DNA reveals an incredible twist about Christopher Columbus: Sciencealert

February 22, 1498, the well-scattered Christopher Columbus of the mid-40s It is stipulated in writing His fortune in the Italian port city of Genoa will be maintained for his family as “Because I came and was born there.”

While most historians consider the document to be a clipping record of the famous Explorer’s birthplace, some have questioned its credibility and wondered if there was more in the story.

Last year, a decades-long study led by forensic scientist Jose Antonio Laurente at the University of Granada in Spain came out in support of the claim that Columbus may not be an Italian heritage after all, but was actually born to parents of Jewish ancestors somewhere in Spain.

The revelation was announced in October Special Programmes to be broadcast in Spain Celebrating Columbus’ arrival in the New World on October 12, 1492.

It is important to note that media-by-media science should be looked at with caution, especially in the absence of peer-reviewed publications for critical examination.

“Unfortunately, from a scientific perspective, we can’t really evaluate what was in the documentary, because they don’t provide any data from the analysis at all. Elpais, a Spanish news service.

“My conclusion is that the documentary never shows Columbus’ DNA, and as a scientist, I don’t know what kind of analysis was done.”

Nevertheless, historical documents are increasingly challenged and strengthened by forensic analysis of biological records.

Based on Interpretation of the Record Written as an adult, the man known by Christopher Columbus, the British name for most of the Western world, was born in Cristoforo Colombo in late August to late October 1451 in Genoa, the bustling capital of the northwest Italian region of Liguria.

It was only the second half of his life as a young man in his 20s. I moved west Looking for a wealthy patron who might fund his bold attempt to take his “shortcut” east by heading in the entirely opposite direction to Lisbon, Portugal.

Most historians accept the court documents that have his birthplace in Genoa as real; Speculation of alternative heritage It has been floating for decades.

According to one enduring rumour, Columbus was secretly Jewish and was born in Spain during intense religious persecution and ethnic cleansing. Claim supporters Quotes strange anomalies in his will and interpretations of his letter syntax.

Now it appears that his own genes may provide a new set of evidence.

Laurente and his team of researchers have announced that in a TV special, analysis of Y chromosomes and mitochondrial DNA from the ruins of Columbus’ son Ferdinand and brother Diego, in Spanish or Spanish. Sephardian Jews heritage.

Of course, this does not categorically rule out Genoa, nor does it identify any single location in Europe as the explorer’s birthplace.

Certainly, just as Columbus had his groundbreaking voyage, the Jews who were exiled from Spain at the end of the 15th century were Italian city flooded They seek asylum, but have rarely succeeded.

However, Merit to Laurente’s findings makes it a little harder to support Columbus’ Italian origins, raising questions about how someone from the Sephardian Jewish heritage would become born in Genoa in the 1450s.

For the findings to be widely adopted, results must be carefully scrutinized, even if they are not reproduced in compelling detail.

Still, there is more to individual stories than genetics. I will leave the case open where individuals from persecuted minorities have come to represent the forefront of Spain’s expansion.

For now, the Columbus story is one of the Italian sailors who caught the eye of Spanish royalty, who was blessed and conceived for a mark that mismade about history far away.A noble and powerful city by the sea“His house in Genoa.

An earlier version of this article was released in October 2024.