MADRID, Oct 13 (Reuters) - The 15th-century explorer Christopher Columbus was a Sephardic Jew from Western Europe, Spanish scientists said on Saturday, after using DNA analysis to tackle a centuries-old mystery.
Several countries have argued over the origins and the final burial place of the divisive figure who led Spanish-funded expeditions from the 1490s onward, opening the way for the European conquest of the Americas.
Many historians have questioned the traditional theory that Columbus came from Genoa, Italy. Other theories range from him being a Spanish Jew or a Greek, to Basque, Portuguese or British.
To solve the mystery researchers conducted a 22-year investigation, led by forensic expert Miguel Lorente, by testing tiny samples of remains buried in Seville Cathedral, long marked by authorities there as the last resting place of Columbus, though there had been rival claims.
They compared them with those of known relatives and descendants and their findings were announced in a documentary titled “Columbus DNA: The true origin” on Spain’s national broadcaster TVE on Saturday. “We have DNA from Christopher Columbus, very partial, but sufficient. We have DNA from Hernando Colón, his son,” Lorente said in the programme.
And both in the Y chromosome (male) and in the mitochondrial DNA (transmitted by the mother) of Hernando there are traits compatible with Jewish origin.
This is pseudo-science. Judaism is a religion, not a gene. And to the extent that ancestry can be inferred from genetics, around 20% of the iberian population has iberian jews as ancestors. So is spain considered 20% jewish? Of course not, because ancestry is an ancient mixed bag and judaism is a religion.
The fact that Judaism is a religion doesn’t make the Shepardic or Ashkenazi or indigenous Palestinian Jewish people pseudoscience. These are people with distinct cultures and histories and familial lineages. Most Jews aren’t even religious[1][2].
Oh good. I thought we were all going to start being accused of antisemitism if we didn’t celebrate Columbus Day.
I don’t know about y’all but I don’t get my scientific information from a TV documentary. So excuse me if I take this with a metric ton of salt. I will say that if he did have some Jewish ancestry he certainly must not have been practicing. As anyone who knows anything about Ferdinand and Isabel could tell you I’m sure.
Are we going to start blaming Jews for the native genocide now?
Well it depends which natives are we talking about.
I meant American ones. Which ones do you mean?
Guess. Also how did you infer from the article that ONLY jews were blamed?
Guess
No. This isn’t a quiz show. You have something to say - say it. Own up to your beliefs.
ONLY jews were blamed
True, it’s not only Jews. Used to be it got blamed on Spaniards, catholics, some nebulous “whites”. Anything other than class. Can never say out loud that part
I’m sorry you seem quite misinformed. 1. By predenting not to know which natives I’m talking about. 2. By having issues with blaming catholics for colonialism? If you have not studied the matter perhaps don’t show your lack of knowledge. Christianity and colonialism by Howitt is mentioned by Marx in capital. Howitt begins by noting that it was primarily papal bull, which in the eyes of catholics legitimized the division of america. It stole the land from under the natives. Then he goes to describe individual colonies, and the treatment of natives. Good read.
I forgot more than you’ll ever know, little wannabe troll
Sophism 101. Do you have anything referring to what I presented?
