Fifteenth century explorer’s true origins revealed after DNA analysis from samples buried in Seville Cathedral
has turned conventional historical wisdom on its head by concluding that the explorer whose voyage to the New World changed the course of global history may have been a Spanish Jew rather than a son of Genoa.
“We have very partial, but sufficient, DNA from Christopher Columbus,” he said. “We have DNA from his son Fernando Colón, and in both the Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA of Fernando there are traces compatible with a Jewish origin.” Given that there were no solid theories nor clear indications that Columbus could have been French, Lorente added, the search area narrowed still further.
“Unfortunately, from a scientific point of view, we can’t really evaluate what was in the documentary because they offered no data from the analysis whatsoever,” Antonio Alonso, a geneticist and former director of Spain’s National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences Lorente defended his actions to the same newspaper, saying: “Our team and the university have always considered this study into Christopher Columbus and his family as a single, joined-up and inseparable unit, and nothing will be published until the investigation is completed.”
If Columbus was a Sephardic Jew – Sefarad being the Hebrew name for the Iberian peninsula – his identity would be a significant historical irony, and something he would have been keen to conceal from society and his illustrious patrons.
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