On the night of December 24, 1492, Christopher Columbus's ship, the Santa María, struck a reef near what is now northern Haiti. Members of the local Taíno community helped rescue supplies and materials. Columbus used wood and nails from the damaged ship to build La Navidad, the first Spanish settlement in the Americas. He left 39 men at the fort before returning to Spain.
When Columbus came back in November 1493, he found the fort burned down and all its men dead. Guacanagarí, the Taíno chief who had helped him, blamed another chief for the attack. Columbus did not rebuild the fort. Instead, he established a different settlement elsewhere on the island.
Researchers consider En Bas Saline, a former Taíno community in northern Haiti, the likely location of La Navidad. Excavations revealed a large structure that burned near the end of the 15th century. However, the fort's exact location remains uncertain. The ship's remains have not been conclusively identified either. One historian suggests that changes to the coastline may have left them buried on land rather than underwater.
