"Columbus was Jewish, Jewish in culture, Jewish in religion, Jewish in nationality here, and above all, at heart, because this man exudes Judaism in his writings."
Not Castilian, not Portuguese, not Galician, not a nobleman from Mallorca and not Genoese. According to a study on his DNA, Christopher Columbus was a Spanish Sephardic Jew, dismissing all other theories about his origin.
A study by the University of Granada, initiated over 20 years ago to try to determine his roots, argues that the discoverer of America was not Genoese or Italian - the traditional hypothesis of his birth supported by most historians and the Royal Academy of History of Spain - but that his birth would be located in the Mediterranean arc or in the Balearic Islands, territories that belonged to the Crown of Aragon.
These conclusions were presented in the documentary 'Colón DNA. His true origin', produced by RTVE and Story Producciones and aired on La 1 this Saturday, reconstructing the two decades of research led by forensic expert José Antonio Lorente, professor of Legal Medicine at the University of Granada.
This televised investigation, presented in a true crime style, follows the genetic study step by step and affirms that the analysis of the mitochondrial DNA and the Y chromosome of Hernando Colón, son of Christopher Columbus, shows characteristics compatible with a Jewish origin, rejecting the rest of the theories about his background, which also linked him to 25 countries or locations, including Portugal, Galicia, Castile, Catalonia, and even Navarre.
The study, in which experts in history, genetics, and genealogy collaborated, places Columbus's genetic profile in the western Mediterranean, specifically in "Sefarad", the Hebrew term that designates the Iberian Peninsula. According to the data provided by the documentary director, Regis Francisco, around 200,000 Jews lived in Spain in the Middle Ages, while in the Italian Peninsula, only between 10,000 and 15,000 lived. There was a much larger Jewish population in Sicily, where around 40,000 lived, but we must remember that, at that time, it belonged to the Crown of Aragon. In both places, they were expelled in the 12th century, and from Spain in 1492.
Here, History plays a fundamental role, as stated by Francesc Albardaner, former president of the Centre d'Estudis Colombins in Barcelona, whose research supports Lorente's scientific work. "The entire theory that Columbus was Genoese is in crisis if it is accepted that Columbus is Jewish." And why? As Albardaner explains, Genoa expelled the Jews in the 12th century: "There were no people, no community, no synagogue, nothing at all. Jews could only stay in Genoa for three days to do business and then had to leave."
Although the exact place of his birth has not been determined, the most likely thesis defended by Lorente is that Columbus was from the Iberian Levant. "If there were no Jews in Genoa in the 15th century, the chances of it being there are minimal," the researcher reaffirms. "There was also not a significant Jewish presence in the rest of the Italian Peninsula, so that would be very weak. There are no solid theories or clear indications that Christopher Columbus could be French. Sicily would also be strange because if not, Christopher Columbus would have written with some Italian or Sicilian language traits. What would be left? The Spanish Mediterranean arc or the Balearic Islands," he reasons.
One of the pieces of evidence used to defend Columbus's peninsular origin, despite knowing that at 25 he was in Portugal, is that all the letters preserved in his own handwriting are written in Spanish. Not a single influence or Italian word is ever noticed. Furthermore, he wrote in Spanish in the letters he sent to a bank in Genoa.
"According to my history, he was born into a family of silk weavers in Valencia - Albardaner asserts - where there was a long tradition within the Jewish community dedicated to this profession. I believe. Well, what has come out in the DNA study. That Columbus was Jewish. Jewish in culture, Jewish in religion, Jewish in nationality, and above all, at heart, because this man exudes Judaism in his writings."
In this research, it was also confirmed, according to its authors, that the remains kept in the Seville Cathedral did indeed belong to the discoverer when compared to those of his son Hernando. Additionally, the DNA study revealed another surprise: Diego Colón, as described in historiography, was not actually the navigator's brother but a fifth or sixth-degree relative.
Despite the impact of the documentary on social media and in national and foreign media, the truth is that no scientific evidence supporting this theory about the navigator's origin was revealed. It is expected that Dr. Lorente will make the collected data public soon, a fact that has surprised other scientists who did not expect the research to be disseminated first on a television program before in a scientific journal.
"All the puzzle pieces fit together", Regis Francisco asserts regarding this theory, the result of research that began in 2002. However, we will not know for certain until this data is published next November in a specialized international journal.