Origin theories of Christopher Columbus

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The true identity of Christopher Columbus is unknown, although it is generally accepted that he was Italian.^[1] There are several competing theories regarding his national origin, however.

Contents 1 Genoese theory 2 Spanish theory 3 Portuguese theory 4 Other theories 5 Language 6 References

[edit] Genoese theory

Gianni Granzotto, a modern historian, puts forward the following information from documents written by contemporaries of Columbus:^[2]

• Pietro Martire d'Angera, a Lombard, was the earliest of Columbus's chroniclers and was in Barcelona when Columbus returned from his first voyage. In his letter of May 14, 1493, addressed to Giovanni Borromeo, he referred to Colonus as Ligurian [vir Ligur], Liguria being the Region where Genoa is located.
• A reference, dated 1492 by a court scribe Galindez, referred to Columbus as Cristóbal Colón, genovés.
• In History of the Catholic Kings, Andrés Bernaldez wrote: "Columbus was a man who came from the land of Genoa."
• In General and Natural History of the Indies, Bartolomé de Las Casas did not assert his "Genoese nationality";
• In a book of the same title, Gonzalo de Fernández de Oviedo wrote that Columbus was "originating from the province of Liguria."
• Antonio Gallo, Agostino Giustiniani and Bartolomeo Serraga wrote that Columbus was Genoese.

Historian Samuel Eliot Morison, in his book Christopher Columbus: Admiral of the Ocean Sea, notes that many existing legal documents demonstrate the Genoese origin of Columbus, his father Domenico, and his brothers Bartolomeo and Giacomo (Diego). These documents, written in Latin by notaries, were legally valid in Genoese courts. However Morison did not show any if this proof. The documents, uncovered in the 19th century when Italian historians examined the Genoese archives, form part of the Raccolta Colombiana. On page 14, Morison writes:

“

Besides these documents from which we may glean facts about Christopher's early life, there are others which identify the Discoverer as the son of Domenico the wool weaver, beyond the possibility of doubt. For instance, Domenico had a brother Antonio, like him a respectable member of the lower middle class in Genoa. Antonio had three sons: Matteo, Amigeto and Giovanni, who was generally known as Giannetto (the Genoese equivalent of "Johnny"). Giannetto, like Christopher, gave up a humdrum occupation to follow the sea. In 1496 the three brothers met in a notary's office at Genoa and agreed that Johnny should go to Spain and seek out his first cousin "Don Cristoforo de Colombo, Admiral of the King of Spain," each contributing one third of the traveling expenses. This quest for a job was highly successful. The Admiral gave Johnny command of a caravel on the Third Voyage to America, and entrusted him with confidential matters as well.

”

Other accounts, for example the biography written by Fernando Columbus, claimed that his father was of Italian aristocracy. He describes Columbus to be a descendant of a Count Columbo of the Castle Cuccaro (Montferrat). Columbo was in turn said to be a descended from a legendary Roman General Colonius, and two of his first cousins were allegedly direct descendants of the emperor of Constantinople. It is now widely believed that Christopher Columbus used this persona to ingratiate himself to the good graces of the aristocracy, an elaborate illusion to mask a humble merchant background.

A biography written by Columbus's son Fernando, Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo; nelle quali s'ha particolare, & vera relatione della vita, & de fatti dell'Ammiraglio D. Cristoforo Colombo, suo padre: Et dello scoprimento ch'egli fece dell'Indie Occidentali, dette Mondo Nuovo (The life of the Admiral Christopher Columbus by his son Ferdinand), exists.^[3] [1]

In the first paragraph of page 3 of Keen's translation, Fernando dismissed the fanciful story that the Admiral descended from the Colonus mentioned by Tacitus. However, he refers to "those two illustrious Coloni, his relatives". According to Note 1, on page 287, these two "were corsairs not related to each other or to Christopher Columbus, one being Guillame de Casenove, nicknamed Colombo, Admiral of France in the reign of Louis XI". At the top of page 4, Fernando listed Nervi, Cugureo, Bugiasco, Savona, Genoa and Piacenza as possible places of origin. He also stated:

“

Colombo ... was really the name of his ancestors. But he changed it in order to make it conform to the language of the country in which he came to reside and raise a new estate.

”

The publication of Historie has been used by historians as providing indirect evidence about the Genoese origin of the Discoverer. Fernando's manuscript was eventually inherited by his nephew Luis, the playboy grandson of the Discoverer. Luis was always strapped for money and sold the manuscript to Baliano de Fornari, "a wealthy and public-spirited Genoese physician". On page xv, Keen wrote:

“

In the depth of winter the aged Fornari set out for Venice, the publishing center of Italy, to supervise the translation and publication of the book.

”

On page xxiv, the April 25 1571 dedication by Giuseppe Moleto states:

“

Your Lordship [Fornari], then, being an honorable and generous gentleman, desiring to make immortal the memory of this great man, heedless of your Lordship's seventy years, of the season of the year, and of the length of the journey, came from Genoa to Venice with the aim of publishing the aforementioned book ... that the exploits of this eminent man, the true glory of Italy and especially of your Lordship's native city, might be made known.

