[MR] BBC: Who Was Christopher Columbus?

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

It's a world of revisionist history out there. Old historical "truths" are
regularly being challenged, and frequently found wanting.

For five centuries we've been told that Christopher Columbus, a Genoese
seaman, "discovered America" (ignoring earlier exploration and even
settlement by Vikings, long after the evidence was plain to see). Now other
"facts" about Columbus are being re-examined and much has been found to be
dodgy history at best.

So now a Portugese historian and author Fernando Branco is making the case
that Columbus wasn't Italian at all, but was from a powerful Portugese
noble family, the Ataídes. He claims there are over 60 points of
convergence between a Portugese sea captain named Pedro Ataídes and
Columbus. Well maybe. It is an interesting idea. We will have to wait a bit
longer for proof though. Remains from a contemporary member of the Ataídes
family have recently had samples taken for DNA analysis. Similar analysis
is already being performed on Columbus' remains, and should be fully
sequenced by 2021. A comparison could upset established history, much to
the discomfiture of Genoa which until now has had the major claim on
Columbus.

You can see BBC's video at
https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p08jgfdg/the-truth-about-christopher-columbus
.

Perhaps not surprising, there is a flourishing industry of claiming
Columbus was not Italian, or even Portugese. See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_theories_of_Christopher_Columbus . As
a Scottish descendant, I found the notion that Columbus could be Scottish
to be both laughable, and a bit embarrassing. I didn't think we usually
no-nonsense Scots could be that flakey. It is at the bottom of the list of
possibilities though. At least nobody is claiming he was a space alien. Yet.

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