The centuries-old mystery surrounding the nationality of Christopher Columbus was solved by scientists in a Spanish television documentary following DNA analysis.
According to “Columbus DNA: His True Origin”, a program broadcast on national broadcaster RTVE on Saturday to mark Spain's national day celebration and celebrate Columbus's arrival in the New World, Christopher Columbus was Jewish and Spanish.
According to the British newspaper “The Guardian”, a team of researchers, led by forensic expert Miguel Lorente tested small samples of human remains buried in Seville Cathedral, long marked by local authorities as Columbus's last resting place, and compared them with those of known relatives and descendants.
The results showed that the remains in Seville belong, de facto, to the explorer.
Historical enigma
Columbus died at 55 years in the city of Valladolid, in northwest Spain, in 1506, but wished to be buried on the island of Hispaniola, today shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti. His remains were taken there in 1542, transferred to Cuba in 1795 and, then to Seville in 1898.
Countries have long debated the origins and final resting place of Columbus, who led expeditions financed by the Spanish from the 1990s onwards 1490, paving the way for the European conquest of the Americas.
Many historians have questioned the traditional theory that Columbus was from Genoa, in northwest Italy. Other theories ranged from being Portuguese, Spanish Jew, Greek, Basque, Irish and Swedish.
Besides, the Dominican Republic that claims to be the host of the explorer's body, having a dedicated mausoleum in the capital, Saint Dominic. This is because, in 1877, Workers found a lead coffin buried behind the altar of a cathedral in Santo Domingo with a collection of bone fragments that the country says belong to Columbus. Second Lorente, this may also be true, since both sets of bones are incomplete.
News: Lidador NotÃcias/ Jornal de NotÃcias
