Origin theories of Christopher Columbus

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The exact origin of Christopher Columbus (beside his place and date of birth) has been the source of some speculation since the 19th century^[1] although historical consensus claims he was Genoese^[2]. There are several competing theories regarding his national origin^[3].

Contents 1 Genoese theory 2 Portuguese theory 3 Catalan theory 4 Norwegian theory 5 Other theories 6 Language 7 References

Genoese theory

Gianni Granzotto, a modern historian, puts forward the following information from documents written by contemporaries of Columbus:^[4]

• 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 asserted 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 of 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 (in Italian-genoese language), 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.^[5] [2]

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 (all inside the former Republic of Genoa) 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 used to support Columbus's Genoese origin included his will of February 22, 1498, in which is written "yo nací en Genoba" (I was born in Genoa). A separate "Addendum" 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 a Christopher Columbus was called to testify (presumably under oath). In that testimony, that Columbus declared that he was a citizen of Genoa, living in Lisbon. This Last Will and Testament of February 22, 1498, which resides in the archives of Seville, was written as a copy of an original whose whereabouts is unknown.

However the Last Will's authenticity is disputed. Historian Manuel Rosa suggested that 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 and written in 1502.^[6]

Portuguese theory

One of several theories claiming that Columbus was Portuguese, put forward by Portuguese historian Manuel Rosa in his book O Mistério Colombo Revelado ("The Columbus Mystery Revealed"), implies that Columbus may have been a "secret agent" for King John II of Portugal, as part of a plan to misdirect Portugal's rival Castile concerning India.^[7] Other sources include José Cassiano Neves da Silveira Mascarenhas de Andrade Barreto, who by his interpretation of the Jewish Cabala and other research suggested he was born in Cuba, Alentejo (Portugal), natural son of a nobleman and related with other (Portuguese) navigators^[8]. According to this theory, his real name was concealed, Christofer Columbus being a pseudonym, meaning Bearer of Christ and the Holy Spirit. This is based on interpretation of some facts and documents of his life (as above), but mostly on an analysis of his signature under the Jewish Kabbalah, where he described his family and origin (by Macarenhas Barreto: "Fernandus Ensifer Copiae Pacis Juliae illaqueatus Isabella Sciarra Camara Mea Soboles Cubae.", or "Ferdinand who holds the sword of power of Beja (Pax Julia in Latin), coupled with Isabel Sciarra Camara, are my generation from Cuba"). Since he never signed his name conventionally, the pseudonymus theory is reinforced, his name meaning in Latin "Bearer of Christ" (Christo ferens) "and of the Holy Spirit" (Columbus, dove in Latin), a reference to the Order of Christ which succeeded the Templars in Portugal and initiated the age of exploration. Another theory that makes him an illegitimate son of the Duke of Viseu and a daughter of João Gonçalves Zarco was presented by G. L. dos Santos Ferreira (1849-1931) and António Ferreira de Serpa (1865-1939) in the book Salvadôr Gonsalves Zarco: Cristóbal Colon, Lisbon, Centro Tip. Colonial, 1930.

The corollary of the above is that he was (i) knowingly diverting the Castilian kings from their target – India and (ii) had all the reasons to hide his identity and origin, as Portugal was the biggest rival of Spain (Castille) in its sea ventures. In sum, he was a "secret agent".

Mascarenhas Barreto has however been refuted and discredited by Portuguese Genealogist Luís Paulo Manuel de Meneses de Melo Vaz de São Paio in his works Carta Aberta an um Agente Secreto, Primeira Carta Aberta a Mascarenhas Barreto^[9] and Carta Aberta a um "Curioso" da Genealogia^[10].

Another Portuguese author Manuel Luciano da Silva who has similar points of view to Manuel Rosa wrotte a book which inspired a film made by Manoel de Oliveira.Actually this film is the story of Luciano's and his wife life and about the searches he made about Colombo's origin.

Catalan theory

In 2003, a team of Spanish scientists gained the right to exhume Columbus's remains from the Cathedral of Seville, Spain.^[11] The exhumation was taken by Prof. Miguel C. Botella, Forensic anthropologist and Bioarchaeologist and Prof. José Antonio Lorente at the University of Granada and also at the Orchid Laboratories in Dallas, Texas, with the new technique created for 9/11 victims. They performed a DNA analysis of bones from Columbus, his son Fernando, and his brother Diego, and looked at Columbus' writings. Columbus wrote in a Northern Italian form^{[citation needed]}; 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. (See below Language). The results of these investigations were presented in Discovery Channel's documentary Enigma Colón.

