Despite multiple theories, it has always been accepted that Christopher Columbus came from the Italian city of Genoa. However, this thesis about the origin of the navigator could have come to an end, thanks to research carried out by the University of Granada.
Enlarge
‘Columbus DNA. Its true origin’, documentary broadcast on Spanish Television on the night of Saturday, October 12.
José Antonio Lorente, forensic examiner and professor of Legal Medicine, began an investigation 22 years ago to discover the enigmatic origin of Columbus. Together with his team, Lorente has confirmed that the remains buried in the cathedral of Seville belong to the ‘Admiral of the Ocean Sea’ and based on that basis they have been able to learn about his past and trace their origin to the Mediterranean coast, at the time under the dominion of the Crown of Aragon.
Sephardic and Aragonese Jew
That’s what the research supports. After analyzing DNA samples for years, the team led by Lorente has supported one of the many theories that existed about the origin of Columbus. He was Jewish and his origin was in the western Mediterranean, that is, on the coasts of Valencia, Catalonia or the Balearic Islands, thus discarding the most accepted theory that held that the navigator had been born in the Italian city of Genoa.
This theory, which supports that Columbus was born in Aragonese territory, was defended by Francesc Albardaner who claimed that the admiral was Jewish and, therefore, it was impossible for him to be Genoese, since at that time there was no Jewish community in Genoa.
Christopher Columbus hid his Jewish origin for fear that it would be a problem when carrying out his project. In 15th century Castile, the popularity of the Jews was increasingly lower and Castilian society, especially the humbler classes, viewed the customs and commercial nature of the Jews with suspicion. In fact, this suspicion was confirmed months before Columbus left for the Indies with the expulsion of the Jews on March 31, 1492 by order of the Catholic Monarchs.
Another aspect that reinforces the theory that Columbus’s origin is not in Italy is the admiral’s non-use of Italian. In all his letters, even in some addressed to Italians, Columbus never uses what is supposed to be his mother tongue, always using Spanish.
Professor José Antonio Lorente has assured that the data from his research is accurate and confirms that the remains used to compare the DNA profiles are absolutely those of the man who arrived in America on October 12, 1492.
Follow the Diario AS channel on WhatsAppwhere you will find all the sport in a single space: the current news of the day, the agenda with the latest news of the most important sporting events, the most outstanding images, the opinion of the best AS brands, reports, videos, and some humor from time to time.
