Bahamas, believed by some researchers to have been the location of Columbus's first landfall in the Americas, on October 12, 1492.

The natives of the island on which Columbus first landed called it Guanahani. Samana Cay was first proposed to be Guanahani by Gustavus Fox in 1882, but the predominant theory for most of the 20th century gave the honor to San Salvador Island. However, in 1986 Joseph Judge of the National Geographic magazine made new calculations based on Columbus's logs, and declared that Samana Cay was indeed the right location. Judge's identification is controversial.

Samana Cay had a permanent population during the first half of the 20th century and the ruins of this settlement are visible on the south side of the island, near the western end. The island is now uninhabited, but residents of nearby Acklins Island visit occasionally to collect cascarilla bark, which grows in abundance on the island.

The island is ten miles long east to west, between 1 and 2 miles wide, and about 45 km² in area.

[edit] External links

• Paleogeographic evaluation furthering the Samana Cay landfall theory

Coordinates: 23°05′N 73°45′W / 23.083°N 73.75°W / 23.083; -73.75

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