Possible Jewish origin of Columbus

File:Bethai.jpg

Detail of Columbus' letter to his son Diego, with the letters Bet and hai of the Hebrew alphabet

The possible Jewish origins of Christopher Columbus is a minor but persistent hypothesis in modern historiography, defended by some researchers since the 20th century. The theory maintains that Columbus could have been a Sephardic Jew convert or a descendant of converts, and that certain elements of his biography, his writing, and his historical context point to an origin linked to Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula. Although most historians consider that there is no conclusive evidence, the hypothesis has been the subject of numerous studies, books, and documentaries.

Historical background

The debate about Columbus's origins has been influenced by the context of late 15th-century Spain, marked by the persecution of Jews and converts, the Inquisition, and the Alhambra Decree (1492). Several authors have pointed out that Columbus maintained close relationships with converso families, sailed with crew members of Jewish origin, and used linguistic expressions associated with Judeo-Spanish or cultural Hebraism. The history of claims to Columbus being of Jewish origins, and the expedition having close ties with prominent Jews, and connection to the Jewish calendar and the date set for the final Expulsion of Jews from Spain, has been mainly through centennial and jubilee events commemorating him, beginning with 400 years to the journey. In the two and a half centuries that passed since, this theory has been revoked or redeemed according to political perceptions, at times with Jewish scholars distancing themselves from him, and at others trying to connect.

Simon Wiesenthal's Hypothesis

In 1973, researcher and activist Simon Wiesenthal proposed that Columbus might have been a Spanish converso who sought, among other objectives, to find a safe haven for persecuted Jews or even locate the "lost tribes of Israel." Wiesenthal argued that Columbus showed an unusual interest in biblical prophecies and Hebrew texts, that his voyage coincided with the expulsion of the Jews in 1492, and that some of his financial patrons and collaborators were Jewish "conversos". Wiesenthal also repeated earlier claims that Columbus was a Sephardi careful to conceal his Judaism yet also eager to locate a place of refuge for his persecuted countrymen. He argued that Columbus's concept of sailing west to reach the Indies was less the result of geographical theories than of his faith in certain Biblical texts—specifically the Book of Isaiah, repeatedly citing two verses from that book: "Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them," (60:9); and "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth" (65:17). Wiesenthal claimed that Columbus felt that his voyages had confirmed these prophecies. Jane Francis Amler shared those views in 1977. Contemporary rabbis, such as Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, have indicated that the theory was part of an oral tradition within certain Jewish circles, although they acknowledge that there is no definitive proof.

Estelle Irizarry's Linguistic Analysis

Professor Estelle Irizarry, a specialist in Hispanic linguistics, analyzed Columbus's writings and concluded that his style presents features compatible with Ladino or with writing patterns typical of Sephardic Jews literate in Castilian Spanish. Among the elements noted by Irizarry are the use of syntactic structures characteristic of Judeo-Spanish, biblical references interpreted from a Sephardic perspective, and dating formulas and abbreviations used by converts. Irizarry does not claim that Columbus was Jewish, but maintains that his writing reveals a "hybrid cultural identity." She also claimed (with no evidence) that Columbus referred to the Jewish High Holidays in his journal during the first voyage.

Academic criticism

Most historians reject the existence of conclusive evidence for Columbus's Jewish origins. Authors such as Laurence Bergreen point out that Columbus's writings do not explicitly express a Jewish identity, his mission is clearly framed within the Catholic worldview of the Catholic Monarchs, and the theory is usually supported by circumstantial evidence. Professor Ronnie Perelis, a specialist in Sephardic studies, states that although Columbus shows Jewish cultural influences, "genetics does not make a person of Jewish religion" and that his documented identity is that of a devout Christian.

