The recent DNA analysis has definitively confirmed that the remains interred in Seville Cathedral belong to Christopher Columbus, thus resolving a long-standing debate regarding their authenticity . This groundbreaking study involved meticulous comparisons of DNA samples from the tomb with those of Columbus's known relatives. The findings not only authenticate the Seville remains but also contribute significant insights into Columbus’s origins, which have been shrouded in mystery for centuries .
Scientists in Spain claim to have solved the two lingering mysteries that cling to Christopher Columbus more than five centuries after the explorer died: are the much-travelled remains buried in a magnificent tomb in Seville Cathedral really his? And was the navigator who changed the course of world history really from Genoa – as history has long claimed – or was he actually Basque, Catalan, Galician, Greek, Jewish or Portuguese?
The answer to the first question is yes. The answer to the second is … wait until Saturday.
The long-running and often competitive theorising has not been helped by his corpse’s posthumous voyages. Although Columbus died in the Spanish city of Valladolid in 1506, he wanted to be buried on the island of Hispaniola, which is today divided into Haiti and the Dominican Republic. His remains were taken there in 1542, moved to Cuba in 1795, and then brought to Seville in 1898 when Spain lost control of Cuba after the Spanish-American war.
On Thursday, after two decades of DNA testing and research, the forensic medical expert José Antonio Lorente said the incomplete set of remains in Seville Cathedral were indeed those of Columbus.
The answer is expected to be revealed in a documentary film due to be shown by Spain’s national broadcaster RTVE on Saturday, which is a national holiday marking Columbus’s arrival in the Americas.
Ahead of the broadcast of the film, billed as “a documentary thriller”, the forensic team has revealed one result of its research: that the remains exhumed from Seville were indeed those of the explorer.
RTVE has provided tantalising clues ahead of the broadcast, including that the results “will revolutionise everything we have studied” about Columbus. However, Marcial Castro, who was involved in the project, said in a teaser film that he saw the “traditional Genovese theory” as the most obvious one to back as a historian.
In a statement, Prof Lorente said that his team wass “still analysing very important recent data” which would not affect the content of the documentary but would have scientific significance and would be presented in November along with the full results of his team’s research.
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