A new DNA analysis, conducted on the remains of several direct descendants of Christopher Columbus, could reopen the debate over the origins of the famous explorer.
For centuries, the most widely accepted version by historians has been that Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy, and, from a modest family, managed to convince the Catholic Monarchs of Spain to finance his journey across the Atlantic.
But researchers from the Citogen laboratory and the Complutense University of Madrid have published a preliminary study suggesting that Columbus may have descended from Galician nobility in Spain, with genetic ties to the powerful Sotomayor family.
The Sotomayor family was one of the most influential lines of medieval Galicia, with political and military power in northwestern Spain during the 15th century. This would contradict the widespread idea that Columbus came from a simple Italian family.
According to researchers, genetic evidence points to Pedro Álvarez de Sotomayor, a powerful 15th-century Galician nobleman known as Pedro Madruga, as a possible ancestor in Columbus' family line.
The discovery came after DNA analysis of 12 people buried in the family crypt of the Counts of Gelves in Spain. The church of Santa María de Gracia in Gelves is considered one of the main burial sites of Columbus' direct line of descendants, home to at least seven of them, including his granddaughter.
The idea that Columbus may have had Galician roots is not new and has been circulating for more than a century. However, the study authors claim to have presented the strongest genetic evidence yet to support this hypothesis.
The key point of the analysis was the identification of two individuals from the crypt who shared genetic material, although there was no known historical connection between them. One was Jorge Alberto de Portugal, the third Count of Guelph and a documented descendant of Columbus. The other was María de Castro Girón de Portugal, a Galician noblewoman connected to one of Spain's most important aristocratic families.
According to the researchers, this unexpected genetic link led them to Pedro Madruga. Using more than 10 genetic markers and a computer model that traced 16 generations of family history, the team concluded that Pedro Madruga was the most likely common ancestor.
The researchers also used a test called a "Virtual Knock-out," where Pedro Madruga was digitally removed from the family tree model. After he was removed, the genetic link between descendants disappeared, which, according to the authors, suggests that he was an important link in Columbus' family line.
They also cite some historical data that, according to them, support this theory. Pedro Madruga disappears from documents around 1486, precisely at the time when Columbus appears at the court of the Catholic Monarchs. Also, Columbus's writings contain Galician-Portuguese linguistic features, while some elements of his coat of arms resemble symbols associated with the Sotomayor family.
Genetic analysis showed that the descendants buried in the crypt had close ties to the populations of northern Spain and ties to the Sotomayor family of Galicia, as well as the noble house of Zúñiga of Navarre.
However, the authors emphasize that the evidence remains circumstantial, as the study is not based on Columbus's own DNA, but rather on that of his descendants. For this reason, the conclusions still require independent verification.
Most historians continue to support the version that Columbus was born in Genoa, citing his 1498 will, which lists Genoa as his birthplace. On the other hand, supporters of the Spanish theory argue that the explorer may have deliberately concealed his origins.
In 2024, the same team also confirmed Columbus' final burial site. After 20 years of DNA analysis on bones found in Seville Cathedral, researchers said with "absolute certainty" that they belonged to the explorer, who died in 1506.
The authors of the new study say their research provides the first strong genetic support for the theory that Columbus may have come from Galicia rather than Italy, but the historical debate still remains open.
Columbus set sail from the Spanish port of Palos on August 3, 1492, with the goal of finding a sea route to the riches of Asia. With three ships, the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María, he and about 100 men ended up on the other side of the Atlantic, far from their intended destination.
On October 12, 1492, the expedition arrived in what is now known as the Bahamas. Later, Columbus sighted Cuba and confused it with mainland China.
On his second voyage, in 1493, he returned to the New World and arrived in Puerto Rico, where many of the native Taíno inhabitants were enslaved, while some were sent to Spain. In the years that followed, the arrival of Spanish colonizers led to great devastation for the Taíno population, with millions of victims and a drastic decline of native communities. /GazetaExpress/
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