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Could DNA finally tell us where Cristoforo Colombo was from?
June 17, 2021
DNA could finally reveal the origins of Christopher Columbus (Photo: Tiziano Casalta/Dreamstime)
English Italian
To us Italians and Italian-Americans – and to most historians – there isn’t really any doubt about it: Christopher Columbus was from Genoa. However, not everyone is as certain as we are, so much so the University of Granada, in Spain, decided to put the matter finally to rest using DNA.
With the collaboration of other international laboratories, including one in Florence, one in Texas and one in Mexico, Columbus’ bones will be tested in the hope to obtain, through genetic mapping, a clear picture of his origins. Yes, because while it is very much historically accepted he was born in Genoa, Italy, there are several theories that would place his birth in other parts of Europe, including Corsica, Spain and Portugal.
Spanish daily El Pais disclosed details about the scientific investigation, whose results should be published in October this year, just in time – we guess – for Columbus Day celebrations. The idea is to extract DNA from his bones and compare it with that of known relatives and direct descendants of his.
Christopher Columbus died in Valladolid, Spain, on the 20th of May 1506. Since then, doubts about his origins have always thrived. In 2003, pathologist and professor of forensic medicine José Antonio Lorente, along with anthropologist Juan Carlos Alvarez Merino and historian Marcial Castro, exhumed the remains of the explorer and of his son Hernando from their tombs in the Seville cathedral. The bones were then compared with those of Columbus’brother, Diego Colón, in a study that confirmed the three were indeed related.
However, things are not that clear cut. The Dominican Republic has long argued that Christopher Columbus is not buried in Spain, but in Santo Domingo’s cathedral, where in 1877 an urn with his name was discovered. The dispute has ancient origins: it was known that Columbus wanted to be buried on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, a territory today shared between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and that’s why in 1523, seventeen years after his death, his body was moved from Spain to the South American location, along with that of his son Hernando. When, in 1793, the island became French, the remains were moved to Havana, until 1898, when Cuba obtained its independence. Then, they were transferred across the ocean back to Spain and laid to rest in Seville cathedral, in an imposing tomb created by Arturo Mélida.
Christopher Columbus: historically, he is Italian, but many believe he had different ancestry (Photo: Heritage Pictures/Dreamstime)
The current research project at the University of Granada has been trying, with the help of the Spanish government, to obtain permission from the Dominican Republic to analyze the bones kept in Santo Domingo and ascertain their origin through DNA analysis.
In the meanwhile, the “Seville remains”—part of which have been kept in a safe at the University of Granada — are going to be studied once more to understand the heritage of the admiral. The analysis will take place in Spain, in the US and in a number of European laboratories, including some in Italy to avoid suspicion in case results showed Columbus wasn’t, in fact, Italian at all.
The whole research process, along with its results, will be televised in October with a documentary by produced by RTVE and Story Producciones.
While the figure of Columbus remains mysterious to the eyes of the public, historians have never hidden they are fairly sure he was born in Genoa in 1451, the son of Giovanni Colón, or Colombo, and Giovanna Fontanarrosa, both weavers. Their view is based, as you’d expect from every good historian, on valuable and reliable sources, including the will of Columbus’ own son Hernando. But there are doubts: there is no sign of any document attesting he could write in Italian, as he always communicated in written form using either Spanish dialects or Portuguese. Some theories purport he was a former Spanish Jew who converted to Catholicism for inheritance reasons, while others want him born in a number of different countries, from Spain to Portugal, all the way to Croatia and even Poland.
The team from the University of Granada says this is “The most ambitious scientific investigation into the origins of Christopher Columbus. It will bring together the various theories developed throughout the decades, comparing and contrasting them with one another.”
A mystery that has been lasting for over half a millennium and that could soon find a solution. While it seems unlikely there’ll be big surprises, the thought Christopher could turn out not being Italian is, let’s be honest, quite unsettling: it wouldn’t only change the way we look at history, but the very symbolism we’ve been portraying the connection between Italy and the US with. Columbus may have become controversial in recent years, yet his figure is still deeply rooted into the heart and mind of Italian-Americans. Let’s hope DNA won’t change any of that
June 17, 2021
DNA could finally reveal the origins of Christopher Columbus (Photo: Tiziano Casalta/Dreamstime)
English Italian
To us Italians and Italian-Americans – and to most historians – there isn’t really any doubt about it: Christopher Columbus was from Genoa. However, not everyone is as certain as we are, so much so the University of Granada, in Spain, decided to put the matter finally to rest using DNA.
