by Petra Newman

Created on: December 31, 2008   Last Updated: July 03, 2010

A shroud of mystery and controversy continue to swirl around Christopher Columbus. Why all the secrecy, who was Christopher Columbus? Like any good mystery it intrigues and begs to be uncovered. Five centuries after his death a paper trail leads researchers and historians on a quest around the world to find the truth. Layers of truth and half truths peeled back to reveal a mystery that rivals that of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. The more they uncovered the thicker the mystery. The more we learn about Columbus the less we know. So who exactly was Christopher Columbus?

Most scholars agree that Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, but this too has come under debate. Some believe his signature in code reveals Portuguese ancestry, others declare him Scandinavian ( a "Spanish-Jewish-Norwegian Prince,") There are a host of others who claim Columbus to be Greek, Galician, Swiss, Catalonian, even Armenian and Chinese.

In Genoa upstairs in the Sal Colombiana, a small room holds about 60 of the original Columbus family documents. These documentations reveal the origin of his birth. They begin with Domenico, who at 11 was apprenticed to a Flemish weaver; he also worked as a cheese maker, tavern owner and dealer of wool and wine. Domenico married Susanna Fontanarossa. In 1451 Cristoforo (Christopher) was born, then later came Giovanni, Pellegrino, Bartolomeo, Giacomo, and daughter Bianchinetta.

In the early 1470's Christopher set sail along European trade routes, working as a commercial agent. He chartered and stocked boats, hired sailors and managed money. Columbus believed God "granted me a gift of knowledge . . . and revealed to me that it is feasible to sail . . . to the Indies, and placed in me a burning desire to carry out his plan." (Search for Columbus, National Geographic January 1992) Years on the Mediterranean sharpened Columbus's natural observations, seasoning him as a seaman.

When militant Islam closed the route to the East, Genoese merchants looked westward towards the Atlantic. Their appetite for spices, sugar, slaves, and most of all gold did not diminish and were eager to find an alternate route. In 1476 the Spinola and Di Negro families organized a trading venture to England. Five vessels sailed from Genoa and were attacked by French Pirates at Cape Vincent. A bitter battle ensued and ships from both sides were sunk, Columbus reached shore near Lagos in Portugal, and then made his way to Lisbon.

In 1479 Columbus married Felipa Moniz Perestrello which

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