New Technology
Solving Old Riddles
By Dr. Syed Amir
Bethesda, MD
In January 1492, as the curtain
was finally descending in Granada on the eight
centuries of Muslim rule in Spain, events of momentous
significance, but of a different nature, were
unfolding in the majestic halls of the Alhambra
palace, where the Catholic monarchs, Ferdinand
and Isabella, had taken temporary residence. An
itinerant trader and sailor, Christopher Columbus,
was attempting once again to persuade the king
and queen, iridescent in the wake of their new
conquests, to finance his mission to discover
a sea route to the East Indies. The potential
for an abundant supply of precious spices that
were scarce in Europe and the opportunity to bring
the message of Christianity to the native population
were the main arguments advanced by Columbus in
support of his mission. His earlier entreaties
to the King of Portugal had been fruitless, and
now he had pinned his hopes on the new rulers
of Granada. Many courtiers, however, strongly
distrusted him, characterizing him as a greedy
adventurer who was mostly after making money for
himself. Turned down once again, Columbus in despair
decided to leave Granada and try his luck in France.
Then came an astonishing turn around in his fortunes;
his supporters at the court mounted a successful
attempt to persuade Isabella to provide him with
the financial assistance he sought, arguing that
she might be losing an unprecedented opportunity
to expand her realm beyond the ocean, spread Christianity
and acquire huge amount of riches in the process.
A special courier was hurriedly dispatched to
bring the wily explorer back to the royal court.
He caught up with Columbus just as he was about
to leave the walls of the city. Eventually, at
the intervention of Ferdinand, Columbus was granted
the resources to embark on his journey, along
with an impressive title, Admiral of the Oceans.
He set sail in August 1492, stopping at the Canary
Islands, and after a voyage of nearly five weeks,
the three ships under his command reached the
present day islands of Bahamas on October 12,
1492. Ironically, Columbus never knew where he
had landed, always believing that it was somewhere
on the eastern shores of Asia. Although, by the
fifteenth century, many people had come to believe
that the earth was round, Columbus like many of
his contemporaries did not realize that a huge
continent lay in between Europe and Asia.
During the course of the five centuries since
he discovered a new continent, Columbus has acquired
a mythological status. In this country, he has
been lionized, especially by the Italian and Spanish
communities, as the indomitable explorer, a hero,
with extraordinary vision and foresight. Every
year, on the second Monday in October, his arrival
at the edge of the new world is celebrated by
a national holiday. A world-wide Catholic organization,
The Knights of Columbus, dedicated to charity
and service, was founded by Catholic priests more
than a century ago to commemorate and celebrate
his historic accomplishment.
Much of the luster of Columbus’ achievements
and his luminous reputation, however, has been
tarnished in recent years as the political awareness
and activism of Native Americans has steadily
grown, and the realization has come of the cruel
and inhumane way he and his compatriots treated
the native population they encountered in an attempt
to enslave them or to convert them to Christianity.
When force alone did not work, Columbus resorted
to chicanery. According to legend, when stranded
in the West Indies for two years, he persuaded
the local population to provide his party with
provisions by correctly predicting the lunar eclipse,
an event which he could calculate from a chart
prepared by a learned Jewish Rabbi in Spain. The
natives were both scared and impressed by the
seemingly supernatural powers of the Spaniards
to foresee a natural phenomenon which they dreaded.
Subsequently, tens of thousands of American-Indians
perished in genocidal wars or fell victims to
diseases brought to the Americas by the European
colonists. Columbus-Day celebrations these days
are frequently punctuated by protest demonstrations.
Despite the recent backlash, Columbus remains
a popular hero, especially for those who would
like to claim him based on his national origin.
Paradoxically, his original nationality remains
shrouded in mystery. In his lifetime, he made
no attempt to clarify where he originally came
from, reportedly dismissing such inquiries by
the terse answer, “I come from nothing.”
It is generally believed, however, that he was
an Italian, son of a wool weaver, born in the
city of Genoa. But then other alternative suggestions
have also been advanced, claiming that he was
an Spaniard named Colon, or even an Spanish Jew
who disguised his identify for fear of persecution
in the era of inquisition. While most scholars
support his Italian origin, it is curious that
none of the documents, letters and record he left
behind, and he was a prodigious writer, are in
his native Italian. Furthermore, his hand-written
notes on the margins of various books he possessed
are also in either Latin or Spanish, not Italian.
These findings are intriguing, since an Italian
would normally be expected to write his personal
notes in his native language.
The controversy about Columbus is not confined
to his national origin; his place of interment
is similarly in dispute. There are at least three
different locations where his remains are alleged
to have been buried. He died on May 20, 1506,
in Valladolid, Spain, either of gout or Reiter's
Syndrome. He seems to have traveled in death just
as much as when he was alive. His body was first
buried in Seville, Spain, and then moved to Santo
Domingo in the Dominican Republic to honor his
last wishes. Later, when Hispaniola Island was
captured by the French, the body was taken to
Cuba and from there finally brought back to Seville,
where it rests today in a mausoleum in the national
cathedral. This at least is the widely accepted
account, except that Dominicans claim that Columbus’
body never left their country and he is still
buried there.
May 20, 2006, marked the 500th anniversary of
Columbus’ death. The availability of modern
genetic techniques has generated new interest
in resolving the issue of whether Columbus was
an Italian, a Spaniard or a Jew, and whether his
remains are buried in Seville or Santo Domingo,
questions that have intrigued and vexed historians
for many centuries. According to a recent report
in the Washington Post, a team of geneticists
at the University of Granada are comparing the
DNA from tissues obtained from one of Columbus’
sons, Fernando, with those from his purported
male descendents now living in Spain, Italy and
Catalonian region of Spain. The scientists are
attempting to find out whether the Italians or
the Spanish claimants share Columbus’ Y
chromosome, a single DNA molecule that male children
inherit from their fathers. The final findings,
still pending, might reveal to which country Columbus
really belonged.
The identification of Columbus’ burial place
has proven even more problematic than his national
identity. So far, the Dominican government has
not allowed scientists to remove Columbus’
bones buried in his tomb for the study. They have
given them permission to evaluate only the state
of preservation of his remains. Clearly, someone
is buried in that tomb, but we don’t know
who. Perhaps, one day, the mystery will be solved.
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