”

Other historical evidence of Columbus's Genoese origin include his will of February 22, 1498, in which Columbus wrote "yo nací en Genoba" (I was born in Genoa). This will mentions a Genoese merchant who is also mentioned in a lawsuit that was tried in a Genoese court in 1479. There exists a transcript of the testimony in that lawsuit, and Columbus was called to testify (presumably under oath). In that testimony, Columbus declared that he was a citizen of Genoa, living in Lisbon.

This Last Will and Testament of 1498, which resides in the archives of Seville, is a copy of an original whose whereabouts is unknown. It contains many inconsistencies, such as being signed El Almirante, whereas in the notarized copy of the codicil of 1506, the public notary stated clearly that the will that he had inspected was signed Christo Ferens furthermore this Testament of 1498 has now been proven to be false in all aspects thus making the only document that connected the Admiral Colon to the wool weaver Colombo inadmissible as evidence. ^[4] [2]

[edit] Spanish theory

In 2003, a team of Spanish scientists gained the right to exhume Columbus's remains from Seville, Spain.^[5] They performed a DNA analysis of bones from Columbus, his son, and his brother Diego, and looked at Columbus' writings. Columbus wrote in a Northern Italian form; the Genoese language was not a written one in his time, and it has been suggested that, being an illiterate in his youth, he never mastered it. Analysis of the words Columbus used, and the linguistic mistakes he made, suggested that he most likely learned Catalan as a young man during his trips to Spain, while analysis of his handwriting suggests that he was educated as a young man.

Signs of his Catalan heritage were also searched for. Throughout Columbus' life, he referred to himself as Christobal Colom; his contemporaries and family also referred to him as such. Columbus always maintained that he was an Italian. It is possible that Colom is the shortened form of Columbus used for the Italian surname Colombo (which means "dove"). Colom can also be a Portuguese, French or Catalan name. There was a wealthy mercenary and merchant family of nobility in Barcelona (Spain) named Joan Cristòfor Colom i Bertran.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Portuguese theory

Another theory claims that he may have been born in Alentejo, Portugal.^[6] The theory suggests he named the island of Cuba after the Portuguese town Cuba in Alentejo — the town where he, according to some Portuguese historians, had been born under the name of Salvador Fernandes Zarco. His parents are thought to be the nobleman D. Fernando (first duke of Beja and son of King Edward I), and Isabel Gonçalves Zarco, daughter of João Gonçalves Zarco (who discovered the islands of Madeira), making him an illegitimate child. This is based on interpretation of some facts and documents of his life and an analysis of his signature under the Jewish Kabbalah, where he described his family and origin, and his real name. Christo Ferens, with Christo meaning savior (Salvador), and Ferens a diminutive of Fernandes.^[7]

Since he never signed his name conventionally, the pseudonymous theory is reinforced. His name, Christopher, was of Greek origin meaning "Bearer of Christ" which had moved into Latin holding the same meaning "Bearer of Christ" (Christo ferens) "and of the Holy Spirit" (Columbus, dove in Latin, since the dove traditionally symbolizes the Holy Spirit), a reference to the Order of Christ which succeeded the Knights Templar in Portugal and initiated the age of exploration. The corollary of the above is that he would be knowingly diverting the Castilian kings from their target of India. Therefore he would have reasons to hide his identity and origin since Portugal was the biggest rival of Spain in its sea ventures. In sum, he was a "secret agent".

He got married in the island of Porto Santo, in Portugal, in 1479, with a local noble woman, Filipa Moniz. They had a son, Diogo, in 1480.

Pope Alexander VI issued two bulls mentioning Columbus. Both present Columbus' name written in Portuguese. This has been interpreted as a clue to his Portuguese origin[3], [4], [5] ^[8].

His coat of arms also gives much information about his origin, see [6] for more information.

The names Columbus gave to the places he discovered have also been interpreted as evidence of his Portuguese origins.^[9] More than 40 Portuguese names can be found, among them Cuba (after his native village), Salvador, Bocas das Serpentes ("snakes' mouths"), Santarém, Belém, Mourão, Redondo, Fernandina (after his father Fernando) and Isabelina (after his mother Isabel). Many of them represent names of places in the Alentejo region.

It also a known fact the during the Portuguese Age of Discoveries an extreme secrect policy was employed by the Portuguese due to the competition with Spain and other European countries. For this reason, many documents that reached other countries were fake records showing false names, facts and dates, thus misleading any other nation's possible efforts.

[edit] Other theories

The question of Columbus's nationality became an issue after the rise of nationalism; the matter was scarcely raised until the time of the quadricentenary celebrations in 1892 (see World's Columbian Exposition), when Columbus' Genoese origins became a point of pride for some Italian Americans. In New York City, rival statues of Columbus were underwritten by the Hispanic and Italian communities, and honourable positions had to be found for each, at Columbus Circle and in Central Park.

