History, in its arrogance, crowns Columbus the “discoverer,” but it was Martín Alonso Pinzón—ambitious, impatient—who first laid eyes on [[Hispaniola, five days before the date etched into schoolbooks.
Breaking from Columbus off Cuba’s coast, he raised Cap St Nicolas, the land we now call Haiti. But he did not stay. Greedy for gold, chasing whispers of riches from Cuban tongues, he sailed past that sacred shore toward Monte Cristi in what would become Santo Domingo—his eyes fixed not on the people, not on the place, but on the promise of plunder.
