The first Caribbean island Columbus sighted on his second voyage was Dominica. His fleet reached the island on November 3, 1493, during a westward passage through the Lesser Antilles.
This voyage was much larger than Columbus’s first expedition. He sailed from Cádiz in September 1493 with seventeen ships and more than a thousand people, intending to establish a permanent Spanish presence in the lands he believed were part of Asia. After sighting Dominica, the fleet continued through the Lesser Antilles, visiting islands including Guadeloupe and Antigua before heading toward Hispaniola.
Dominica’s rugged mountains and dense forests made it a striking landmark for the expedition. Columbus reportedly named it Dominica because the island was sighted on a Sunday—the Spanish word domingo means Sunday. Puerto Rico was encountered later on the same voyage, while Jamaica was associated with Columbus’s second voyage in 1494, not his first island sighting.