Dear Henry, thanks for this video. As an octogenarian, I believe that one of the joys of life is continual learning. And a mark of true wisdom is the ability to incorporate the new information with the old and, thus, to expand one's personal vision.
Professor, you’re a true academic and scholar! You’re so brave to admit your past “mistakes” or misinformation, while there are “Ivy League level” professors who would fake their research and data just to save face. Respect to you sir!
Columbus' wife, Filipa Moniz Perestrelo, is my aunt, 17 generations removed. I have always had suspicions that Columbus was a Converso because Filipa has Jewish descent, and her brother, Bartolomeu Perestrelo's descendants, married into a very prominent Converso family, the Carbajal-Santa Marias of Jalisco, Mexico. Thank you, Professor Abramson, for bringing our ancestors to life through your historical research. The tragedy of the Inquisition brought many Converso families into hiding, and you brought them out of hiding, which continues to inspire and heal us from this cultural genocide.
They should write more often the name of his wife and son when talking about Cristophorus Columbus. Cristophorus/Cristopher means: "The bearer of Christ," and Columbo means "Dove". It gives a lot for imagination here with his name. Thanks for your comment about your ancestors.
Love that you are able to reevaluate previous and strongly held opinions....hadn't seen a video from you in a while....keep rocking it Rabbi...yeah, I know you're not an actual Rabbi, but I still think it's a fitting term for what you are doing. Blessings.
There is a placard, placed by the United Nations, on the Greek Island of CHIOS dedicated to christopher columbus. He was greek. I am Greek and did a Dna Test. My results say I.have Mizrahi jewish ancestry. Most Greek Cypriots have similar results to Me.
How fascinating it is that Chris went to such lengths to obscure his background. I always thought that meant he didn't want the Spanish court to know he was Jewish or Portuguese or both.
Watch the video again. Prof mischaracterized Columbus in his old lecture. He made many statements that he was Jewish. We should take Columbus at his word, now
@@stephenjablonsky1941, I read this article in a Israeli newspaper about Cristophorus Jewisness. At the end of his latters to his son Diego, he would write some short lines in Hebrew. Again, the possibility is that he was a descendant from Jews if only in a remote way.
Something like 1/3 of New Mexico Hispanic and Tejano genetics is Jewish. Not myself, though I have some cryptic Mexican/Melungeon input, turns out it’s Roma/subcontinent, Native, and Spanish. Let’s face it, go back far enough and we’re all mixed.
Colombo is the son of a Jewish woman "converted" to chtistianity and a nobleman, both Portuguese, and was born in the village of Cuba located in the south of Portugal. He named the island of Cuba in the Caribbean after his homeland.
The town of Cuba, Alentejo, Portugal has a statute of Columbus and maintain he was Portuguese (which doesn't mean he wasn't Jewish). His brother had a bookshop in Lisbon.
There are many claims; this is just one. Genealogy is not based on stories or local lore, but on documentation, perhaps with some help from DNA, but DNA alone is not proof. For many reasons. “Cuba” is from a native Taino word, “cobao”; Columbus called it “Juana” in honor of Prince Juan of Spain.
Hello. Many, many, many Catholics have Jewish ancestry. It has always been this way. My great-grandmother in Poland was Jewish. She believed Jesus was the Messiah and converted and we've been Catholic ever since. We are survivors. (Even converted Jews were persecuted in WW II.)
Israel's Law of Return 1950 , grants citizenship to anyone who is or has Jewish ancestry or spouse (amended in 1970 to accept Goyim converts) but excludes Jews who convert to Christianity.
Me too, but my ancestors (my paternal grandfather's mother's family) converted to Catholicism with their entire family in the early 1800s. Their family name is literally derived from the German word for 'lender' and they used to be pawnbrokers before they became horse butchers (a job closely associated with Jewish converts to Catholicism in the Rhineland).