The debate over this theory has persisted for over a century. The first was Rabbi Mayer (Moritz) Keyzerling's 1894 book Christopher Columbus and the Participation of the Jews in the Spanish and Portuguese Discoveries, commissioned for the 1892 celebrations, where he mentioned Luis de Santangel and Joseph Vizinha, but Keyzerling never claimed that Columbus himself was of Jewish descent. Four years later, in 1898, Garcia de la Riega published an assertion that Columbus was of Spanish origin and a hidden Jew, based on original research on the Colon family name in Genoa and Spain. In 1913 these claims were bluntly refuted by American historian Henry Vignaud, based on facts where he clearly stated his Genoese origins, and where a vast amount of documents showed that La Riega's claims were false. In 1932, Dr. Cecil Roth wrote his book A History of the Marranos, in which he promoted the idea that Columbus was a marrano, a forcefully converted Jew of Spain. Among his proofs were the claims that Columbus referred to the Spanish expulsion in his first accounts, and used the Hebraic term "Second House" for the destruction of the 2nd temple of Jerusalem, a term not used by Christians. Roth also claimed that the insignia at the head of all but one letter to his son, was actually the Hebrew letters Bet-Hei, usually used by religious Jews to mean Be'ezrat Hashem (with God's help), and that the abbreviations under his signature were referring to the Kaddish prayer. In 1933, Maurice David wrote a book that included images of the documents used by Roth to prove his claims. In 1940 Salvador de Madariaga published his book Christopher Columbus, in which he repeated Roth's claims and proofs, weighing them against opposing views and siding with Roth, claiming that Columbus was a marrano forced to leave Spain for Genoa. Some of his proofs were based on the racial traits that he perceived are Jewish, and which he declared Columbus to share. For example, knowing he was born in Genoa, but attacked a Genoese fleet, de Madariaga explained that was because "he was an unassimilated Genoese, not a genuine Genoese citizen rooted in the soil, but a bird of passage, ready to make his nest anywhere." Similar themes are taken with Columbus' sexual activity, having an illegitimate child with Beatriz Enríquez who according to him was Jewish too. In 1942, in his book Admiral of the Ocean Sea, Samuel Eliot Morison refuted each argument, starting with the simple refute that there is abundant evidence to the contrary, that he was a devout Christian, from Genoa. In his last interview in 1970 even Roth conceded that it was impossible to determine if Columbus had a Jewish heritage.

Sepharadic Jews in America continued to promote Madariaga's arguments. In 1992, 500 years after the expedition, the Sepharadic Jewish Organization set up a traveling exhibition about Colon and his Jewish ties, first shown at the Maritime museum in Haifa, Israel, and then traveled to several countries including Spain and the US. The support by the American Sephardi Federation continues even in recent times.

Recent genetic research

In 2021, a team of Spanish researchers announced that, after 22 years of analyzing remains attributed to Columbus and his son Hernando, they had found "features compatible with a Sephardic origin." However, the full data and documentation have not been published, the authenticity of some remains is disputed, and several geneticists have questioned the reliability of the conclusions.

A 2024 documentary produced by Spanish public broadcaster RTVE argues that DNA evidence conclusively proves Columbus's Sephardic Jewish origin. The documentary focuses on the work of José Antonio Lorente, a professor at the University of Granada, who performed DNA analyses on samples of bone fragments collected from the tombs of Columbus, his son Ferdinand Columbus and his brother Diego, in the Seville Cathedral in 2003. In the documentary, Lorente states that Ferdinand's Y chromosome and his mitochondrial DNA "show traits consistent with a Jewish ancestry." Lorente also states that the DNA evidence shows Columbus had origins in the western Mediterranean, likely in Mediterranean Spain or the Balearic Islands. Lorente's research, however, has not been published in any peer-reviewed scientific journal, and Lorente has not made the data available for review by other scientists. In response, forensic genetecists and historians dismissed the claim, making reference to the abundance of available sources showing Columbus was from Genoa, Italy.

Assessment

The hypothesis of Columbus's Jewish origins remains a subject of debate. Although there are cultural, linguistic, and genetic indications that some authors interpret as compatible with a Sephardic origin, the available evidence does not allow for firm conclusions. The theory remains a minority line of research within Columbus studies.

See also

• Christopher Columbus
• Sepharad
• Alhambra Decree

References

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