REUTERS
Columbus was a Sephardic Jew from Western Europe, study finds
October 13, 2024

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…“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.” READ MORE

ISRAEL 365 NEWS Christopher Columbus: A Sephardic Jew from Western Europe ? Columbus’s own writings provide tantalizing clues to his possible Jewish heritage. In his letters, he made frequent references to the Hebrew Bible and figures such as Moses, David, Abraham, Isaac, and Sarah. He even computed the age of the world according to the Jewish calendar, writing, “…and from the destruction: the Second Temple according to the Jews to the present day, being the year of the birth of Our Lord 1481, are 1413 years…”