The truth about Christopher Columbus
by Petra Newman
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 changed his status in society from commoner to Nobel man with access to the Portuguese court. In 1480 the couple had a son, Diego. Columbus acquired his father-in-laws charts and documents describing Atlantic voyages. These documents fueled his desire in ocean exploration.
Colorful stories from sailors and locals tell tales of the island of Antilia and its Seven Cities, and other islands of Madeira and the Canaries. Columbus absorbed the rumors and conjectures, a growing list of material which he collected and placed in what he called his "papers." Columbus familiarized himself with open ocean navigation on the Atlantic through his journeys including Madeira, Galway Bay . . . Ireland, and Thule. The Genoese trade with Portuguese Guinea and the new Castilian colonies in the Canary Islands furnished Columbus with essential knowledge of navigation used in his travels across the Atlantic.
In 1483-84 an impassioned Columbus approached Portuguese king John 11 for men and ships to undertake the voyage across the Atlantic. Columbus was turned down. In 1480 after his wife's death Columbus now obsessed abandoned his career as a merchant-navigator to follow his plan. He traveled to Castile with his son and stayed for a time at the local monastery, Santa Maria de la Rabida where he befriended the guardian of the friars, Antonio de Marchena. Marchena gave Columbus spiritual and intellectual counsel. Marchena an educated man and dedicated cosmographer had access to the power structure at court. He wrote a letter on Christopher's behalf to the queen's confessor asking the right to petition the royal council, which made recommendations to the crown. (National Geographic, 1992, p. 30)
Columbus would wait seven years in Cordoba, during which time he fell in love with Beatriz Enriquez de Arana who bore him a son, named Ferdinand after the King. Columbus didn't marry Beatriz not wanting to compromise his advancement by marrying a commoner.
Columbus sent his brother to England and King Henry V11 for funds for his project, and contemplated approaching the King of France. His proposal fell on deaf ears and he was refused funding time and time again, finally in 1492 the Moors surrendered and King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella seeking a new venture, surrendered to Columbus. On April 17, 1492 Columbus signed a contract with Castile making him the Viceroy and Governor of lands that he might find and one tenth of all revenues from his discoveries.
Friday, August 3, 1492, just before dawn Columbus set sail with the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. He made four fateful voyages across the Atlantic returning to Spain and back. Columbus explored the Bahamas and Greater Antilles, encountered the great South American landmass and traveled along the Caribbean side of the Isthmus of Panama. Columbus explorations, earned him the title of "Don", He enjoyed the unique favors of the King and Queen.
Paradise was the description Columbus used to describe the new land full of riches, gold and friendly natives. Columbus pledged to Spain's catholic monarchs that he would convert the Indians to "the Holy Faith" but his legacy was one of distrust, subjugation, and bloodshed. (Search for Columbus, National Geographic, pg. 50, 1992)
Documentations of the inhumane treatment of the natives under his command are well documented. He executed his own men who disagreed with his tactics. News reached Spain and Christopher was sent back in chains, and stripped of his titles. In the end he was thought of as just another explorer.
Historian Manuel Rosa was working on Genealogy tables for the English translation of the Portuguese Columbus: Secret Agent of King John 11, by Mascarenhas Barreto (Macmillan 1992) The book claimed that Columbus was a Portuguese nobleman who changed his real name to Cristoval Colon and moved to Spain. This interested Manuel who himself is a native Portuguese, and decided to investigate with the intention to prove the author wrong.
Together with Eric Steel they spent 17 years, 1,000 books in 5 different languages and wrote a book of their findings. (Unmasking Columbus: Spies, Cover-up and Conspiracy) The accepted history of an Italian Cristoforo Colombo (Christopher Columbus), son of a wool-weaver from Genoa, is inaccurate, Forensic science has proven this and so does their research. (The book is published in Portugal in 2006 and will be available in the U.S. hopefully by 2009.)
The book answers questions like; who was Christopher Columbus.
Why did he keep his name a secret?
Was he a spy for King John 11 of Portugal?
Good or bad, "The uncommon commoner Christopher Columbus began a process that, in words from a passage in one of the books of Esdras, "shook the earth, moved the round world, made the depths shudder, and turned creation upside down." (Search for Columbus, January 1992)
Sources: Search for Columbus; by Eugene Lyon; National Geographic, January 1992.
http://www.unmaskingcolumbus.com/english/first_note. htm