OWe now know that the remains of the explorer buried in the cathedral of Seville, in Spain, do indeed belong to Christopher Columbus, according to The Guardian. This was confirmed by Spanish researchers on Thursday October 10, after more than twenty years of investigations and DNA analyzes on Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the man who opened the way to the West Indies for the Europeans.
“Today, thanks to new technologies, the partial theory that the remains of Seville are those of Christopher Columbus has been definitively confirmed,” said José Antonio Lorente, professor of forensic medicine at the University of Granada and head of the ‘study.
ALSO READ Letter from Christopher Columbus up for auctionAs explained The Guardianthe numerous posthumous movements of his body made identification difficult for a long time. Indeed, although he died in 1506 in the city of Valladolid in Spain, the explorer wanted to be buried on the island of Hispaniola, today divided between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. His remains were therefore transported there in 1542, before being transferred to Cuba in 1795, then brought back to Seville in 1898.
The mystery of its origins
The discovery is unlikely to be well received in the Dominican Republic, a country that has long claimed to be home to the explorer’s remains. Indeed, a mausoleum is dedicated to him in Santo Domingo. Scientists do not rule out the possibility that certain remains of Columbus are still preserved there, but they cannot prove it due to lack of cooperation from the Dominican authorities.
Another mystery surrounding Christopher Columbus could also be answered: that of his origins. Traditionally, Columbus is presented as being from Genoa, born in this port city, or its region, into a family of weavers. However, this hypothesis is increasingly contested by some Spanish historians, as reported Le Figaro.
Although many historical sources mention his Italian origin, uncertainties remain regarding his childhood. None of Columbus’s writings have come down to us in Italian. Instead, the explorer used, in addition to Latin, Portuguese, Valencian, Galician and even Majorcan. One hypothesis put forward suggests that Columbus came from a family of Genoese Sephardic Jews converted and settled in Valencia.
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