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^{[citation needed]}. 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 Colom i Bertran.^{[citation needed]}

Joan Colom's age is not known exactly, but he was an old man by the time of the discovery ^[12]. Some descriptions of the discoverer coincide in this. ^[13] The discoverer was certainly not young when he arrived to Portugal^[14] and had white hair after the first expedition^[15]. By 1505 he was considered to be an elderly person ("anciano")^[16].

Norwegian theory

The Norwegian theory is based on Christopher Colon being son of a taxator at the monastery Columba on the island Iona. (In Norwegian). (In German)

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.

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.

Several historians have speculated that Columbus may have come from the island of Chios in Greece.^[17] 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 Greek and Latin 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, but also Terrarossa and Camporosso (both meaning Redearth) are little cities inside the republic of Genoa.

More evidence about the Greek ancestry of Columbus include the following:

Columbus's signature "Xro-Ferens" Christophoros is Greek-Latin or Byzantine, and spelled Chios with a Greek 'X'. He also named Cape Maysi in Cuba using Greek words, Alpha and Omega.

Columbus' son Ferdinand wrote that his ancestors have always followed the sea. Unless the Columbo family of Genoa had a long history of being ships tailors or official shearers of sea-sheep then they were not related. In fact even though they were living in Genoa at the time that Ferdinand was writing about his father, they are not mentioned. Nor are they mentioned in the Will of Columbus.

The islanders from Chios are known for their skill on the sea and for the number of sea-captains and ship owners from there. If Columbus was Greek then Chios is the most likely island he would be from.

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.^[18]

Others, such as Columbus researcher, Janes Francis Amler, 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. However, Discovery Channel's Columbus: Secrets from the Grave purports Columbus could not have been of Jewish descent because certain genetic markers characteristic of people with converso descent were not present in Columbus' DNA. Though DNA evidence alone could not conclude with such certainty that Columbus was Italian or Spanish, researchers concluded that, given the evidence, Columbus was likely of Catalan origin.^[19]

Other theories suggest that he may origin from the Colno or Cholno family of merchants and sailors living in Danzig (Gdańsk), as there was a Joannis de Colno who studied at the Cracow Academy in 1455. A John Scolvus or Jan z Kolna is reported to have taken part in the Didrik Pining expedition to Greenland in 1472.

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 1498 Italian (from Venice) edition of Pliny's Natural History that he read after his second voyage to America. However, it displays both Spanish^[20] and Portuguese^{[citation needed]} 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". However, and since this note is the only known case of Columbus writing in impeccable Italian, it is likely that the author was in fact Italian priest Gaspar Gorricio, who co-wrote the Book of Prophecies.

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^[21] 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^[20], suggesting that while still in Genoa, Columbus may have learned notions of Portuguese-influenced Spanish from travellers. In his business, he would have used a sort of commercial Latin as a lingua franca (latín ginobisco^[22] 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. Menéndez Pidal and many others detect a lot of Portuguese in his Spanish, where he mixes, for example, falar and hablar. But Menéndez 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. Even in his latest writings he uses quero and cualquera (instead of quiero and cualquiera) in spite of the years spent in a Spanish-speaking milieu. Menéndez Pidal thinks probable that Columbus spoke Portuguese, while not really distinguishing it from Castilian.

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 Professor Charles C. Merrill, adding to the fact that Columbus never wrote in Italian, not even in his letters to his brothers and bankers in Italy which were always in Castilian, analysis of his handwriting and style made by Lluis de Yzaguirre and Father Gabriel Roura 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 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 of patricians, bankers and merchants who sailed across the Mediterranean, the Colom, which had served as mercenaries in a sea battle against five merchant genoese vessels 10 kilometers off the coast of Portugal in 1476, as Columbus himself recognized at the end of his life, also saying that he wasn't the first Admiral of his family, an allusion to Guillaume Casenove Coulon, Commander of the corsair ship of 1476 with whom he sailed because he was his relation, as mentioned by his son and biographer Fernando Colón. When the vessel he was in got on fire he had to jump for his life and swom 2 leagues to the shore, as recalled by his descendant Historian Dr. Anunciada Colón de Carvajal. Beside that, in the XIXth century Italian Historian Pessagno found the list of sailors of those Genoese ships and the name of Columbus wasn't counted among them. Fighting against Ferdinand and being illegitimate were two excellent reasons for keeping his origins obscure. Adding to that, he was also a literate and learned man, versed among other things in languages, chartography and astronomy, in a time when only aristocracy could achieve such knowledge. 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. Columbus also said that he sailed since a very young age, which suggests a link to a family of seaman, in opposition to the Italian Columbus, who only became a sailor at around age twenty.

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 Castile 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.

References