One hypothesis is that Columbus served under the French corsair Guillaume Casenove Coulon and took his surname but later tried to hide his piracy. Some historians have claimed that he was Basque. Others have said that he was a converso (a Spanish Jew who publicly converted to Christianity). In Spain, even some converted Jews were forced to leave Spain after much persecution; it is known that many conversos were still practicing Judaism in secret. The correlation between the Alhambra decree, which called for the expulsion of all of the Jews from Spain and its territories and possessions by July 31, 1492, and Columbus' embarcation on his first voyage on August 3, 1492, has been offered as support for this claim.

Another theory is that he was from the town of Calvi on the island of Corsica, which at the time was part of the Genoese republic. Because the often subversive elements of the island gave its inhabitants a bad reputation, he would have masked his heritage. Others also claim that Columbus was actually Catalan (Colom)[7][8].

One amateur historian has speculated that Columbus may have come from the island of Chios in Greece.^[10] The argument supporting this theory states that Chios was under Genoese control at the time, and was thus part of the Republic of Genoa, and that he kept his journal in Latin and Greek instead of the Italian of Genoa. He also referred to himself as "Columbus de Terra Rubra" (Columbus of the Red Earth); Chios was known for its red soil in the south of the island where grow the mastic trees that the Genoese traded.

Also, Norwegian Tor Borch Sannes has speculated that Columbus was Norwegian, comparing his coat of arms to that of the Bonde family who fled Norway for Italy in the 15th Century.^[11]

[edit] Language

Although Genoese documents have been found about a weaver named Colombo, it has also been noted that, in the preserved documents, Columbus wrote almost exclusively in Spanish, and that he used the language, with Portuguese or Catalan phonetics, even when writing personal notes to himself, to his brother, Italian friends, and to the Bank of Genoa. His two brothers were woolweavers from Genoa and also wrote in Spanish.

There is a small handwritten Genoese gloss in an Italian edition of Pliny's Natural History that he read on his second voyage to America. However, it displays both Spanish and Portuguese influences. Genoese Italian was not a written language in the 15th century. There is also a note in non-Genoese Italian in his own Book of Prophecies exhibiting, according to historian August Kling, "characteristics of northern Italian humanism in its calligraphy, syntax, and spelling." Columbus took great care and pride in writing this form of Italian.

Phillips and Phillips point out that 500 years ago, the Latinate languages had not distanced themselves to the degree they have today. Bartolomé de las Casas in his Historia de las Indias claimed that Columbus did not know Spanish well and that he was not born in Castile. In his letters he refers to himself frequently, if cryptically, as a "foreigner." Ramón Menéndez Pidal studied the language of Columbus in 1942, suggesting that while still in Genoa, Columbus learned notions of Portugalized Spanish from travelers, who used a sort of commercial Latin or lingua franca (latín ginobisco for Spaniards). He suggests that Columbus learned Spanish in Portugal through its use in Portugal as or "adopted language of culture" from 1450. This same Spanish is used by poets like Fernán Silveira and Joan Manuel. The first testimony of his use of Spanish is from the 1480s. Menendez Pidal and many others detect a lot of Portuguese in his Spanish, where he mixes, for example, falar and hablar. But Menendez Pidal does not accept the hypothesis of a Galician origin for Columbus by noting that where Portuguese and Galician diverged, Columbus always used the Portuguese form.

Latin, on the other hand, was the language of scholarship, and here Columbus excelled. He also kept his journal in Latin, and a "secret" journal in Greek.

According to historian Charles Merrill, analysis of his handwriting indicates that it is typical of someone who was a native Catalan, and Columbus' phonetic mistakes in Spanish are "most likely" those of a Catalan. Also, that he married a Portuguese noblewoman, Filipa Perestrello e Moniz, the daughter of Bartolomeu Perestrelo who had been made first governor of Porto Santo in the Madeiras. She was also the granddaughter of Gil Moniz, who came from one of the oldest families in Portugal, and who had been a close companion of Prince Henry the Navigator. This is presented as evidence that his origin was of nobility rather than the Italian merchant class, since it was unheard of during his time for nobility to marry outside their class. This same theory suggests he was the illegitimate son of a prominent Catalan sea-faring family, which had served as mercenaries in a sea battle against Castilian forces. Fighting against Ferdinand and being illegitimate were two excellent reasons for keeping his origins obscure. Furthermore, the disinterment of his brother's body shows him to be a different age, by nearly a decade, than the "Giacomo Colombo" of the Genoese family.

In a little accepted theory expanding upon the "Chios theory" of Columbus' origin, he was the son of a Genoese noble family in Greece—which accounts for his penchant for the Greek language—who migrated at an early age to Castilla and Leon near a large Portuguese city, where he adopted Latin, Portuguese, and Spanish (Castellano) for their potential uses in his journey. As such, this theory explains how he was an accomplished linguist and how his theories and plans could have been conceived much ahead of time than what is normally accepted.

[edit] References