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SPANISH HISTORY

Was Christopher Columbus in fact Spanish and not Italian?

The question of explorer Christopher Columbus’ nationality has caused confusion for years, with several different countries claiming to be his birthplace. Swirling theories suggest that he could have been Italian, Portuguese or Spanish.

Published: 12 October 2021 18:22 CEST
Updated: 12 October 2023 13:36 CEST
Christopher Columbus
Columbus monument in Barcelona. Photo: David Berkowitz / Flickr

The Italian theory

It is widely believed by historians that the explorer Christopher Columbus was Italian and was born in or around city of Genoa as Cristoforo Colombo around 1451.

They believe he was the son of Domenico Colombo and Susanna Fontanarossa, who were wool merchants.

According to later accounts, including those by his son Ferdinand (or Hernando), Columbus left Genoa as a teenager and served in the Portuguese merchant marines. 

Historians say that the fact that Columbus was Italian was also confirmed in his son Ferdinand’s will. 

Or was he Portuguese?

Columbus had many strong ties with Portugal which led many people to think that he was actually Portuguese instead. After his seafaring missions as a teenager, Columbus settled in Portugal and married the Portuguese noblewoman Filipa Moniz Perestrelo, from Porto Santo Island in Madeira.

Some historians say that Columbus would not have been allowed to marry into the Portuguese nobility had he not been Portuguese himself.

Fernando Branco, a professor at Lisbon University even published a book claiming that Columbus was Portuguese. In it, he says that Columbus’ real name was Pedro Ataíde and he was a privateer who fled to Castile in 1485.

Or was he in fact Spanish?

It is said that Columbus or Cristóbal Colón, as he is called in Spanish, moved to Spain in 1485 looking for financial support for his voyages after the Portuguese turned him down.

However, some believe that he was actually from Spain all along. One of the main reasons for this is that there is no documentary evidence that Columbus ever wrote a single word in Italian – everything that he wrote was either in Castilian Valencian, Mallorquin, Galician or Portuguese.

The University of Granada has been analysing bone fragments and DNA from Columbus, as well as those from his brother and his son, Ferdinand and will look at theories that he was from Valencia, Galicia, Navarre and Mallorca, possibly giving a final answer to the beguiling question of his nationality. 

Launched in 2003, the study achieved a major breakthrough after DNA tests established that bones in a tomb in the cathedral in the southern city of Seville were indeed those of Columbus.

READ ALSO: Was Columbus actually Spanish? A new DNA study aims to discover explorer’s true origins

The results are thought to be released this October, however so far they have not been published. 

There are several theories that say that the explorer was actually Spanish but hid his origins either because he was a converted Jew or because of legal complications regarding his inheritance.

Francesc Albardaner i Llorens, a member of the Catalan Society of Historical Studies, believes that Columbus was born in Valencia into a family of converted Jews. He has suggested that Columbus’ father was an emigrant who arrived in Valencia from Liguria in Italy and married a woman from Valencia, meaning that Columbus could have been both Italian and Spanish.

Member comments

  1. There is a large contingents of Greeks who claim Columbus was from Chios. He wrote in his logs in Greek and Chios was under the control of Genoa at that time. It will be interesting to see what the University of Granada, the city in which I live, comes up with when their study is finally published. Since the Greek and Italian genotypes are so intermixed it may be inconclusive.

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SPANISH HISTORY

The forgotten country that existed between Spain and Portugal

The surprising story of Couto Mixto, a landlocked microstate located in between Spain and Portugal.

Published: 30 April 2024 10:39 CEST
The forgotten country that existed between Spain and Portugal

The tiny republic of Couto Mixto or Couto Misto was situated between the towns of Montalegre in northern Portugal and Ourense in the Galician region of Spain.

It included the villages of Santiago de Rubiás, Rubiás and Meaus, all of which are located in Spain today, and measured approximately 27 km².

You could easily pass through this area of Galicia and into Portugal without knowing you were driving through an ancient nation.

Today, all that remains are several small sparsely-populated villages and herds of cows that roam the pastures next to the Salas River.

The independent nation of Cuoto Mixto was located in between Spain’s Galicia region and Portugal. Source: Google Maps

Historians aren’t exactly sure when Couto Mixto was established as a state, but it was thought to be sometime between the 10th and 12th centuries.

Some believe that its creation was born out of the signing of the Treaty of Zamora on October 5th, 1143. It was an agreement between two Alfonsos – Alfonso I of Portugal and Alfonso VII of León, which somehow left out a piece of land that was too small to fight over, but large enough to become a republic.

Another hypothesis is that it was created in the Middle Ages as a place where prisoners could serve out their sentences, repopulating lands after the occupation of the Moors.

Meanwhile, locals talk of a legend of an exiled princess who took refuge in the region and was looked after by the inhabitants. To thank them, the princess granted the people freedom to govern themselves.

Whatever the reason it was formed, Couto Mixto continued to be independent for around 700 years and even had its own flag and national anthem.

The inhabitants of Couto Mixto enjoyed several special privileges over those from neighbouring Spain and Portugal, including little to no taxes, exemption from military service, freedom to trade and cultivate land and few crop regulations, meaning that the tobacco trade flourished here.

Inhabitants also had the right to choose their nationality, whether they wanted it to be Spanish, Portuguese or both.

The country of Couto Mixto which once existed in between Spain and Portugal. Photo: Fabio Mendes / Wikimedia Commons

Because of these privileges, it was a haven for refugees and fugitives, and some historians even believe that it was founded for this purpose.

Because of the relaxation of trade rules and the freedom to cultivate, Couto Mixto became a popular smuggling destination. A smuggling route connected the villages within the state with Tourém in Portugal, named the Caminho Privilegiado or Privileged Path, where there were no border guards and no products could be seized. In addition to this, anyone found smuggling here couldn’t be detained.

This doesn’t mean that Couto Mixto was a completely lawless state, on the contrary, it had its own form of democracy.

It wasn’t ruled over by kings or feudal lords, instead it was presided over by a judge who was elected every three years and was supported by delegates in each of the villages. There was also a local vicar, who also had the responsibilities of a sheriff to carry out orders.

Couto Mixto continued to exist until the mid-19th century, when it was finally absorbed by the two neighboring countries as a result of the Treaty of Lisbon in 1864. It was signed in order to put an end to the smuggling and local gangs that had formed. Most of it became part of Spain, modern-day Galicia, while a small slither went to Portugal and the town of Montalegre.

Couto Mixto’s penultimate judge was Delfín Modesto Brandán and today you can find statue of him the atrium of the church of Santiago, as well as in the village of Calvos de Randín where this microstate once existed. 

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