@classicallpvault8251 Interesting. It was my paternal grandfather's mother who also converted. Her last name was Swistak. That translates to beaver and my understanding is this is a name that was arbitrarily given to her family in place of their actual Hebrew name (like Wolf or Fox.) I know there was land (probably inherited on the Catholic side, ) cattle, and kosher meat and other goods they sold in "their stores" in my father's family before the war (he was a child.) He remembers how the rabbi would come over and bless the cows before they were slaughtered. (Unfortunately, I don't know anything more. They have all passed and there is nobody left to ask.) I don't think her whole family converted because she was actually punished for converting; the Jewish townspeople stoned one of her daughters on the way home from Catholic school (they "took one" in punishment.) We have letters describing this and I believe it because it's not the kind of thing people would make up. Despite this, some Jewish traditions continued to be passed down even to my generation in 1970s America (a special Jewish dinner once a year and we had to take a bath first.)
Either way, I love it that we either have a long-standing national holiday named after a Jew or we start celebrating “indigenous people’s day”, a constant reminder that Jews are the ones indigenous to the land of Israel. 😊 So, Jews stand tall, no matter the direction of the wind.
It doesn't make sense that Columbus was bragging about being Jewish to intimidate gentiles since the Jews in the 15th century were definitely not in the position of power. On the contrary this would be rather dangerous because of inquisition. Maybe he just enjoyed messing with the people and he knew if he would get in trouble he could easily prove his gentile ancestry. Who knows but it's definitely suspicious
It was my understanding, and I'll have to go back and watch some of the videos again, that for most of the 15th century, Jews were actually a pretty powerful group, holding positions in government, finance, medicine, etc. In fact, I read long ago that the negotiators for the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella were Jewish. Of course, this all changed very suddenly in 1492.
It does make sense when applied to the American context. Most of my ancestors were Sephardic/Portuguese settlers and most of them were wealthy merchants who received land grants from the Crown to explore South America. They might have been fleeing persecution in Europe, but they definitely became nobles in this part of the world.
@@charlesgantz5865 Yes the biggest families of trade(Benevishta for example) in the world set in Spain then Portugal and then ran away to Amsterdam and London almost correlating perfectly between golden ages
The Spanish were devout in the bible. So if you can convince someone you are a descendant of the great men of the bible, it would cause them to evaluate their position for a minute.
as soon as a read that news I thought of you and the time you talked about him. I laughed and laughed. so glad you made this because i was wondering what you would think! 😂🤣😂
To understand that one needs to understand the Inquisition and its goals and how these goals meshed with politics and alliances. Unfortunately what we know about the Inquisition has been warped by Protestant propaganda. My understanding is that obviously Jews and Muslims were heretics and therefore in need of conversion or expulsion the main reason was the Islamic and Jewish interest in magic…this is one reason why so many women were victims of the Inquisition…because of their interest and practice of magic. Also the Inquisition was very rational in its application and approach so just because someone had Jewish ancestry didn’t mean they were currently a heretic. The subject needs extensive research by qualified experts.
@@desertpriere Ferdinand not likely but the Chief inquisitors or one of them I have heard or read was a Maranno or Morisco You d be surprised the number of Marranos and Moriscos in the new world !!!
My prayer is that the wonderful example you have set by admitting to have erred, will be a lesson to others on how to acknowledge a mistake and correct it. Yeshar Koach!
This doesn't seem fair. As long as he was the bold explorer, he was Italian. Now that he is a blood thirsty colonizer, he's Jewish. Maybe we can have a DNA test done on Karl Marx and make him Norwegian.
No, we still honor Christopher Columbus. Every year a mass is celebrated at St Patrick's Cathedral in New York on Columbus Day (yesterday) and it's a huge feast day.
He was always jewish. The history didn't change, our information and understanding did. He has letters which connote perfect hebrew script, even בהי at the top of his correspondence
@@lisapolanski9379 Can I join the Knights of Columbus now? (I grew up in NYC, love Italy, love Italians, love feasts, love British Columbia, Columbus, Ohio, Columbian coffee, St. Patrick's Cathedral...I hope I haven't left anyone out). All the best.
Some people all over western Eurasia and North Africa were Jewish. Sometimes they conquered. Shouldn't be surprised. Where does the word Sicario come from?
Dr A, Thanks so much I enjoy all your lectures. For a history lover like me, there is no where else I can find and un-sanitized not Bais Yaakov historia type version of our history. I’m a young mother and I don’t have time to learn but I listen while I cook and it keeps my brain from frying.
