BBC History Magazine

ANNIVERSARIES

25 DECEMBER 1492

Columbus's flagship runs aground

An unexpected storm causes chaos for the exhausted crew

Christopher Columbus was wretched with exhaustion when, at about 11pm on 25 December 1492, he finally lay down to sleep. This journey had been his first across the Atlantic - he had set sail on the from Spain almost five months earlier, trying to chart a new western route to Asia. While

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