Spanish scientists will release details of Christopher Columbus’ parentage on Saturday after using a DNA analysis technique to solve a five-century-old mystery.
Many countries argue over the origin, but also the last residence of the explorer who paved the way for the conquest of America by the Europeans, at the end of the 15th century. Many historians dispute the “traditional” theory that it came from Genoa, Italy. Other theories want him to be a Spanish Jew or Greek, or Basque or Portuguese.
Researchers led by forensic pathologist Miguel Llorente examined tiny samples from the remains buried in Seville Cathedral, long believed to be Columbus’ final resting place – although there are other theories about where his tomb is.
They compared those samples with those of his known relatives and descendants, and the findings will be announced in a documentary titled “Columbus’s DNA: The True Ancestry” to be shown on Saturday by Spanish public broadcaster TVE.
Llorente briefed reporters on the investigation today but did not reveal the findings, saying only that the theory that the Seville remains did belong to Columbus had been confirmed.
The search for the explorer’s origins was complicated by many factors, including the sheer volume of data. But “the result is almost completely reliable,” Llorente added.
Columbus died in Valladolid, Spain in 1506 but wanted to be buried on the island of Hispaniola, which is today shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. His remains were moved there in 1542, then to Cuba in 1795, and then, as many believed, to Seville, Spain, in 1898.
In 1877 workmen found a lead casket buried behind the Holy Altar in the Cathedral of Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. It contained some bones believed to belong to Columbus. Lorente said both theories may be valid since both skeletons found are incomplete.
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