Which modern-day nation is San Salvador Island part of?

San Salvador Island is part of the modern-day nation of The Bahamas. It is one of the eastern islands in the Bahamian archipelago and is administered as both an island and a district.

The island is closely associated with Christopher Columbus’s first voyage. On October 12, 1492, Columbus reached an island he recorded under the name Guanahaní, the Lucayan name used by its Indigenous inhabitants. He renamed it San Salvador, meaning “Holy Savior,” although historians continue to debate whether the modern island is certainly the same place as Columbus’s first landfall.

San Salvador was formerly known as Watling’s Island. In the 1920s, it was renamed San Salvador because many historians and navigators believed it matched Columbus’s descriptions and sailing route. The island’s largest settlement is Cockburn Town.

The Bahamas, an independent country in the Atlantic and Caribbean region, consists of hundreds of islands and cays. San Salvador should not be confused with the nation of El Salvador in Central America or with neighboring Caribbean islands such as Cuba and Hispaniola.