HST 114 In 1492 Christopher Columbus headed across the Atlantic Ocean in order to find a trade route to India. When Columbus finally reached land, he believed that he was somewhere near the Asian mainland. Where he had actually landed, was the Americas. Columbus found, in America, that there were already people living and working the land. Later after exploring, Columbus returned to Spain and told the monarchs of Castile and Aragon about what he had seen. How "rich for planting and sowing, for breeding cattle of every kind, for building to ....