[Ptarmigan]

I thought Columbus landed in what is now Hispaniola in the Caribbean.

[SunkenCiv]

Hispaniola is where he laid the first colony. The Santa Maria had gone down, and the remaining ships, already crowded (see the Nina/Santa Clara reproduction page; I've visited this, and it's small), had to be relieved of some of their crewmen (the first downsizing operation in post-Columbian America), and Hispaniola was right there. The colony site turned out to be a disaster, and was never reused after colonization began. That site remains lost AFAIK.

[PJ-Comix]

I thought Columbus landed in what is now Hispaniola in the Caribbean.

Nope. First he landed on a small island in the Bahamas.