Christopher Columbus may not have been who we thought, as researchers are closer to unraveling the mystery of his true identity.
According to the widely accepted story about the famous explorer, he is a man of humble Italian origins.
But a new genetic study has challenged this, saying he may be from a powerful and influential family elsewhere.
Highlights
- A new genetic study is challenging the long-held belief that Christopher Columbus was a humble sailor from Genoa.
- DNA analysis of his descendants points instead to a connection with Galician nobility in Spain.
- Despite not being the first to make it to the Americas, he was the man credited with discovering the “New World.”
Christopher Columbus may not have been who we thought he was
Image credits: Sebastiano del Piombo
For centuries, history books have painted Columbus as a navigator of modest Italian origins.
Despite not being the first to make it to the Americas, he was the man credited with discovering the “New World” after convincing the Catholic Monarchs to finance a voyage that changed the course of history.
On August 3, 1492, he and his crew of nearly 100 people set sail from the port of Palos in southern Spain in three vessels: The Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria.
To find a route to China and India was Columbus’ mission.
But after 35 days at sea and growing frustration among his crew, he nearly turned back. But the cry of land being spotted was heard at around 2 a.m. on October 12. And thus, Columbus had arrived in the Americas.
Image credits: Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio
Students are generally taught that the sailor was from Italy, born in the Italian port city of Genoa around 1451.
But this version of his origin has long been questioned by historians and now, geneticists.
Findings from a new study have challenged the widely accepted account of him as a humble sailor from Genoa and suggest he may have descended from a powerful Galician noble family in Spain.
Students are taught that the sailor was from Italy, born in the Italian port city of Genoa around 1451, but a new study suggests something else
Image credits: ADGE
This latest twist came from a team of researchers who narrowed their focus to a family crypt in Gelves, a town near Seville, Spain, where several of Columbus’ descendants are buried.
The conclusions, which weren’t yet peer-reviewed as of April, were published by researchers from the Citogen laboratory and the Complutense University of Madrid.
Image credits: L. Prang & Co.
“To scientifically address the ancestral identity of Christopher Columbus, this study targeted the primary burial site of his direct lineage: the Santa Maria de Gracia church in Gelves,” the researchers said in the study.
“The site serves as the pantheon for the Counts of Gelves, housing the largest concentration of Columbus' direct descendants, at least seven, including his granddaughter,” they continued.
The researchers focused on a burial site in Spain to learn more about Columbus' ancestry
Image credits: Martin Iturbide
The researchers exhumed bodies from the family crypt in 2022 and analyzed DNA from 12 individuals believed to be part of Columbus’ extended lineage.
Two individuals in the family tree, who were not documented as being related, were found to share genetic material.
One of the individuals was Jorge Alberto de Portugal, third Count of Gelves and great-great-grandson of Columbus, and the other was María de Castro Girón de Portugal, a 17th-century countess consort.
María, who became a member of the family by marriage, has a Galician lineage and was the daughter of the 9th Count of Lemos.
In genetic terms, it is almost impossible for these two individuals to have shared genetic material unless there is a common ancestor.
When the researchers dug deeper, they used computational models to reconstruct around 16 generations of family history to find the missing link.
Image credits: John Vanderlyn
Their analysis pointed to a single individual: Pedro Álvarez de Sotomayor, a powerful 15th-century Galician nobleman also known as Pedro Madruga. According to the model, he was the only person capable of explaining the unexpected genetic connection.
To test this, the team of researchers carried out what they described as a “virtual knockout” technique, removing Pedro Madruga from the family tree.
When they did this, the genetic link disappeared, and no other ancestor, among the hundreds in the dataset, replicated the same pattern.
The findings add a compelling new layer to the long-running theory about Columbus’ origins
Image credits: Roselly de Lorgues
The hypothesis is that Columbus could have been Pedro Madruga himself, or he could have been his son or a close descendant, which meant Columbus’ family may have roots in Galician nobility.
The researchers were careful not to overstate their case, but the findings add a compelling new layer to the long-running theory that Columbus’ origins may be different from what is traditionally believed.
Netizens had mixed opinions about the findings of the new study
