There may be a statue of Christopher Columbus next to an Astoria subway station in Queens, but some ambitious historians are promoting arguments that could lead some to think that such a statue is better placed on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Claims that Columbus was of Jewish origins have been circulating for years now, mostly from a handful of professors and history buffs. A recent article by Rivka Shpak Lissak on the Web site OMedia.org poses new evidence that Columbus was of Marrano heritage, meaning that his family descended from Sephardic Jews who practiced their religion in secret during and after the Spanish Inquisition.
The article suggests in part that Columbus’s Jewish identity is affirmed by several factors: His crew included Jews, he referenced the Inquisition in his journal and his signature contained Jewish symbols. Those claims, however, have been met with researched assertions that Columbus was a Christian who lived during a time when learned European men viewed Jewish literacy as a sign of erudition. Findings in a DNA test performed by University of Granada forensic geneticist José Lorente at Columbus’s gravesite in Seville, Spain, proved that Columbus was surely Caucasian. Lorente did not find any evidence that Columbus was of Jewish descent. Consuela Varela, a historian at Spain’s Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, has stated that Columbus refused to baptize his slaves not because of his faith but because Spanish law forbade the enslavement of Christians.
In any case, the claim that Columbus was a Jew is a popular one. Browsing the Internet in search of answers will bring Web surfers to antisemitic sites as well as to sites that are Jewish run, each putting its own spin on the story. What we do know for a fact is that New Jersey contains more Columbus statues than any other state. Now that might make him Jewish.
I thought I read that he was buried in Santo Domingo in the DR in a church there. May be the grave in Seville is another person.
hi my name is christine i am readind an book about christopher columbus i am righting about christopher but it is a good book
Evidence by DNA? I never heard of DNA that all Sephardim share.
To:Eli Rosenblatt From:Rivka Shpak Lissak While writing the atricleon Colombus, I did not have the results of the DNA. Still, there is no reference in your article to his dairy, which was full of obvious hints he was of Jewish origin.
I heard that Jews are claiming to be responsible for every important (good) thing happened in this world ...LOL
Others say Senor Columbus was a black man, which is more likely because the spot where he is alleged to have landed ashore in Santa Domingo is rife with watermelon patches.
Until Jose Lorente's testing reveals the Y-Chromosome Haplogroup of Columbus, there can be no definitive answer as to whether he was Jewish. 10-20% of Jewish males happen to be in Haplogroup G (including myself). In the region where Columbus might have been from, such as Catalonia and/or Italy, include regions where the otherwise rare Haplogroup G is concentrated, especially in the Catalan speaking region of Sardinia as well as Sicily and Southern Italy. Sicily was part of Spain in 1492 when the Alhambra decree went into effect, so Jews from there had to flee to the Kingdom of Naples and potentially, Sardinia. A recent test on Al Capone's grandson reveals, guess what: Al was in Haplogroup G. So while Lorente saying that Columbus doesn't show Jewish origin might just mean that he is not displaying a more common Jewish Y Chromosome Haplogroup such as Haplogroup K, if he turns out to be in "G" Jewish origin can't be ruled out even though the percentage of Jewish males in "G" is small compared with the rest of the group.
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