DNA analysis reveals that 15th century explorer Christopher Columbus was a Sephardic Jew from Western Europe, Spanish scientists say in a new documentary aired for the first time on Saturday. did.
According to Reuters, the documentary titled “Columbus's DNA: The True Origin” aired on Spanish state broadcaster TVE presents the findings of a 22-year investigation led by forensic expert Miguel Lorente.
Lorente and his team tested samples of remains buried in Seville Cathedral, long believed to be Columbus' final resting place, but that claim has been disputed. The researchers compared this DNA to that of known relatives and descendants of the navigators who led transatlantic expeditions in search of the Spanish crown starting in the 1490s, sparking European exploration and the colonization of the Americas.
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Portrait of Christopher Columbus, 1519. It is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Artist: Piombo, Sebastiano, Del (1485-1547) (Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)
“We have DNA from Christopher Columbus. Very partial, but enough. We have DNA from his son, Hernando Colon,” Lorente said in the documentary. I mentioned it inside. “And both are on the Y chromosome. [male] And in mitochondrial DNA [transmitted by the mother] Hernando has characteristics consistent with Jewish origins. ”
About 300,000 Jews lived in Spain before the Catholic monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand, the Reyes Católicos, forced Jews and Muslims to convert or be deported, Reuters reported. . The expulsion of Jews from Spain took place in 1492, the same year as Columbus' famous first voyage.
Tomb of Christopher Columbus in Seville Cathedral on June 25, 2016. (Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images)
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The word Sephardic comes from the Hebrew word sephard, meaning Spain.
Columbus is traditionally thought to have come from Genoa, Italy, but historians have also suggested that he was a Spanish Jew, Greek, Basque, Portuguese, or British. According to Reuters, Lorente's study analyzed 25 possible locations, but could only conclude that Columbus was born in Western Europe.
First landing of Christopher Columbus, 1800/1805. Artist Frederick Kemmelmayer. (Heritage Art/Heritage Images (via Getty Images))
According to Reuters, Columbus died in Valladolid, Spain, in 1506.
His remains were taken to Hispaniola (now home to the Dominican Republic and Haiti) where he wished to be buried in 1542, and then to Cuba in 1795. Officials have long believed that Columbus' remains were eventually brought back to Spain. Seville in 1898.
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Lorente said his research has confirmed that the remains in the Seville Cathedral are indeed those of Columbus.
“The results are almost absolutely reliable,” Lorente said.