“Christopher” is the combination of two Greek words, Χριστός (Christós), "Anointed" or “messiah”, and φέρειν (phérein), "to bear", hence the name in its full Greek translation should be translated as “Bearer of the Anointed One”. To fail to translate “Christos”, makes the translation incomplete, and may mask the Jewish elements of Columbus’ first name.
Shabbat Shalom Professor Abramson! Prior to discovering your channel, I followed Rabbi Lapin on a cable channel. A decade ago, he convincingly argued that Christopher Columbus was Jewish. His insight that Columbus' flagship Santa Maria was outfitted with a Kosher Kitchen and other facts made his argument compelling. I was surprised several years ago when you offered the opposite conclusion. Reasonable mind may differ, but DNA is conclusive.
Exactly, it's like more reason to hate us, unfortunately...I'm from the Dominican Republic and the history is so bad in the way that the system has it , I preferred to have a secret Jew, like day one. People don't know how to differentiate the Colons crew of the inquisitor's that came after, not only for natives but for Jews primarily...but for such a time as these.
I'm a big history buff and I'm totally shocked by this history of Columbus. Years ago in college, I attended a lecture by an American scholar of German history and language. He was clarifying that the expulsion of Jews and Muslims from Spain under the Reconquista was not eugenic in philosophy like in Nazi Germany, but rather nationalistic or nativist. Because of the heavy presence of Jews and Muslims, Spain was wrestling with what was to actually be TRULY Spanish. The Moors ruled Spain for 800 years, so there was also a lot of intermarriage and that too was viewed as problematic for the budding Spanish national identity. He mentioned that King Ferdinand and Torquemada had Jewish ancestry. He said that Ferdinand was more sympathetic to the Jews because he was aware of his Jewish bloodlines.
There were many Portuguese Jews. They think he was from Valencia in Spain - but that still doesn't mean he wasn't originally Portuguese. Spain and Portugal were ruled together.
@@myradioonThe DNA results of Christopher Columbus, whose real name and those of his son indicate that his origins came from the western Mediterranean shores, meaning Catalonia, Valencia, or the Balearic Islands, and not from Portugal, despite the fact that the latter had great navigators.
The results of the study will be communicated at the beginning of November with detailed explanations. The documentary Colon ADN,.... broadcast on October 12 on Spanish television, was only a preliminary announcement in the form of a popular science film.
If you find yourself in the San Juan area on a Friday or Saturday, I'd love to invite you to visit Temple Beth Shalom in San Juan. Happy to make arrangements.
He could not have been Jewish from the city of Genoa because all Jews had been expelled from that city in the 12th century. However, according to Professor Francesc Albardaner, he could have been born in the silk-weaving district called 'Genoa,' but in the city of Valencia in Spain.
@@josepcivil8090 I am not familiar with the exact details so you may be correct. Maybe it was called Genoa by immigrants from Italy. It is only what I remember.
Important for the first voyage was the role of Luis de Torres -either crypto-Jew or convert to Catholicisism- as an interpreter. Luis de Torres might be a distant relative of mine, as be both hail from eastern Andalusia and Torres is my fiffth last name.
There is no doubt that Christopher Columbus was not Genoese, as he neither spoke Italian nor Ligurian, the language of the Genoa region, even when addressing his Italian or Genoese bankers. Linguist Estelle Irizarry, a Spanish language professor of Jewish American origin, after analyzing the discoverer's writings in Castilian, asserted that they are filled with Catalanisms, characteristic of someone who does not fully master the Castilian language. She thus concluded that he must have been Catalan. This supports the studies of Peruvian researcher Luis Ulloa, who, in the early 20th century, after more than twenty years of research, asserted the same hypothesis. This idea was also validated by the intelligentsia of Barcelona, which had built the largest statue of the discoverer in the city in his honor a few years earlier. These claims were revisited about twenty years ago by Catalan researcher Jordi Bilbeny, who argues that it is unlikely Columbus was the son of a simple weaver, given his extensive knowledge. According to him, he was more likely one of the sons of a prominent family of diplomats and merchants from Barcelona, who could have financed his education. The name of this man would be Joan Cristòfor Colom i Bertran. Observing the signature of the famous navigator, one notices that he signed with a large "J," perhaps for "Joan," or for "Judío" (Jew), or even for both at once.
