Template:On this day - October 12

Christopher Columbus

• 1492 – Christopher Columbus lands for the first time in the New World and takes possession of the island of Guanahani (present-day Bahamas) in the name of the Catholic Monarchs.
• 1570 – In New Spain (present-day Mexico), the Villa de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Zalaya (present-day Celaya) is founded.
• 1580 – Birth of Hortensio Félix Paravicino, Spanish orator and poet of the Golden Age (d. 1633).
• 1656 – Birth of Juan de Goyeneche, Spanish publisher, journalist and politician (d. 1735).
• 1709 – In New Spain (present-day Mexico), after a democratic vote, the Villa de San Francisco de Cuéllar (later San Felipe del Real Chihuahua, today Chihuahua) is founded.
• 1745 – Birth of Félix María Samaniego, Spanish writer famous for his fables (d. 1801).
• 1778 – In Spain, King Charles III of Spain issues the Reglamento y Aranceles Reales para el Comercio Libre, which provided for tax-free trade between 13 ports in Spain and 31 in America.
• 1792 – In New York, Columbus Day is celebrated for the first time.
• 1825 – At Sarandí (Uruguay), Uruguayan troops defeat the Brazilian invaders at the Battle of Sarandí.
• 1840 – María Cristina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, widow of Ferdinand VII, abdicates as Queen regent of Spain.
• 1869 – Death of Julián Sanz del Río, Spanish philosopher, jurist and educator (b. 1814).
• 1884 – At the southern tip of Argentine Patagonia, Augusto Lasserre founds the town of Ushuaia.
• 1882 – October 12 is declared the National Day of Spain.
• 1916 – Hipólito Yrigoyen takes office as President of the Argentine Nation, the first to be elected under the system of the so-called Sáenz Peña Law.
• 1923 – In Costa Rica, the Costa Rican Academy of Language is created.
• 1927 – In the Dominican Republic, the Dominican Academy of Language is created.
• 1929 – At the southern tip of Chilean Patagonia, the town of Coyhaique, capital of the Aysén Region, is founded.
• 1936 – Miguel de Unamuno pronounces at the University of Salamanca the famous phrase "Venceréis, pero no convenceréis", addressed to José Millán-Astray, general of the rebel faction.
• 1937 – On the farms along the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, the Dominican police carry out the Parsley massacre, in which between 20,000 and 37,000 Haitian civilians died.
• 1945 – In Paso de los Libres (Argentina) and Uruguaiana (Brazil), the new Agustín P. Justo-Getulio Vargas International Bridge opens to the public.
• 1966 – The Anacoco Crisis breaks out between Guyana and Venezuela over sovereignty of the eastern part of Anacoco Island in the Cuyuní River, part of the boundary of the area disputed by both countries over Guayana Esequiba.
• 1968 – After 180 years of Spanish sovereignty, the overseas provinces of Fernando Poo and Río Muni become independent as the Republic of Equatorial Guinea.
• 1973 – Amid an immense popular celebration throughout Argentina, Juan Domingo Perón, having returned from exile after his last overthrow (in the coup d'état of September 1955) and won the elections with 63% of the vote, takes office as president for the third time.
• 1975 – In the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, the Sahrawi National Unity Day begins to be celebrated.
• 1980 – Death of Alberto Demicheli, lawyer, politician and de facto president of Uruguay in 1976 (b. 1896).
• 1992 – In Seville (Spain), the Universal Exposition, visited by 41.8 million people, closes.
• 2011 – The United States Congress approves the Colombia–United States Free Trade Agreement.
• 2013 – Death of Óscar Hijuelos, American novelist of Cuban origin, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for the Best Work of Fiction (b. 1951).