With the collaboration of other international laboratories, including one in Florence, one in Texas and one in Mexico, Columbus’ bones will be tested in the hope to obtain, through genetic mapping, a clear picture of his origins. Yes, because while it is very much historically accepted he was born in Genoa, Italy, there are several theories that would place his birth in other parts of Europe, including Corsica, Spain and Portugal.
Spanish daily El Pais disclosed details about the scientific investigation, whose results should be published in October this year, just in time – we guess – for Columbus Day celebrations. The idea is to extract DNA from his bones and compare it with that of known relatives and direct descendants of his.
Christopher Columbus died in Valladolid, Spain, on the 20th of May 1506. Since then, doubts about his origins have always thrived. In 2003, pathologist and professor of forensic medicine José Antonio Lorente, along with anthropologist Juan Carlos Alvarez Merino and historian Marcial Castro, exhumed the remains of the explorer and of his son Hernando from their tombs in the Seville cathedral. The bones were then compared with those of Columbus’brother, Diego Colón, in a study that confirmed the three were indeed related.
However, things are not that clear cut. The Dominican Republic has long argued that Christopher Columbus is not buried in Spain, but in Santo Domingo’s cathedral, where in 1877 an urn with his name was discovered. The dispute has ancient origins: it was known that Columbus wanted to be buried on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, a territory today shared between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and that’s why in 1523, seventeen years after his death, his body was moved from Spain to the South American location, along with that of his son Hernando. When, in 1793, the island became French, the remains were moved to Havana, until 1898, when Cuba obtained its independence. Then, they were transferred across the ocean back to Spain and laid to rest in Seville cathedral, in an imposing tomb created by Arturo Mélida.
Christopher Columbus: historically, he is Italian, but many believe he had different ancestry (Photo: Heritage Pictures/Dreamstime)
The current research project at the University of Granada has been trying, with the help of the Spanish government, to obtain permission from the Dominican Republic to analyze the bones kept in Santo Domingo and ascertain their origin through DNA analysis.
In the meanwhile, the “Seville remains”—part of which have been kept in a safe at the University of Granada — are going to be studied once more to understand the heritage of the admiral. The analysis will take place in Spain, in the US and in a number of European laboratories, including some in Italy to avoid suspicion in case results showed Columbus wasn’t, in fact, Italian at all.
The whole research process, along with its results, will be televised in October with a documentary by produced by RTVE and Story Producciones.
While the figure of Columbus remains mysterious to the eyes of the public, historians have never hidden they are fairly sure he was born in Genoa in 1451, the son of Giovanni Colón, or Colombo, and Giovanna Fontanarrosa, both weavers. Their view is based, as you’d expect from every good historian, on valuable and reliable sources, including the will of Columbus’ own son Hernando. But there are doubts: there is no sign of any document attesting he could write in Italian, as he always communicated in written form using either Spanish dialects or Portuguese. Some theories purport he was a former Spanish Jew who converted to Catholicism for inheritance reasons, while others want him born in a number of different countries, from Spain to Portugal, all the way to Croatia and even Poland.
The team from the University of Granada says this is “The most ambitious scientific investigation into the origins of Christopher Columbus. It will bring together the various theories developed throughout the decades, comparing and contrasting them with one another.”
A mystery that has been lasting for over half a millennium and that could soon find a solution. While it seems unlikely there’ll be big surprises, the thought Christopher could turn out not being Italian is, let’s be honest, quite unsettling: it wouldn’t only change the way we look at history, but the very symbolism we’ve been portraying the connection between Italy and the US with. Columbus may have become controversial in recent years, yet his figure is still deeply rooted into the heart and mind of Italian-Americans. Let’s hope DNA won’t change any of that
I got to give it to you breh you have the most informative threads on here..
....he could share DNA with any number of people and still be born on the land mass now known as Italy.