Many Conversos were forced to take heavily Christian first names or surnames to show their faith (Bearer of Christ) and or adopted them to fit in. His mistress was from a Fabric/Indigo Dying merchant family in Genoa and Italy. That's all you need to know - exclusively a Jewish Trade in the Mediterranean. Just because he lived in Genoa NEVER meant he was Italian. His real wife was Portuguese Nobility with holdings on Madeira, though there is speculation that her lineage were Jewish that had gained status through Merchant wealth. It can even be assumed he had heard about the New World and Brazil through Jewish Merchant Sailors/Whalers- and he wasn't 'lost' at all. Jews were one of the first substantial Colonies to make it to Brazil through expulsion. Ports had international populations and the Jews in all of them spoke a common language - Ladino.
ColoM is written with an M (This is why ColoMbia is written with an M and not an N) from its TRUE CATALAN NAME. He could not have been born in Genoa if he was Jewish because the Jews had been expelled the century before his birth, and none remained there. However, he could very well have been born in the Jewish silk weaver's quarter of Valencia in Spain, called the GENOA QUARTER.
@@josepcivil8090 It may have been called "The Genoa Quarter' because many of the merchants and silk/Indigo had come there through Genoa - not far away but a critical stop on the "Silk Road'.
@@myradioon Yes, according to the version of Professor Francesc Albadaner, the neighborhood called "Gêne" in Valencia, Spain, which was dedicated to silk weaving, was inhabited by a large community of Jews originating from this city. However, this does not make him a Genoese, and even less an Italian, as Italy did not yet exist at that time.
Are we 100% sure the analysed bones were his? They were moved several times across the ocean . Object of dispute between spain and Republica Dominicana. Who knows if they were swapped with someone else’s bones?
The study of the DNA is not based so much on the remains of the discoverer, but rather on those of his son, whose tomb, also located in the Seville Cathedral, had remained intact.
Xristoforos (Χριστόφορος Κολομβος) he is from the island of Hios a colony of Genoa. The mother land of great captain even today . A common Greek first and last name on this Aegean islands
Very interesting. The lecture in the first part of the video made me think of the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode with Larry's Swedish lawyer. Perhaps Columbus was opportunistic, and willing to let people believe whatever they wanted to believe about him as long as it furthered his ambitions.
My Sephardi husband told me me over 25 years ago that CC was Jewish. Doubtless memory in the Spanish speaking segment of Sephardim who really came from Spain. So was I surprised? No.
I have been saying this for a long long time. If his brother was portuguese and jewish. Hello? Also he used he Almanac perpetuum, the first printed book in portugal. Also my hometown, Leiria
Thank you for your video. I have been living in Portugal for over 35 years and the issue of Jewish Blood has come across several times. The reaction from the Portuguese population is twofold: some regard it as a source of pride to consider the possibility of being a Jewish descendant, and others despise the notion of having some Jewish blood in the veins. Imagine if the nazis had the means to test for DNA! They would have to murder a considerably larger number of individuals... including maybe Hitler himself! I agree with you, DNA testing is not the only factor that classifies an individual as a Jew.
Knowing that he is a convert from Judaism only makes the story stronger in my mind. Bottom line - western Europe was an unwelcome environment for Jews and he among many sought survival and refuge in any way they could. Ironically, the people the Spaniards met in the western hemisphere would now suffer the same inquisition fate. In my mind, indigenous peoples and Jews were on the same side of the discriminatory line - unredeemable heathens ripe for persecution. The exploitative and colonizing intentions of the Spanish Crown should not overshadow the precarious position of their Jewish subjects. Thanks for sharing this on Indigenous Peoples Day.
It has been estimated that some 40%m of Spanish, Portugese, and southern Italians today have Jewish ancestry. The royal house of Hapsburg had some jewish ancestry, as did both King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. DNA tells us the true story of our ancestry. It has been specualted that Abe Lincoln also had Jewish ancestry. Let's dig him up and look at his DNA.
