John Vanderlyn. Landing of Columbus. 1847/Wikimedia Commons
On 12 October this year, to celebrate the annual National Day of Spain holiday, a local Spanish television channel, RTVE, aired a documentary that claimed that a DNA test performed on the great explorer Christopher Colombus’s remains suggested that he had Jewish ancestry. Soon after, news agencies quickly picked up the story and ran it with bold and provocative headlines like ‘Scientists have finally solved a 500-year-old puzzle: Christopher Columbus was a Spanish Jew.’
So, is this fake news?
Well, that, unfortunately, remains unclear. The documentary featured a real scientist, José Antonio Lorente, who leads the research on Columbus's remains and is also the head of the genetics laboratory at the University of Granada in Spain. The work on Columbus's remains began in 2003, when his coffin, which lay in the Seville Cathedral, was opened. At the beginning of the investigation, the goal was not only to determine the navigator's origins but also to verify whether Columbus was indeed buried there. The fact is that his body was reburied several times after his death: first in Valladolid, then in Seville, later on the island of Hispaniola (which he discovered), then in Cuba, and finally back in Seville next to his son Diego.The study of Columbus’s remains started with his DNA, but at this point, neither the authenticity of the burial nor the latest data can be confirmed or denied. Another major problem is that Lorente has not published any articles or papers about ‘Columbus’s remains’ in any scientific journals. Scientists must first publish an article in a scientific journal so that the academic community can subject it to a peer review before reaching a verdict on any historical mystery.
The tomb of Christopher Columbus. Seville cathedral, Spain/Wikimedia Commons
But Haven’t We Already Learned Everything About Columbus? In School, We Were Taught He Was from Genoa.
Most scholars do indeed believe that Columbus was born and raised in Genoa, an idea supported by his own writings, court documents related to his family, a biography written by his son Ferdinand, and many other indirect pieces of evidence. Speculation about Columbus’s origins can be explained by the common desire to claim the heritage of a significant historical figure. At different times, it has been suggested that Columbus could be Greek, Polish, Ukrainian, Portuguese, Scottish, or even Norwegian. However, none of these claims have ever been confirmed.
The Christopher Columbus Monument pointing towards the sea in a symbolic gesture, located at the lower end of La Rambla street in Barcelona/Xavi Lopez/Getty Images
Are There Any Written Records Supporting Columbus’s Jewish Ancestry?
In 1940, a Spanish historian put forward the theory that Columbus was a Sephardic Jewi
Spanish-speaking Jews with roots in the Iberian Peninsula or possibly a Marrano,iA Jew or a Moor who had converted to Christianity carefully concealing his ethnic background. This theory has gained support among some scholars and is based on several indirect clues. In his early reports, Columbus mentioned the expulsion of the Jews, and in letters to his son, he would write the abbreviation ‘BH’ in the upper left corner, which could represent the Hebrew letters ‘Bet’ and ‘Hey’, possibly standing for the phrase ‘B'ezrat Hashem’ meaning ‘With God's help’.
Additionally, his will contains a signature whose form and combination of letters resemble a coded Jewish prayer, the Kaddish. Two of his requests in his will—donating a tenth of his income to the poor and providing anonymous dowries for poor girls—align with Jewish customs. He also ordered that money be given to a Jew who lived at the entrance to the Jewish quarter in Lisbon. Lastly, Columbus began his historic voyage on 2 August 1492, the day the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed. Of course, all of this might seem quite like a conspiracy theory, but if the claims by Spanish geneticists pass scientific scrutiny, Columbus’s journey could take on an almost messianic significance.
Benet Mercadé. Christopher Columbus at the gates of the monastery of Santa Maria de la Rabida with his son Diego. 1858/Wikimedia Commons
But If Columbus Was a Spanish Jew, Why Did He End up in Genoa?
In the Middle Ages, the Jewish community in Spain was incredibly powerful, and in 1469, active Christianization had begun in Spain. It was decided to reclaim Muslim Granada, thus completing the Reconquista, and forcibly convert Jews and Muslims so that Spain could become an exclusively Catholic kingdom. It’s entirely possible that, under pressure from the authorities, Columbus’s family converted to Christianity and then, as a precaution, fled to Italy. Considering that in 1492, Spain passed the edict for the final expulsion of the Jews, Columbus's discovery, which turned Spain into the most significant colonial empire, appears not only messianic but also somewhat ironic.
While it's possible that the makers of the documentary exaggerated the story to build a more dramatic and patriotic narrative, there also appears to be some historical evidence to support the theory. In the context of Spain’s modern reevaluation of its historical narratives, this seems particularly relevant. This documentary may serve to cast Columbus’s story in a new light, one that seeks to uncover forgotten or suppressed identities, but these claims require more concrete evidence and scholarly review before they can be accepted.
Finally, the claim that Columbus was of Jewish origin is a provocative one, but regardless of the truth, it shines a light on the complex and intricate relationship between religious persecution, colonial ambition, historicity, and the construction of national identity.
Probably Christopher Colombus' map. Lisbon, workshop of Bartolomeo and Christopher Colombus, c.1490/Wikimedia Commons