Mysterious Origins

Christopher Columbus - navigator and explorer - was born in the Italian port of Genoa, in the autumn of 1451. His birth certificate has never been found and his family origins remain a mystery, but we do know Columbus was referred to as Cristoforo Colombo in Italy and Cristóbal Colón in Spain.

One reason for the lack of information about Columbus could be that he deliberately kept details about his family hidden, keeping his background as obscure as possible. He may have done this to conceal his Jewish origins, because when Columbus moved to Spain in 1485, the authorities had begun to drive all Jews from the country. Evidence that Columbus had Jewish roots can be found in the name Colombo, which was common among Jewish families living in northern Italy.

Many believe it is no coincidence that Columbus sailed from Spain with his fleet in the early morning of 3rd August 1492. It was on this day that an edict came into force, imposed at the command of the country’s Catholic monarchy, banning all Jews on pain of death from living in Spain.

Columbus’s father was believed to be Domenico Colombo, a weaver with his own workshop and wine bar in Genoa. One surviving contemporary legal document tells us that, as a young man, Christopher worked in the weaving trade like his father.