Greetings, Professor. We believe Cristóvão Colombo was Portuguese, born in the little southern village of Alentejo - Cuba. :)))))))))))))) (Not Cuba in the Antilhas. Cuba, Alentejo, in the South-East of Portugal, which was conquered during the "reconquista", in the reign of D. Sancho II, in the XIII Century.) Of course, Colombo was Jewish, and probably was also a spy to Fernando and Isabel of Spain, working for D. João II of Portugal. We are very proud of Cristóvão Colombo, and we are not prone to wave his citizenship to Spain or Italy. Shalom, from Lisbon.
He's either Converso or Marrano. Likely the former, considering the Marrano community maintained synagogues and traditional ways and were persecuted by the Roman Catholic establishment while the true Converso attended mass and had the support of Catholic monarchs.
A common misunderstanding of why Columbus had such a hard time getting funding for his voyage, was that people thought the Earth was flat. In fact, it was known by most learned people and rulers that the Earth was not only round, but much larger than Columbus claimed. Already the ancient Greeks already had an accurate estimate of the Earth's circumference. I would have thought (though I can be wrong) that learned Iberian Jews would have had _at least_ as good access to Greek and Arab learning in geodesy and astronomy (specifically the size of the Earth) than the average Christian monk at that time. If Columbus was Jewish and had access to this learning, it seems unlikely he would make such a blunder. Somehow this doesn't quite "sit right". Or perhaps he was just an unusually poor student of geodesy?
Maybe this is why most people in the Southeast USA have autosomal DNA that shows Iberian and Jewish living populations. All participants in the study also matched several Native American Tribes (Muscgoee, Cherokee, Athabaskin Athabaskin, Miwok, Lumbee and Shawnee) Surprisingly there is very little British DNA notwithstanding the current narrative that the Southeast is largely British descent.
Looks like you have a great sense of humour! But I have read that the first European off of Columbus' ship to land, was a jew. And that was many years ago I read that.
His signature Looks like the Shema Ysrael to me. And the first SX could be HaShem Ehad remember aleph looks like an X. Also remember what two Yods mean in Hebrew.
יש לי במשפחה סיפורים על קירבה משפחתית לקולומבוס. או לפחות לדודה של קולומבוס. המידע על זה נתגלה במסגרת עבודה גיניאולוגית על המשפחה של אמא שלי. מקור המשפחה בעת האחרונה באיזורים של דרום איטליה שבמקור גורשו מספרד. אותה משפחה היתה לאורך הדורות ברובה יהודים , כאשר הם היגרו לארה"ב בתחילת המאה העשרים, רובם התרחקו והתבוללו מהיהדות ונשארו רק קומץ יהודים מהם. סיפור נחמד סה"כ.
In Spain since the XVI century there has been a non official but almost accepted version that Colombus was a sefaradi Jew...lts not a surprise for many..and as a part jew l feel in a certain way proud.🎉❤
I appreciate the anthropological / socio-political framework of this discussion. Personally I think religion should be resigned to the anthropological record. But mortality is a tough hurdle and giving up the status as the creator-of-the-universe’s favorite creation is especially tough to walk back once you get used to it. I am not an atheist in the stereotypical sense. But I do identify as anti-theist. That’s a conversation which is far too complex for my comment to this video. The bottom line: We are ALL merely products or our environment. We ALL evolved out of primates from Africa. The middle east is a natural part of that evolutionary migration. To wit; I am descended from many, many generations of Irish/Roman Catholics. Yet I also have “jewish DNA”, as subjective and vague as that may be. I also have traces of Neanderthal DNA. I would assume that the semitic cultures do too. If Jewish people want to own Christopher Columbus, that’s fine. Not sure why anybody would. But if you’re going to take Christopher Columbus you also have to take folks like Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Bernie Madoff, and lets not forget James DeWolf. Bottom bottom line: People need to get their heads out of the bronze age and evolve. There is no room for supremacy in human evolution.
He Salvador and i do have the rest of his name and his mother's back ground, all Jewish to her mother and to her grandmother and his family bloodline, this was shared with us Sfardic Jews in early 2000's by those of us Indigenous Powatowanami Anasazi who did massive deeper research for a project, this is when my Sfardic Rabbis brought us the hidden treasures about what Salvador really went through for us to have a Safe Haven from Spanish Catholic Inquisition, H-Sh-M used Salvador as like unto Moshe Rabeinu to help our ancestors escape Tyranny from king Ferdinand and Queen Izevela and The Deathly Grip of The Catholic Church.
