(Reuters) – Spanish scientists said Saturday that 15th-century explorer Christopher Columbus was a Sephardic Jew from Western Europe, after using DNA analysis to solve a centuries-old mystery.
Many countries debate the origin and final burial place of this highly controversial figure who, beginning in the 1490s, helped pave the way for the European conquest of the Americas with the help of Spain.
Many historians have questioned the traditional theory that Columbus came from Genoa, Italy. Other theories range from him being a Spanish or Greek Jew to Basque, Portuguese or British.
To solve the mystery, researchers conducted a 22-year investigation in which they examined small samples of remains buried in the Seville Cathedral, long identified by authorities as the final resting place of Columbus. There were competing claims.
They compared them with known relatives and descendants, and their results were made known in the documentary “Cologne DNA.” Its True Appearance”, aired this Saturday on TVE.
“We have DNA from Christopher Columbus, very partial, but sufficient. We have DNA from his son, Hernando Colon,” Lorente said on the show.
“And both Hernando’s Y chromosome (male) and mitochondrial DNA (transmitted from the mother) have traits consistent with Jewish origin.”
About 300,000 Jews lived in Spain before the “Catholic Monarchs,” the Catholic monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand, ordered Jews and Muslims to convert to Catholicism or leave the country. Many have migrated around the world. The word Sephardic comes from Sephard or Spain in Hebrew.
After analyzing 25 possible locations, Lorente said, he can only say that Columbus was born in Western Europe.
On Thursday, Lorente said the remains in the Seville cathedral confirmed earlier theories that they belonged to Columbus.
The investigation of Columbus’ citizenship is complicated by many factors, including the large amount of data. But “the result is almost entirely reliable,” Lorente said.
Columbus died in 1506 in Valladolid, Spain, but wanted to be buried on the island of Hispaniola, which today is shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti. His remains were transferred there in 1542, then to Cuba in 1795, and then to Seville, Spain, in 1898.
