{"id":18688,"date":"2012-11-07T08:13:18","date_gmt":"2012-11-07T08:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/?p=18688"},"modified":"2026-03-23T07:22:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T07:22:44","slug":"columbus-christopher-n","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/columbus-christopher-n\/","title":{"rendered":"Columbus, Christopher"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Columbus\"<\/a>Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)\u00a0<\/strong>is the name usually associated with the ‘discovery’ of America in the late 15th century.\u00a0The popular notion that he was the first European to cross the Atlantic has been discounted long ago with a continuous parade of alternative pre-Columbian<\/a> claimants.<\/p>\r\n

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However, apart from that controversy, there appear to be a number of questions now being raised about the 15th century discoverer’s identity. Manuel Rosa seems to be leading the charge with his 2016 book, Columbus: The Untold Story<\/em>[<\/sup>1889<\/a>]<\/sup>. In a more recent article, Rosa succinctly claimed that “<\/em>Historians mixed up the noble navigator Col\u00f3n with the peasant weaver Colombo, giving the wool-weaver the glory that did not belong to him.”<\/em> The article describes a convoluted but fascinating story of forgery, mistaken identity and misinformation that is well-documented and deserves a read(d)<\/sup>.<\/p>\r\n

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Columbus’ nationality is the subject of ongoing controversy, although the majority accept him as Italian, as there is documentary evidence that he was born in Genoa. Pedants argue that as Italy did not exist as a state until the 19th century, he cannot be called Italian. Up until then, it was known as the Republic of Genoa (1099-1797). Apart from that, both Spain and Portugal have claimed that he belonged to their respective nations(f)<\/sup>.<\/p>\r\n

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Nevertheless, in 2024, it was revealed that the matter of Columbus’s background was even more complex, with the claim that, based on a new DNA study on his 500-year-old remains, it was found that the controversial explorer was actually a Sephardic Jew from western Europe(i)<\/sup>. Unsurprisingly, these claims were swiftly challenged(j)<\/sup>.<\/p>\r\n

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Ruggero Marino, the author of Christopher Columbus: The Last Templar<\/em> [<\/sup>1915<\/a>]<\/sup>, claims that he has evidence that Columbus’s first trip to the Americas was in 1485 for Pope Innocent VIII, not the better-known voyage for Ferdinand & Isabella of Spain in 1492(e)<\/sup>!<\/p>\r\n

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Columbus is not known to have made any specific statements regarding Atlantis, but some commentators have suggested that he was not only aware of Plato\u2019s story but had consulted charts, such as Toscanelli\u2019s(a)<\/sup>, that depicted a mid-Atlantic island. L\u00f3pez De Gomara <\/a>was insistent that Columbus had read Plato\u2019s Timaeus <\/em>and Critias<\/em>, while the historian, Bartolom\u00e9 de las Casas<\/a> (1484-1566), claimed that Plato\u2019s story inspired Columbus to embark on his voyages of discovery!<\/p>\r\n

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A chart created by Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli (1397-1482) is also claimed to have been used by Columbus.\u00a0However, the authenticity of the chart and associated correspondence was challenged by Henry Vignaud <\/a><\/span>in a 1902 book(h)<\/sup>, The Letter and Chart of Toscanelli[2091<\/a>]<\/sup>, <\/span>which, understandably, generated considerable controversy(g)<\/sup> .<\/p>\r\n

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Toscanelli’s chart shows Antillia<\/a> as a halfway marker from Portugal to Cipangu (Japan), which Columbus erroneously thought could be found on the other side of the Atlantic!\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

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In the third chapter of The Message of Atlantis<\/em>[494<\/a>]<\/sup>, Roger Coghill <\/a>offers a vivid account of the background to Columbus\u2019s protracted efforts to get support for his great voyage of discovery.<\/p>\r\n

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It is claimed that two of Columbus’s ships were built by Basques<\/a> and that a quarter of their crews were Basque(b)<\/sup>.<\/p>\r\n

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Nevertheless, S. P. Kershaw<\/a>[1410<\/a>.163]<\/sup> quoting from B. Keen[1500<\/a>]<\/sup> notes that Columbus’s son Ferdinand ”explicitly stated that his father never showed any interest in Plato’s tale.”<\/em><\/p>\r\n

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The Flem-Aths<\/a>, in their Atlantis Beneath the Ice, <\/i>which is a 2012 revised version of When the Sky Fell,<\/i> begin the book with a reference to a memorandum sent by Charles Hapgood<\/a> to President Eisenhower. In it, Hapgood sought the president\u2019s assistance in locating a map used by Columbus, which he believed\u00a0 still existed in Spanish archives. <\/b>This map(c)<\/sup><\/span> was apparently one of a number used by Piri to produce his famed Piri Reis Map<\/a>, which allegedly depicts an ice-free Antarctica<\/a>. The Columbus map was not found.<\/p>\r\n

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(a)<\/sup> https:\/\/es.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Archivo:Toscanelli_map.jpg<\/a><\/p>\r\n

(b)<\/sup> <\/span>https:\/\/www.quora.com\/Is-it-true-that-Ancient-Greeks-knew-about-the-existence-of-America?share=1<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n

(c)<\/sup> Saudi Aramco World : Piri Reis and the Columbus Map (archive.org)<\/a> <\/span><\/p>\r\n

(d) <\/sup>Columbus\u2019s Identity Crisis and the Ongoing Spread of False Columbus News | Ancient Origins (ancient-origins.net)<\/a><\/p>\r\n

(e) <\/sup>Atlantis Rising magazine #29\u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/pdfarchive.info\/index.php?pages\/At\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

(f)<\/sup> https:\/\/www.thinkinitalian.com\/was-christopher-columbus-italian\/<\/a><\/p>\r\n

(g)<\/sup> Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)\/Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli – Wikisource, the free online library<\/a>
<\/span><\/p>\r\n

(h)<\/sup>\u00a0Toscanelli and Columbus. The letter and chart of Toscanelli on the route to the Indies by way of the west, sent in 1474 to the Portuguese Fernam Martins, and later on to Christopher Columbus; a critical study on the authenticity and value of these documents and the sources of the cosmographical ideas of Columbus, followed by the various texts of the letter : Vignaud, Henry, 1830-1922 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive<\/a><\/p>\r\n

(i)<\/sup> Christopher Columbus was secretly Jewish, new DNA study reveals (msn.com)<\/a>
<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

(j)<\/sup> Scientists cast doubt on claims Christopher Columbus was a Sephardic Jew from Spain | Science | EL PA\u00cdS English (elpais.com)<\/a>
<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)\u00a0is the name usually associated with the ‘discovery’ of America in the late 15th century.\u00a0The popular notion that he was the first European to cross the Atlantic has been discounted long ago with a continuous parade of alternative pre-Columbian claimants.   However, apart from that controversy, there appear to be a number of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[91,961,1586,33,261,1585,7973,4800,288,576,7972,2766,6978,2669,262,7141,242,5253,871,7140,4725],"class_list":["post-18688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-antarctica","tag-antilia","tag-bartolome-de-las-casas","tag-basques","tag-charles-hapgood","tag-christopher-columbus","tag-cipangu","tag-ferdinand-columbus","tag-francisco-lopez-de-gomara","tag-genoa","tag-henry-vignaud","tag-japan","tag-manuel-rosa","tag-paulo-toscanelli","tag-piri-reis-map","tag-pope-innocent-viii","tag-rand-rose-flem-ath","tag-rand-and-rose-flem-ath","tag-roger-coghill","tag-ruggero-marino","tag-stephen-p-kershaw"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18688"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66938,"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18688\/revisions\/66938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}