A Sailor’s Tale

On Oct. 12, Spain celebrated Columbus Day – or Indigenous Peoples Day as it is officially known in the US – marking the anniversary of explorer Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the Americas on Oct. 12, 1492.

And as it did, an old debate over whether Columbus discovered the Americas, where he is buried and even his origins, came back to life.

That’s because of a controversial new study suggesting that he may have actually been a Spaniard with Sephardic Jewish heritage and that his remains are entombed in Spain, according to its results announced during the airing of a program this month, “Colón ADN, su verdadero origen” (Columbus’ DNA, his true origin) on Spain’s public broadcaster, RTVE.

The study involved a team of researchers from the University of Granada using advanced DNA analysis to examine Columbus’ remains in a tomb in Seville Cathedral in southern Spain and those of his son and brother, also interred in the cathedral.

It confirmed that they were a match.

The team’s leader, forensic scientist José Antonio Lorente, announced the results with “absolute reliability” explaining that advanced advancements in DNA technology led to the confirmation. The results were also confirmed by labs in Mexico, the United States, and Italy.

It’s not clear if this finding will put that debate to rest. For years, there has been discussion over which set of remains are actually his – those in Spain or those in the Dominican Republic, for example. There have been persistent doubts because the remains have been moved multiple times, to Latin America and back to Europe, since he died in 1506, Archaeology News reported

Meanwhile, the researchers also say it’s not true that Columbus was actually an Italian Catholic from Genoa, Italy.

Historians have long believed he was from Genoa because of a historical document written by Columbus saying that his estate there would be maintained for his family “because from it I came and in it I was born,” reported Science Alert.

However, some historians have questioned the authenticity of the document.

The research team said that rather than being of Italian heritage, they believe that Columbus was actually born in Spain to parents who were Sephardic Jews – but hid their heritage because of the persecution of Jews in Spain during that period.

Meanwhile, some scientists are questioning the study’s findings. Antonio Alonso, former director of Spain’s National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences, said he isn’t convinced by the new research. “Unfortunately, from a scientific point of view, we can’t really evaluate what was in the documentary because they offered no data from the analysis whatsoever,” reported El País.

El País also reported that a number of renowned researchers dropped out of the study because the DNA from the Seville crypt was too degraded to be able to be accurately analyzed.

For the results to be widely accepted, the findings would need to be further scrutinized by other labs and researchers, according to Science Alert, adding: “For now, the story of Columbus remains one of an Italian sailor who caught the eye of Spanish royalty, who came to be both celebrated and scorned for the mark he inadvertently made on history far from that ‘noble and powerful city by the sea,’ his home of Genoa.”