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In a devastating blow to Italian Americans all across the country, a new DNA study spanning 20 years claims that Christopher Columbus was a Jewish man from Spain and not from Italy as the annals of history have claimed since he disembarked Spain in 1492.
For better or worse, Christopher Columbus is arguably the most famous American in history. He’s credited with being the first European to make it to the Americas, the catalyst of the Colombian Exchange which altered all of earth as we know it by creating new trade routes, and the man that led to the existence of the current nations of North and Central America.
Of course, there were many native peoples already in the Americas prior to his arrival but without Christopher Columbus the United States of America does not exist and that’s always been a deep point of pride for Italian Americans but this study suggests he was likely from Valencia, Spain and Jewish.
According to the BBC News, this study began back in 2003 and looked at DNA samples from the tomb where Christopher Columbus was buried along with DNA samples of his son Hernando and brother Diego. The DNA findings were then compared to historical records and while it’s long believed that Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in Genoa, Italy to a family of wool weavers the DNA suggests he was a man of Jewish descent likely born in Valencia, Spain.
José Antonio Lorente is a professor of forensic medicine at Granada University and the man who exhumed the DNA remains from Christopher Columbus’ tomb. He said in a statement that the DNA results claiming Christopher Columbus was of Jewish descent and from Spain are “almost absolutely reliable.”
Given that he is one of the most famous historical figures of all-time, many people are not willing to accept these DNA findings. Professor of Medieval History at La Sapienza in Rome, Antonio Musarra, says “no DNA test will ever surpass historical documentation.” To many, DNA results do not constitute ‘concrete evidence’ while centuries old diaries from barely literate figures do…
Today is, of course, Columbus Day to some and Indigenous Peoples’ Day to others. Italian Americans on X are out in full force celebrating the Spanish man they falsely believed to be from Genoa:
Happy Columbus Day!
Today marks the anniversary of Christopher Columbus landing on San Salvador Island on October 12th, 1492. However, the origin of Columbus Day in the US stems from a tragic event in 1891: the mass lynching of Italian immigrants in New Orleans after the murder… pic.twitter.com/sXbLu0dqdB
— Hardcore Italians (@HardcoreItalian) October 14, 2024
The DNA findings were revealed in a documentary showed over the weekend in Spain on the RTVE channel. Ultimately, Spain will never be able to claim Christopher Columbus as a native-born son and this is just a game of trolling and antagonizing between Spain and Italy. Is it funny? Absolutely. Was Christopher Columbus Spanish? Probably not.
The fact that 532 years have passed since Christopher Columbus set sail for the Americas and there wasn’t so much as a peep about his origins potentially being from Spain AND the fact that he was of Jewish descent, that is enough to convince me that if you go back far enough in DNA results everything looks the same in Europe.
With all of that in mind, if you want to go look at posts with ‘Christopher Columbus Spanish’ on X it is quite entertaining. I’d also encourage everyone to read ‘1491’ and ‘1493’, two of my favorite books that I’ve read in the past 10 years! Check ’em out!