Pedro Alanso Niño born 1455 was a Spanish explorer of African descent. He was the pilot of the Nina, one of the three ships on the first Christopher Columbus voyage to the Americas in 1492. Niño also called by some El Negro, was born in Mugar, Spain his mother was an unidentified African woman and why Niño a Spanish sailor was his father. In his formative years Pedro Alonso Nino traveled and explored along the West Coast of Africa. He joined Christopher Columbus on his third journey during which he landed in Trinidad at the mouth of the Orinoco River. Through the earliest days of colonization, Black explorers ventured around the world on expeditions throughout much of what is now known as North and South America. The National Park Service marks the landing of the first Columbus voyage at Salt River Bay in the National Historic park and ecological preserve of the Virgin Islands