As the Catalan professor Francesc Albardaner tells us, ColoM is written with an M (this is why Colombia is spelled with an M and not an N) because of its TRUE CATALAN NAME. He could not have been born in Genoa if he was Jewish, since the Jews had been expelled the century before his birth, and none remained there. However, he could very well have been born in the Jewish silk weavers' quarter of Valencia, known as the GENOA QUARTER.
Luke 4:24 New International Version: “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown". Columbus may have chosen to pretend he was a foreigner to increase his aura of mystery and chances of success and acceptance.
Here is an old fan, and I remember the original lecture! But strangely when I heard the new rumours I seemednto remember you saying columbus was probably somewhat jewish 😂
Just one thing: "Colom" is a very common Catalan (including Mallorca, Eivissa and Valencia) and it refers at this bird we often find in the big cities.
Marrano, in Spanish history, a Jew who converted to the Christian faith to escape persecution but who continued to practice Judaism secretly. It was a term of abuse and also applies to any descendants of Marranos.
There's another possible explanation. Many Christians see themselves as Jews. Paul in the new testament says something about that. I think it's notable that the period of history which had the greatest discrimination towards Jews was when most Christians didn't have access to the Bible. Columbus would have had access to the bible as a wealthy and influential person, and could have read that part. I think it's an awfully huge stretch to say a guy who's name literally means "follower of Christ" is a Jew in the normal sense - but in the biblical sense, it fits.
Don't be obtuse. Columbus wasn't a 'colonizer', he was an explorer looking for a passage to China. It's like calling the Apollo astronauts 'colonists'. He had no idea there was a continent between Europe and Asia, let alone that this unknown continent had any people in it.
Dear Henry, thanks for this video. As an octogenarian, I believe that one of the joys of life is continual learning. And a mark of true wisdom is the ability to incorporate the new information with the old and, thus, to expand one's personal vision.
Professor, you’re a true academic and scholar! You’re so brave to admit your past “mistakes” or misinformation, while there are “Ivy League level” professors who would fake their research and data just to save face. Respect to you sir!
עם ישראל חי
Am Israel Chai! 💙🇮🇱
@@SalyLuz-hc6henot for long
@@bulliwoody36743000 years is quite long
Translation: The country of Israel lives.
Gathered my family for this one, graciously done!....we were hoping to hear the joke on your 2017 clip, blessed be the name. ;)
Columbus' wife, Filipa Moniz Perestrelo, is my aunt, 17 generations removed. I have always had suspicions that Columbus was a Converso because Filipa has Jewish descent, and her brother, Bartolomeu Perestrelo's descendants, married into a very prominent Converso family, the Carbajal-Santa Marias of Jalisco, Mexico. Thank you, Professor Abramson, for bringing our ancestors to life through your historical research. The tragedy of the Inquisition brought many Converso families into hiding, and you brought them out of hiding, which continues to inspire and heal us from this cultural genocide.
They should write more often the name of his wife and son when talking about Cristophorus Columbus.
Cristophorus/Cristopher means: "The bearer of Christ," and Columbo means "Dove".
It gives a lot for imagination here with his name.
Thanks for your comment about your ancestors.
How do you know ur related?
@@racheld1809he's a jew, he OBVIOUSLY lied
Love that you are able to reevaluate previous and strongly held opinions....hadn't seen a video from you in a while....keep rocking it Rabbi...yeah, I know you're not an actual Rabbi, but I still think it's a fitting term for what you are doing. Blessings.
Columbus is Jewish? Well, what d'Genoa?
Hah!
Good one!
Not born there
There is a placard, placed by the United Nations, on the Greek Island of CHIOS dedicated to christopher columbus. He was greek. I am Greek and did a Dna Test. My results say I.have Mizrahi jewish ancestry. Most Greek Cypriots have similar results to Me.
If you want to know more Type in ""Was Christopher Columbus Greek?' Greek Video will tell you more
How fascinating it is that Chris went to such lengths to obscure his background. I always thought that meant he didn't want the Spanish court to know he was Jewish or Portuguese or both.
