San Salvador Island

/ˌsæn ˈsælvədɔːɹ ˈaɪlənd/

San Salvador Island proper noun: the first island discovered by Christopher Columbus during his first voyage.

Image: Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Proper noun

San Salvador Island

(historical) The first island discovered by Christopher Columbus during his first voyage.
An island of the Bahamas; possibly the same as Columbus's island.

Synonyms:

Guanahani
A district of the Bahamas.
(historical) Former name of Santiago: an island of Galapagos, Ecuador.

Synonyms of San Salvador Island

Guanahani
Watlings Island

Forms of San Salvador Island

alternative form	San Salvador
alternative form	Salvador

Origin of San Salvador Island

From Spanish isla San Salvador, given by Christopher Columbus in thanks to Jesus Christ for surviving his first voyage. The identity of the Bahaman island that currently bears the name with Columbus's island is still highly contested. The Ecuadorian island was renamed in honor of Columbus's in 1892 as part of the quadricentennial celebration of his voyage.

Questions about San Salvador Island

What does San Salvador Island mean?: San Salvador Island means the first island discovered by Christopher Columbus during his first voyage.
What part of speech is San Salvador Island?: San Salvador Island is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce San Salvador Island?: San Salvador Island is pronounced /ˌsæn ˈsælvədɔːɹ ˈaɪlənd/.

Words near San Salvador Island in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: San Salvador Island (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “San Salvador Island.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/san_salvador_island. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.