The crews of the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María understood that the ships had sailed beyond the distance Columbus had promised for making landfall. They had been out of sight of land for a month, far longer than any other voyage they knew of. Murmurs of anxiety and discontent grew, having simmered for weeks, and Columbus feared they would demand returning home or, perhaps, take worse actions.
None of the Taíno peoples, Isabella, Ferdinand or other Europeans, or Columbus himself then had any idea how the course of their respective worlds’ histories would forever change in six days.