New Clues Finally Unravel Mysteries Surrounding Christopher Columbus’ Origins and Remains

One of history’s most controversial, reviled, and yet important figures, the first conquistador, Christopher Columbus, is the subject of a new scientific breakthrough, that could finally resolve two long-standing mysteries surrounding him. More than five centuries after his death, new technology could tell us whether the remains interred in Seville Cathedral are truly his, and where Columbus, believed to have been Genoese, is really from.

Arriving at the Truth: Controversial Origins

The answer to the first mystery seems clear: after two decades of rigorous DNA testing, forensic expert José Antonio Lorente has confirmed that the remains in Seville’s grand tomb do indeed belong to Columbus, reports El Pais. Comparisons were made between the DNA of the bones in Seville and samples taken from Columbus's brother, Diego, and his son, Fernando.

“Today, thanks to new technology, the previous partial theory that the remains in Seville are those of Christopher Columbus has been definitively confirmed,” said the expert, who led the study at the University of Granada.

• The Columbus Myth
• Columbus’s Identity Crisis and the Ongoing Spread of False Columbus News

Columbus and the Pinzón brothers arrive in America, Dióscoro Teófilo Puebla Tolín (1831-1901). (Public Domain)

Despite the explorer’s remains having been moved multiple times—first to Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic), then to Cuba, and finally to Seville in 1898, the latest evidence seemingly puts an end to the uncertainty about his final resting place.

The more controversial question about his true origins remains still fully contested, though a TV program airing on October 12, Spain’s national day, promises to reveal the truth. Historically, Columbus has been widely believed to be from Genoa, Italy, but theories suggesting he may have been Basque, Catalan, Galician, Portuguese, Greek, or Jewish have persisted for years.

The forthcoming program, titled Columbus DNA: His True Origin, aims to finally settle the debate after extensive genetic research. Till the airing of the program, Lorente refuses to reveal more, and remains tight lipped.

"This is an original film that reflects the historical and academic process carried out. The reason for holding the press conference after the film is presented is that very important recent data are still being analyzed, which, without affecting the content of the film, are of scientific importance to experts and historians, and therefore must be presented definitively and jointly in an academic context. Until [publishing], the researchers will not make any kind of statement on any of the aspects related to this research,” he said in a statement provided to Newsweek.

Incidentally, it was Lorente, who in 2021, had voiced his confidence in Columbus’ Genoese heritage.

Interestingly, some of Columbus’s remains may still rest in the Caribbean.

In 1877, bone fragments found in Santo Domingo Cathedral in the Dominican Republic were identified as Columbus’s, and they now lie in the Columbus Lighthouse monument in Santo Domingo. Lorente suggests that both sets of remains—those in Seville and those in the Dominican Republic—could belong to the explorer, given that both are incomplete.

• Columbus’s Identity Crisis and the Ongoing Spread of False Columbus News
• Christopher Columbus: Master Double Agent and Portugal’s 007

Portrait of a Man said to be Christopher Columbus. (Public Domain)

The Identity of Christopher Columbus: Looter, Plunderer

The dominant Western narrative about Columbus has been celebrating his achievements as a explorer and ‘discoverer’ of the New World, i.e., the Americas. However, his voyage paved the way for innumerable expeditions by the Iberian powers that led to centuries of colonization, exploitation, and the decimation of Indigenous populations. The violence, enslavement, and forced conversion of Native peoples that followed his arrival have led to increasing calls to reconsider how Columbus is remembered, with some viewing him as a symbol of conquest and oppression rather than discovery and progress.

On August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from the Spanish port of Palos, on behalf of the Spanish crown, hoping to discover a new route to the wealthy lands of Asia. With three ships—the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria—and a crew of around 100 men, Columbus embarked on a journey that would take them far from their intended destination, reports The Daily Mail.

On October 12, 1492, they made landfall in what is now the Bahamas. Later that month, Columbus spotted Cuba, mistakenly believing he had reached mainland China. Two months later, the ships arrived at another island, which Columbus thought could be Japan.

On his second voyage in 1493, Columbus returned to the New World, landing in Puerto Rico, where he enslaved many of the native Taíno people, sending some back to Spain. In the years that followed, Spanish colonization led to the deaths of approximately seven million Taíno—about 85% of the island’s population.

The renewed attention to Columbus’s identity comes at a time when his legacy remains fiercely debated. While his voyages undeniably shaped the course of history, many are reexamining the darker aspects of that legacy. In Spain, October 12 is a national holiday celebrating Columbus’s arrival in the Americas, but not everyone agrees with the celebration, reports The Guardian.

In 2015, Ada Colau, the then-mayor of Barcelona, criticized the holiday, calling it a celebration of “genocide” and condemning the military parade that accompanies it. Other figures, like Cádiz’s former mayor José María González Santos, echoed similar sentiments, lamenting the violent suppression of Indigenous cultures that followed Columbus’s arrival.

This controversy extends beyond Spain. In 2020, a statue of Columbus in Richmond, Virginia, was torn down, set on fire, and thrown into a lake by protesters. A sign left at the site read: “Columbus represents genocide.”

Top image: Tomb of Christopher Columbus in Seville Cathedral.           Source: rabbit75_fot/Adobe Stock

By Sahir Pandey