Niña (ship) in the context of Vicente Yáñez Pinzón

Columbus Day is a national holiday in many countries of the Americas and elsewhere, and a federal holiday in the United States, which officially celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas. He went ashore at Guanahaní, an island in the Bahamas, on October 12, 1492 [OS]. He built La Navidad on the northwestern coast of the island of Hispaniola (now present-day Haiti) in late December of 1492, the first European fort in the Americas. After the destruction of the fort by the indigenous Taíno people, Columbus established La Isabela on the central-northern coast of the island (now present-day Dominican Republic) in late December of 1493, the first stable settlement in the Americas.

Christopher Columbus (Italian: Cristoforo Colombo [kriˈstɔːforo koˈlombo]) was an Italian explorer from Genoa who led a Spanish maritime expedition to cross the Atlantic Ocean in search of an alternative route to the Far East. Columbus believed he sailed his crew to the East Indies, but Europeans realized years later that his voyages landed them in the New World. His first voyage to the New World was made on the Spanish ships Niña, Pinta, and Santa María and took about three months. The crew's arrival in the New World initiated the colonization of the Americas by Spain, followed in the ensuing centuries by other European powers, as well as the transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, and technology between the New and Old Worlds, an event referred to by some late 20th‐century historians as the Columbian exchange.

Martín Alonso Pinzón, (Spanish pronunciation: [maɾˈtin aˈlonso pinˈθon]; Palos de la Frontera, Huelva; c. 1441 – c. 1493) was a Spanish mariner, shipbuilder, navigator and explorer, oldest of the Pinzón brothers. He sailed with Christopher Columbus on his first voyage to the New World in 1492, as captain of the Pinta. His youngest brother Vicente Yáñez Pinzón was captain of the Niña, and the middle brother Francisco Martín Pinzón was maestre (first mate) of the Pinta.

A ship built in medieval Spain in c. 1441, known as La Pinta (Spanish for The Painted One, The Look, or The Spotted One) was the fastest of the three Spanish ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first transatlantic voyage in 1492. The New World was first sighted by Rodrigo de Triana aboard La Pinta on 12 October 1492. The owner of La Pinta was Cristóbal Quintero. The Quintero brothers were ship owners from Palos. The owner of the ship allowed Martín Alonso Pinzón to take over the ship so he could keep an eye on her.

La Pinta was a caravel-type vessel. By tradition, Spanish ships were named after saints and usually given nicknames. Thus, La Pinta, like La Niña, was not the ship's actual name; La Niña's actual name was the Santa Clara. The Santa María's original nickname was La Gallega. The actual original name of La Pinta is unknown. The origin of the ship is disputed but is believed to have been built in Spain in 1441. She was later rebuilt for use by Christopher Columbus.