“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” That’s how the children’s rhyme goes, and it’s one of the few facts we know about Christopher Columbus. The rest of his life remains shrouded in mystery and controversy.
Was Columbus Italian? He claimed to be the son of a wool-weaver from Genoa, but he wrote most fluently in Spanish. Over the years, claims have emerged suggesting he was Basque, Catalan, Galician, Greek, Portuguese—even Scottish!
An RTVE documentary, “Columbus’ DNA: His True Origin”, now argues Columbus was a Sephardic Jew from the Iberian peninsula, possibly from right here on the Valencian coast. The documentary aired on October 12 — Spain’s National Day, commemorating the country’s empire in the Americas.
After 20 years of DNA testing and research, forensic expert José Antonio Lorente confirmed that Columbus’s remains are buried in Sevilla Cathedral by comparing DNA from Columbus’s brother and son.
So far, so good. But can DNA reveal his origins?
That’s where things get murky. Lorente and his team claim Columbus’s DNA shows “traits compatible with Jewish ancestry,” but have yet to provide peer-reviewed evidence.
If Columbus had Jewish ancestry, Lorente suggests he was likely from Spain, home to an estimated 200,000 Jews in the 15th century, and specifically from Valencia.
There are some intriguing clues.
Columbus wrote most of his correspondence in Spanish. His first impressions of the Americas were sent to Luis de Santangel, a Valencian financial advisor to the Spanish crown who funded part of the voyage. Santangel was also a “converso”—a Jew who had converted to Christianity following severe persecution in medieval Spain.
Furthermore, another historian from the University of Zaragoza traced Genoese silk merchants named “Colom” living in 15th-century Valencia. Though no direct link to Columbus has been found, it hints at his possible roots in the region.
But is this enough to definitively establish Columbus’s origins? Not yet.
It’s all speculation and theory until peer-reviewed evidence is presented. Lorente has promised to publish his findings soon.
What also struck me in the documentary was the historical irony: 1492 was the same year the Spanish crown expelled its Jewish community. If Lorente’s claims are true, it would be quite the twist of fate that the Spanish Royals commissioned a Jewish Columbus to expand their empire into the Americas
This story is fascinating because it challenges us to reevaluate what we think we know. What could modern DNA testing reveal about other figures in history? Could it rewrite our understanding of the past?
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