Christopher Columbus was Jewish and from Western Europe, a study has found following the discovery of his remains 500 years after his death.
The origins as well as the final resting place of the 15th-century explorer who led Spanish-funded expeditions from the 1490s onward, opening the way for the European conquest of the Americas, have long been argued over among experts.
Many historians have questioned the traditional theory that Columbus came from Genoa, Italy. Other theories range from him being a Spanish Jew or a Greek, to Basque, Portuguese or British.
To solve the mystery researchers conducted a 22-year investigation, led by forensic expert Miguel Lorente, by testing tiny samples of remains buried in Seville Cathedral, long marked by authorities there as the last resting place of Columbus, though there had been rival claims that he was buried in the Dominican Republic.
They compared them with those of known relatives and descendants and their findings were announced in a documentary titled ‘Columbus DNA: The true origin’ on Spain‘s national broadcaster TVE on Saturday.
Christopher Columbus was Jewish and from Western Europe, a study has found following the discovery of his remains 500 years after his death
A view of the mausoleum of Christopher Columbus in the cathedral of Seville, Spain October 11, 2024
‘We have DNA from Christopher Columbus, very partial, but sufficient. We have DNA from Hernando Colón, his son,’ Lorente said in the programme.
‘And both in the Y chromosome (male) and in the mitochondrial DNA (transmitted by the mother) of Hernando there are traits compatible with Jewish origin.’
Around 300,000 Jews lived in Spain before the ‘Reyes Catolicos’, Catholic monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand, ordered Jews and Muslims to convert to the Catholic faith or leave the country.
Many settled around the world. The word Sephardic comes from Sefarad, or Spain in Hebrew.
After analysing 25 possible places, Lorente said it was only possible to say Columbus was born in Western Europe.
On Thursday, Lorente said they had confirmed previous theories that the remains in Seville Cathedral belonged to Columbus.
Research on Columbus’ nationality was complicated by a number of factors including the large amount of data. But ‘the outcome is almost absolutely reliable,’ Lorente said.
Columbus died in Valladolid, Spain, in 1506, but wished to be buried on the island of Hispaniola that is today shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
His remains were taken there in 1542, then moved to Cuba in 1795 and then, it had been long thought in Spain, to Seville in 1898.
Lorente said last Thursday: ‘Today it has been possible to verify it with new technologies, so that the previous partial theory that the remains of Seville belong to Christopher Columbus has been definitively confirmed.’
Many experts have believed that the tomb inside the cathedral has long held Columbus’ body, but it was not until 2003 when Lorente and historian Marcial Castro were granted permission to open it, finding the previously unknown bones were inside.
Workers clean the statue of Italian explorer Cristobal Colon, also known as Christopher Columbus, surrounded by metal fencing during Columbus Day, or Day of the Race (Dia de la Raza), in remembrance of when Colon came to the Americas, in Mexico City, Mexico October 12, 2020
At the time, DNA technology was not capable of ‘reading’ a small amount of genetic material to provide accurate results.
Columbus set sail on August 3, 1492, from the Spanish port of Palos with hopes of finding a route to the fabled riches of Asia.
Along with three ships, the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, Columbus and roughly 100 men embarked on the journey that took them to the opposite side of the world – and far from their original destination.
On October 12, 1492, the ships made landfall in what is now the Bahamas and later in the month, Columbus pulled spotted Cuba and thought it was mainland China.
And two months later, the ships pulled ashore, which Columbus thought might be Japan.
On the second voyage in 1493, Columbus intentionally sailed back to the New World and landed in Puerto Rico where he enslaved many of the Taino people native to the island – some of which were sent back to Spain.
Many Spanish came over the next four years, resulting in the death of about seven million Taino – 85 percent of the population.
The Europeans’ arrival also led to a spread of deadly diseases like smallpox and measles, with many historians claiming Columbus brought also the first syphilis-like diseases to the Americas.
But a study in January found the disease was running rampant thousands of years before.
The first onset of a syphilis epidemic was documented in the late 15th Century in Europe, leading historians to believe it was brought to America when Columbus set foot on the continent.
DNA evidence has now revealed that treponematosis, an age-old syphilis-like disease, existed in Brazil more than 2,000 years before the explorer set sail for the new world.
Researchers were granted permission to open a tomb housed in a Spanish cathedral back in 2003, finding bone fragments of an unknown human. Now, the team confirmed the remains are Columbus
Kerttu Majander, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Basel, said: ‘The fact that the findings represent an endemic type of treponemal diseases, and not sexually transmitted syphilis, leaves the origin of the sexually transmitted syphilis still unsettled.’
The team examined the bones of four people who died in the coastal region of Santa Catarina in Brazil thousands of years ago.
Pathogens found in the remains that showed signs of a syphilis-like illness that likely resulted in mouth sores and shin pains.
The study, published in Nature, said the bones were excavated at the Jabuticabeira II archeological site and have been studied since 2016.
Researchers screened 37 out of 99 samples of sequencing data and found there were between seven and 133 positive hits for diseases stemming from the Treponema family.
Verena Schünemann, a co-author in the study, said: ‘Although the origin of syphilis still leaves room for imagination, at least we now know beyond a doubt that treponematoses were no strangers to the American inhabitants who lived and died centuries before the continent was explored by Europeans.
