Christopher Columbus: Man Of Mystery
Not Much Is Known, And Some Of Whats Been Discovered Isnt Good
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MADRID, Oct. 17, 2006
columbus portraitThere are no known pictures of Christopher Columbus made during his lifetime. (AFP/Getty Images)
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No one likes to see the dark side of a mythic person.
Historian Consuelo Varela
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(Christian Science Monitor) This article was written by Lisa Abend and Geoff Pingree.
Genovese nobleman or Catalan pirate? Adventurous explorer or greedy tyrant? What if the Italian gentleman who discovered America was in fact a brutal torturer and slave owner? And what if he wasnt even Italian?
Schoolchildren may learn about a daring hero who proved the Earth wasnt flat. But because his biography is pocked with holes, Christopher Columbus is a figure around whom elaborate theories and enigmatic rumors have long circulated. This year, the 500th anniversary of his death, two Spanish scholars are working to clear up some of the mysteries.
José Antonio Lorente, a geneticist at the University of Granada, is attempting to resolve one of the greatest enigmas — the question of Columbuss origins. In 1927, Peruvian historian Luis Ulloa Cisneros claimed Columbus was from Catalonia — in what is today northwestern Spain — rather than from the Italian port city of Genoa.
Since then, theories have proliferated, some suggesting that Columbus was a Catalan nobleman who rebelled against King Ferdinands father, King John II, by engaging in piracy on behalf of the French, and then hid his origins to win favor with the son. Others maintain that he was the illegitimate child of Prince Carlos de Viana, a Majorcan nobleman related to Ferdinand and Isabella. Still others suggest that Columbus was a Jew, whose family fled to Genoa to escape persecution.
A historian at the University of Seville asked Lorente (who had previously used genetic testing to determine that bones in the Cathedral of Seville belonged to Columbuss own illegitimate son), to help resolve the Catalan/Genovese issue.
Collecting saliva samples from hundreds of people in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Genoa, Valencia, and the south of France with the last name of Colón, Colom, or Columbo, Lorente is comparing their DNA with that taken from the bones of Columbus, his brother, and Prince Carlos de Viana. This way, we can try to determine which population with the same last name as Columbus has the most genetic similarities and differences to him, says Lorente.
The study, results of which were supposed to be released last week to coincide with the Spanish celebration of Columbus Day, has been delayed due to the technological difficulties. Right now, we havent developed sufficient markers that can be applied to DNA that comes from bones, says Lorente. Were working on improving it every day, but we cant say when well have results.
Until he finds conclusive answers, the geneticist finds the Catalan theory compelling. Although the majority think he was Italian, Lorente comments, there are certain aspects of his biography that suggest non-Italian origins.
But while Columbus origins remain undetermined, Consuelo Varela, a historian at Spains Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, has answered another question: Why, once he was governor of Hispaniola, did Columbus fall so far from favor that Ferdinand and Isabella ordered him arrested and returned in chains to Spain?
After archivist Isabel Aguirre discovered an uncatalogued transcript of Columbuss trial and brought it to Varelas attention, the answer was clear to her: Even by the uncharitable standards of 16th-century Spanish colonies, Columbus was a brute.
In her book The Fall of Columbus, Varela uses the testimony from 23 witnesses contained in the document to show that as governor of Hispaniola, Columbus regularly used torture to maintain order on the island. It was far more brutal than we had known, says Varela. It was a frontier society, with terrible misery and injustice.
Columbus was also a strong supporter of slavery, refusing to baptize the indigenous people of Hispaniola so that he could enslave them (Spanish law prohibited the enslavement of Christians), and auctioning Spaniards into slavery, including a young boy caught stealing, as punishment. Varela also notes that Columbus was surprisingly greedy. He was always tremendously worried about making money.
Although academic specialists have largely hailed Varelas work, popular readers have been less welcoming. An Italian author of historical novels recently wrote her to complain about the unflattering portrait and accused her of falsifying the document. Varela understands the resistance. No one likes to see the dark side of a mythic person, she says.
For both scholars, it is the mythic elements of Columbuss personality and history that explains public fascination with him. Columbus is a universal figure, says Lorente. When you add in the fact that he never said anything about his origins, you have the perfect mystery.
© 2006 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
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Not so much a question of or: Columbus was both an intrepid explorer and a tyrant. He was directly responsible for the enslavement, and ultimately the extinction of the Carribean Arawak peoples. He laughed at the passivity and trust demonstrated by these people, and even bragged in letters of how easy the process of enslaving them would be. Hooray for genocide! Lets take the kids to Wal-Mart and buy some more flags! For further details on this hero, you might like to read Howard Zinns A Peoples History of the United States.
p.s. Happy (belated) Columbus Day.
Posted by redivider23 at 06:57 PM : Oct 17, 2006
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Im really tired of hearing about Columbus. This is not the United States of Columbia. Why dont we hear about Amerigo Vespucci?
Posted by Boston1954 at 06:46 PM : Oct 17, 2006
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funny…
janem4, I didnt read this article as a smear on Columbus. I read it as the title reads…Man Of Mystery. wow
Posted by jh6379 at 04:29 PM : Oct 17, 2006
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The Italian Colon,(christopher columbus) was not schooled, could not read, parents were not married, and worked as a cabin boy. (per info from recent trip to Italy). The spanish Columbus was a sea captian, could speak several languages, was from a wealthy family, was a pirate, did kill for others riches. I think the spanish columbus is the real columbus who did discover the americas, after Leif Erickson did, anyway.
Posted by pghlady2 at 04:24 PM : Oct 17, 2006
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Oh my God, now CBS is smearing Columbus. He must have been a republican back then.
Posted by janem4 at 03:31 PM : Oct 17, 2006
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To me, the mystery of mysteries is how he got credit for discovering America in the first place. About 500 years late and bumping into islands that got in his way, slaughtering indigenous peoples, while pursuing mostly his own wealth…he seems a poor candidate for yearly celebrations in N. America. Cheers to the first Europeans of Vinland! Cant we get a day off from work for the Eric or Lief, too?
Posted by jetauma at 01:44 PM : Oct 17, 2006
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