The Blog

Dear readers, faithful friends of this blog, prepare yourselves to dive into the twists and turns of history, to discover an enigma that has confronted and captivated historians for over five hundred years. Yes, you read that correctly, five hundred years! Tonight, a documentary broadcast for the first time on Spanish television promises to unveil one of the most fascinating mysteries in the history of exploration: the true origin of Christopher Columbus. Just that!

Imagine for a moment: it is 1795, a time of great turbulence and major political changes. The Treaty of Basel has just been signed, ceding the island of Hispaniola from Spain to France. It is in this context that the governor of Hispaniola, Joaquín García, decides to organize the repatriation of Columbus's ashes to Cuba, to prevent them from falling into the hands of the French.

The letter from García, of which a precious contemporary copy is offered for sale in our bookstore, informs his correspondent of the transfer of Columbus's remains, hitherto kept in the cathedral of Santo Domingo, to the Bay of Ocoa, from where they were shipped to Cuba. There, they found a new temporary home in the cathedral of Havana, until their final repatriation to Spain more than a century later, in 1898.

But the story does not end there. Tonight, on this October 12th, the anniversary of the discovery of America (which also became the Spanish national holiday), we might finally discover where this illustrious navigator truly came from. How? Well, through the study of the DNA of these mysterious remains that our letter mentions the transfer of. Was he really Genoese, as the official version claims, or was he Galician, Castilian, Basque, Catalan, or Portuguese, as others suggest? Or does the genetic study of his origins sweep away all the theories that have circulated until today? The answer from science to this centuries-old question will finally be revealed, and I don't know about you, but I am bursting with impatience!

What about you, dear readers, what do you think of all this? What are your beliefs regarding the origin of Christopher Columbus? Do you have any theories, any intuitions? Do not hesitate to share your thoughts in the comments. In a few hours, one of the greatest enigmas in history will be publicly unveiled! Prepare the popcorn, get comfortable, and join me in front of the TV. History, my friends, is about to be written!

Postscript (October 15): For those who are still unaware, the conclusions presented by this documentary categorically dismiss all existing theories about the origin of Christopher Columbus, except for one: that of Francesc Albardaner, former director of the Center for Columbian Studies in Barcelona, and author of a work titled "The Catalanity of Columbus," according to whom the great explorer was a Sephardic Jew originally from the Spanish Levant. The lack of scientific evidence (the scientific team has not released any technical data to date) and the presentation of the results in the form of a heavily staged documentary has already sparked numerous criticisms, and several internationally renowned geneticists have expressed their skepticism. The controversy is served! What does this inspire in you?