Why Jews don’t want Christopher Columbus to be identified as Jewish

The 15th-century explorer Christopher Columbus, known for “discovering” the Americas under the flag of Spain and thus paving the way for its European colonisation, was a Sephardic Jew from Western Europe, according to new scientific evidence based on DNA analysis.

The origin of the word “Sephardic” is Sefarad, which means Spain in Hebrew.

Columbus is considered one of the most consequential people in history for opening the way for European countries to establish trade routes to the Americas through his 1492 voyage across the Atlantic.

But Jewish scholars are pushing back: they are adamant that Columbus must not be identified as Jewish.

Of the many reasons for their reluctance to recognise Columbus’s Jewish identity, one stands out: the Spanish navigator is widely known for his complicity in colonialism and genocide.

Israel, a Jewish-dominated state, is accused of committing a genocide at the International Court of Justice. Tel Aviv’s full-blown war on Gaza has killed over 42,400 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since October 7, 2023.

Matt Goldish, a history professor and chair of Jewish history at Ohio State University, told a Jewish publication that he was concerned about “potential Jew-hatred” at a time when colonialism is denounced widely.

With shifting global attitudes towards colonialism, Columbus’s reputation has come under intense scrutiny in recent decades.

While Columbus is often celebrated for finding the so-called New World and helping the global economy achieve unprecedented growth, his voyages led to the brutal colonisation of Indigenous populations.

Reports from Columbus’s own time describe his participation in the enslavement, torture and exploitation of native populations.

As governor of Hispaniola, now divided between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, Columbus imposed harsh rule, resulting in mass deaths and widespread suffering among the Indigenous people.

Goldfish said Columbus is used as the “fulcrum on which to place all blame for the sins of Europeans” in the Americas.

“Once Columbus is to blame for everything, the anti-Semitism melds with the post-colonial and postmodern trends to create a truly dangerous idea.”

He says many people view Zionism as a European movement to “steal Palestine from the poor native Arabs”. So accepting Columbus’s Jewish identity may “create a perfect storm of Jew-hatred”.

In other words, accepting Columbus as Jewish would reinforce the idea that “the same Jews” caused the destruction of both native American civilisation and native Palestinians.

“We might next expect a conspiracy picture out of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, but coming from the left this time,” he said while referring to a controversial document from the early 20th century that explains the so-called Jewish plot for global domination.

Doubtful origins

Columbus is known as Cristoforo Colombo in Italian and as Cristóbal Colón in Spanish. But he has also been referred to—by himself and others—as Christoual, Christovam, Christofferus de Colombo and even Xpoual de Colón.

Historians have sometimes disputed the usually accepted theory that Columbus belonged to Genoa, Italy. Other popular theories trace his origin to Spain, Greece, Portugal and Britain.

To solve the mystery, researchers conducted a 22-year investigation involving testing tiny samples of remains buried in Seville Cathedral, long marked by authorities there as the last resting place of Columbus.

The scientists compared those samples with the DNA of his known descendants and presented the results in a documentary titled “Columbus DNA: The True Origin” on Spain’s national broadcaster last week.

“We have DNA from Christopher Columbus, very partial, but sufficient. We have DNA from Hernando Colón, his son…And both in the Y chromosome (male) and in the mitochondrial DNA (transmitted by the mother) of Hernando there are traits compatible with Jewish origin,” a forensics expert said in the documentary.

But Jewish scholars have expressed deep scepticism about the newfound evidence.

DNA can point to the idea that Columbus had Jewish heritage, but how does it prove that he was a professing Jew, asked Jonathan Ray, professor of Jewish studies at Georgetown University.

Ronnie Perelis, associate professor of Sephardic studies at Yeshiva University, observed that Columbus’s writings showed he created an “eclectic theology” that had many Judaic elements albeit in a “deeply Christian” vein.

“Genetics doesn’t make someone Jewish.”