Forensic expert Jose Antonio Llorente said Thursday that the partial set of human remains found in an elaborate coffin in Seville Cathedral in Spain are indeed the remains of the controversial explorer.
Llorente and other members of the team of scientists at the University of Granada were able to identify the remains using samples taken from Columbus’ son, Fernando, and one of his brothers.
“Today, thanks to new technology, the previous partial theory that the remains found in Seville are those of Christopher Columbus has been confirmed once and for all,” Llorente said in a press conference.
Columbus died in what is now Spain in 1506, but he supposedly wanted to be buried on the island of Hispaniola, which consists of present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
His remains are said to have been transferred there in 1542. It is then believed that all or at least some of them were transferred to Cuba in 1795, and then to Seville in 1898, when Spain lost control of Cuba in the Spanish-American War.
Over the past century, experts have debated whether Columbus’ complete remains were transported to Seville for official burial or whether some or all of them remain unofficially in the Dominican Republic.
In 1877, excavations at the Santo Domingo Cathedral in the Dominican Republic uncovered a small lead box containing incomplete bone fragments labeled as belonging to Columbus.
These remains, now buried in the so-called Columbus Lighthouse in Santo Domingo Este, may also have belonged to the explorer, as the collection of remains in Seville is also incomplete, Llorente said.
It is not yet clear whether tests will be conducted on the remains found in the Dominican Republic.
It is known that Columbus sailed to Spain in 1492, but historians have debated whether the original story that he came from Genoa in Italy is actually true.
Over the years, experts have suggested that Columbus was actually a Spanish Jew or perhaps Greek, Basque, or Portuguese.
These results will be shown in a documentary entitled “Columbus’ DNA: The True Origin,” on the Spanish national channel “TVE” today, Saturday.
Forensic expert Jose Antonio Llorente described the investigation as “very complex” while speaking about the final revelation, saying: “There are some really important results, results that will help us in multiple studies and analyzes that must be evaluated by historians.”
Columbus is celebrated as a federal holiday in the United States on the second Monday in October every year.
For centuries, he was credited with “discovering America,” but that description has since been largely debunked by historians who say he reached the Bahamas and elsewhere in the Caribbean, but not what is now the United States.
Critics also say he forced indigenous people to work as slaves and that his travels introduced devastating diseases to their people.
However, some Italian Americans say his risky explorations opened the door to European settlement of the Americas, and should be celebrated as such.
In an attempt to balance the two sides, the United States now celebrates Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the same day as Columbus Day.
Source: The Guardian
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