Watch the video again. Prof mischaracterized Columbus in his old lecture. He made many statements that he was Jewish. We should take Columbus at his word, now
@@AirborneTrojan That's hard to do because Chris lied at every opportunity. He never even told his sons who he was.
@@stephenjablonsky1941, I read this article in a Israeli newspaper about Cristophorus Jewisness.
At the end of his latters to his son Diego, he would write some short lines in Hebrew.
Again, the possibility is that he was a descendant from Jews if only in a remote way.
My family’s Sephardic from Puerto Rico, but we haven’t practiced Judaism in generations.
Maybe return to the faith?
Same here. Where in PR is your family from?
@@shlomogmz Ponce
Something like 1/3 of New Mexico Hispanic and Tejano genetics is Jewish. Not myself, though I have some cryptic Mexican/Melungeon input, turns out it’s Roma/subcontinent, Native, and Spanish.
Let’s face it, go back far enough and we’re all mixed.
Sfaradim were once the heart of Jewish world and as the Rambam said,We welcome you to return to the family❤
OY! But you are a truly courageous scholar of great magnitude! Shana Tova! Respectfully, NHG
Colombo is the son of a Jewish woman "converted" to chtistianity and a nobleman, both Portuguese, and was born in the village of Cuba located in the south of Portugal. He named the island of Cuba in the Caribbean after his homeland.
The town of Cuba, Alentejo, Portugal has a statute of Columbus and maintain he was Portuguese (which doesn't mean he wasn't Jewish). His brother had a bookshop in Lisbon.
There are many claims; this is just one. Genealogy is not based on stories or local lore, but on documentation, perhaps with some help from DNA, but DNA alone is not proof. For many reasons.
“Cuba” is from a native Taino word, “cobao”; Columbus called it “Juana” in honor of Prince Juan of Spain.
He definitely was a psychopath whatever else may be.
Hello. Many, many, many Catholics have Jewish ancestry. It has always been this way. My great-grandmother in Poland was Jewish. She believed Jesus was the Messiah and converted and we've been Catholic ever since. We are survivors. (Even converted Jews were persecuted in WW II.)
I come from Lutheran converts in Oregon.
Israel's Law of Return 1950 , grants citizenship to anyone who is or has Jewish ancestry or spouse (amended in 1970 to accept Goyim converts) but excludes Jews who convert to Christianity.
Me too, but my ancestors (my paternal grandfather's mother's family) converted to Catholicism with their entire family in the early 1800s. Their family name is literally derived from the German word for 'lender' and they used to be pawnbrokers before they became horse butchers (a job closely associated with Jewish converts to Catholicism in the Rhineland).
Interesting!
Thank you for sharing.
@classicallpvault8251 Interesting. It was my paternal grandfather's mother who also converted. Her last name was Swistak. That translates to beaver and my understanding is this is a name that was arbitrarily given to her family in place of their actual Hebrew name (like Wolf or Fox.) I know there was land (probably inherited on the Catholic side, ) cattle, and kosher meat and other goods they sold in "their stores" in my father's family before the war (he was a child.) He remembers how the rabbi would come over and bless the cows before they were slaughtered. (Unfortunately, I don't know anything more. They have all passed and there is nobody left to ask.) I don't think her whole family converted because she was actually punished for converting; the Jewish townspeople stoned one of her daughters on the way home from Catholic school (they "took one" in punishment.) We have letters describing this and I believe it because it's not the kind of thing people would make up. Despite this, some Jewish traditions continued to be passed down even to my generation in 1970s America (a special Jewish dinner once a year and we had to take a bath first.)
Either way, I love it that we either have a long-standing national holiday named after a Jew or we start celebrating “indigenous people’s day”, a constant reminder that Jews are the ones indigenous to the land of Israel. 😊 So, Jews stand tall, no matter the direction of the wind.
I was wondering if you were going to do a video on this! Awesome!
Thanks for this video. I remember watching your video in 2017, and telling my kids about this. Before I said 'maybe'. Now I'm saying 'probably'.
Thank you so much for being an educator. Do we know today if Borgias were actually maranos? Can you do another lecture on Converso's?
