At school it’s taught that Christopher Columbus was a Genovese navigator who in 1492 discovered America, even though he believed right up to his death that it was Asia. But it has never really been established who Columbus really was. Over the last hundred years different theories have been put forward about his real origins, with the result that at various times it has been claimed that he was Spanish, Portuguese, Basque, Greek and Corsican. Every scholar has always had concrete proof that their claims are true but now, for the first time, research into the real identity of Columbus is being based on genetics. In the next few days a Spanish expert in the sector will publish the results of his research that aims to demonstrate how Columbus was Catalan.

The research. José Antonio Lorente, a geneticist from the University of Granada, has been working for months on this dilemma. His team has collected saliva samples from hundreds of people from the north of Italy to the east of Spain, the Balearic Islands and the south of France whose surname is either Colombo, Colòm, Colòn or Colonnem,. The DNA from these samples has then been compared with DNA samples taken from the bones of the explorer, his brother and Prince Carlos de Vana, a Majorcan nobleman who was related to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella and who, according to some theories, was the real father of Columbus. The idea for the research originally came from a historian at the University of Seville, who asked Lorente to investigate using his own specific methods. Thanks to genetics, Lorente has already established that the bones preserved in the cathedral in Seville are those of the illegitimate son of Columbus, and the researcher has also built a reputation for resolving criminal cases and identifying victims of the Spanish Civil War and of Latin American dictators.

Results postponed. The results of his latest research were originally due to be announced on 12 October, which is “Columbus Day” in North America and the day Columbus is supposed to have “Discovered” the New World, and this year marks the 500th anniversary of the explorer’s death. Lorente, however, has let it be known that on the basis of the elements collected so far it is not possible to form a scientific conclusion, therefore the geneticist, who nevertheless is still optimistic about the outcome of his research, has postponed publication of the results until 26 October.

Miserly tyrant. In any case, many aspects of Columbus’ life still remain a mystery. There is still uncertainty about what he looked like, since there are no portraits of him dating from the time when he was alive but only those painted after his death. The portrait that does emerge from the various different studies carried out up to now, however, is not flattering. Columbus died in Valladolid after having accumulated enormous wealth in Hispaniola (which nowadays is divided between Haiti and the Dominican Republic), the island he discovered and ruled for many years as a tyrannical governor with a craving for riches and the use of torture. With the passing of time he became more religious, so much so that he supported the idea of a new crusade to liberate Jerusalem. But according to Consuelo Varela, a Spanish historian, Columbus deliberately didn’t baptise the indigenous population of Hispaniola so that he could use them as slaves without breaking Spanish law, which prohibited this practice for the sons of God.