Theories on the origin of Christophe Colomb

There exist different theories on the origin from Christophe Colomb . If a large majority of historians agree on her origin génoise, its birthplace is not known with certainty. Two houses, one in Genoa, the other with Calvi in Corsica, assert the title of native house of the navigator. Its origins remain surrounded by mystery.

It is starting from the end of the 19th century, in 1892, for the 400e birthday of its discovery of America, that the community of the historians chose an origin génoise of the navigator.

Birth date

The birth date of Christophe Colomb is discussed. The year most commonly allowed is 1451. However, in its log book, he writes on December 21st, 1492 “ having sailed at sea since now 23 years ” . In accordance with its writings of which there remains a copy, it would thus have been 44 years old on December 21st, 1492, because he started to sail as of his 14 years, then would have waited 7 years in Castille before being able to leave at sea. He would thus have been born in 1448, and not in 1451. This not elucidated question is one of the elements of the polemic on its origins.

Possible origins

Currently, various historians study the assumption according to which it would have been Portuguese, Catalan, Basque, Galician, even Greek, and most probably of judaïque ascent. He knew dead languages and probably Hebrew; it written forever neither in Italian, nor in French. Its nationality is at the origin of a polemic having emerged as of its death and object of sharp debates until our days; a recent expertise DNA did not make it possible to raise the mystery.

One of the many anecdotes wants that the Spaniards are the only ones to write its name correctly, this being perhaps due to the fact that the Livre of the privileges published in 1502, where its rights and documents of title are joined together, was personally inspected before its publication in Spain.

It is capital of knowing that its famous will of 1498 and the addition with the will currently stored in the files of Seville is forgeries. Indeed, several elements reveal, in an not-exhaustive way, the fraud made through these documents since it did not sign by christo ferens but a vagueness el almirante , no “public writer” is not mentioned there contrary to the book of the privileges going back to 1502 and finally, these are especially two elements which end up destroying any credibility with the known as will:

tired cuales agora rentan seis por ciento , a quotation extracted the document by which one discovers that the interest rate of the actions of the bank génoise Saint George into force at the time, is 1498, was of 6%. However, the single year or the bank practiced 6% of interest was 1573.
Michele Fratianni and Franco Spinelli still reveals about the bank génoise Saint George which “the banking transactions with the public were closed of 1445 to 1530”, showing thus that the actions concerned with the will could not be the subject of a transaction in 1498.

The conclusion which one can draw from these elements, is that the will was written after 1573 and not in 1498. The proof of the falseness of the will of 1498 is fundamental because it is the single document or Colomb even affirmed to be to him born in Genoa (“ siendo yo nascido in genova ”), the same document which is used as a basis for the theory génoise.

Several theories thus could be born during the closer examination of as a basis documents being used for the theory génoise.

Portuguese theory

According to one of these theories, that of the Portuguese origin, Christophe Colomb would have been El Salvador Fernandes Zarco, noble illegitimate native of the town of Cuba to the Portugal, and relative of João Gonçalves Zarco, former navigator Portuguese of judaïque ascent.

He would have been a spy with the service of the Portuguese king Jean II, in a mission having for objective to divert the Spaniards of their search for a passage towards India. As anecdote, this explains in a univocal way why and how it had at its disposal two caravel S at the time of its first voyage to the service of Spain, two ships of which technology was integral part of a secrecy of State savagely protected by the crown from Portugal.

Colomb would be a Latinized form of its name of spy. In its hieratic signature, “Xpo Ferens is readable”. Xpõ meaning Christ in Greek and Ferens carried in Latin (at the origin of the English word Ferry), therefore “the carrier of Christ”).

Those which defend that Colomb was El Salvador Fernandes Zarco naturally associate the reference of “Christ” with her own name (Christ came in the world like a Messiah or a saver, El Salvador in Portuguese). In the same way, the expression Ferens resulting from its initials also joins Fernandes and its monogram more used where letters S, F and Z are distinguished (El Salvador Fernandes Zarco).

Theory génoise

According to another theory of the origins of Colomb, that of an ascent génoise, the explorer would have been born the October 31st 1451 from Domenico Colomb and Suzana Fontanarossa, in the République of Genoa. However a house known as native of Colomb is also with Calvi, in Haute-Corse, citadel génoise at the time. His/her brother is Bartolomeo Colomb.

One is about sure that it was influenced by the Livre of the wonders of the world , written by the English knight Jean de Mandeville between 1355 and 1357 (during the Guerre One hundred Year old, with its return of voyage in the Far East, starting from its own observations and of accounts of missionaries Franciscain S and Dominicain S. Jean de Mandeville went on a journey in Egypt, in Palestine, India, Central Asia and China, between 1322 and 1356 (either on one 34 years period, which was considerable for the time). The Livre of the wonders of the world (not to be confused with the Devisement of the world dictated in prison by Marco Polo) was diffused in the company Occidental E with 250 specimens in many vernacular languages. Even if Jean de Mandeville were sometimes described as impostor or genious inveterate liar by certain continental commentators because of its plagiarisms, its book had certainly a great influence in Occident.

Colomb had also a specimen of the Imago mundi of the cardinal Pierre d' Ailly (1410).

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