San Salvador Island is an island and district of The Bahamas. It is widely believed that during Christopher Columbus’s first expedition to the New World, this island was the first land he sighted and visited on 12 October 1492. He named it San Salvador after Christ the Saviour. Columbus’s records indicate that the native Lucayan inhabitants of the territory, who called their island Guanahani, were “sweet and gentle”.
From 1957 to 1959 USN Mobile Construction Battalion 7 constructed a long range navigation (LORAN) Station on the north end of the island on the shores of Grahams Harbour.