This is why one doesn't want the hard questions! Revisiting answers and revising views is a fun frustration in learning! 🙂
It doesn't make sense that Columbus was bragging about being Jewish to intimidate gentiles since the Jews in the 15th century were definitely not in the position of power. On the contrary this would be rather dangerous because of inquisition. Maybe he just enjoyed messing with the people and he knew if he would get in trouble he could easily prove his gentile ancestry. Who knows but it's definitely suspicious
It was my understanding, and I'll have to go back and watch some of the videos again, that for most of the 15th century, Jews were actually a pretty powerful group, holding positions in government, finance, medicine, etc. In fact, I read long ago that the negotiators for the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella were Jewish. Of course, this all changed very suddenly in 1492.
It does make sense when applied to the American context. Most of my ancestors were Sephardic/Portuguese settlers and most of them were wealthy merchants who received land grants from the Crown to explore South America.
They might have been fleeing persecution in Europe, but they definitely became nobles in this part of the world.
@@charlesgantz5865 Yes the biggest families of trade(Benevishta for example) in the world set in Spain then Portugal and then ran away to Amsterdam and London almost correlating perfectly between golden ages
The Spanish were devout in the bible. So if you can convince someone you are a descendant of the great men of the bible, it would cause them to evaluate their position for a minute.
as soon as a read that news I thought of you and the time you talked about him. I laughed and laughed. so glad you made this because i was wondering what you would think! 😂🤣😂
Why would he pretend to be Jewish while dealing with rulers who cooperated with the Inquisition and expelled the Jews from their kingdom
King Ferdinand himself and the chief inquisitor had Jewish roots. puzzling but welcome to the world of religion.
To understand that one needs to understand the Inquisition and its goals and how these goals meshed with politics and alliances. Unfortunately what we know about the Inquisition has been warped by Protestant propaganda. My understanding is that obviously Jews and Muslims were heretics and therefore in need of conversion or expulsion the main reason was the Islamic and Jewish interest in magic…this is one reason why so many women were victims of the Inquisition…because of their interest and practice of magic. Also the Inquisition was very rational in its application and approach so just because someone had Jewish ancestry didn’t mean they were currently a heretic.
The subject needs extensive research by qualified experts.
I strongly suspect the 15th century was far more complex than the 10 minutes or so of understanding we get in our high school history classes.
@@desertpriere
Ferdinand not likely but the Chief inquisitors or one of them I have heard or read was a Maranno or Morisco
You d be surprised the number of Marranos and Moriscos in the new world !!!
The Grand Inquisitors were giving some Jews time to leave .... Christopher Columbus (Now The Jew) was a Christian so his fate lay within Christianity.
My prayer is that the wonderful example you have set by admitting to have erred, will be a lesson to others on how to acknowledge a mistake and correct it. Yeshar Koach!
This doesn't seem fair. As long as he was the bold explorer, he was Italian. Now that he is a blood thirsty colonizer, he's Jewish. Maybe we can have a DNA test done on Karl Marx and make him Norwegian.
No, we still honor Christopher Columbus. Every year a mass is celebrated at St Patrick's Cathedral in New York on Columbus Day (yesterday) and it's a huge feast day.
He was always jewish. The history didn't change, our information and understanding did. He has letters which connote perfect hebrew script, even בהי at the top of his correspondence
@@lisapolanski9379 Can I join the Knights of Columbus now? (I grew up in NYC, love Italy, love Italians, love feasts, love British Columbia, Columbus, Ohio, Columbian coffee, St. Patrick's Cathedral...I hope I haven't left anyone out). All the best.
He was also the admired brave explorer regardless his origins.😂 we don’t judge the historical persons according to today’s ism…
Some people all over western Eurasia and North Africa were Jewish. Sometimes they conquered. Shouldn't be surprised.
Where does the word Sicario come from?
Dr A, Thanks so much I enjoy all your lectures. For a history lover like me, there is no where else I can find and un-sanitized not Bais Yaakov historia type version of our history. I’m a young mother and I don’t have time to learn but I listen while I cook and it keeps my brain from frying.
NO STOP PLEASE I CAN'T DEAL WITH THIS RIGHT NOW
“Christopher” is the combination of two Greek words, Χριστός (Christós), "Anointed" or “messiah”, and φέρειν (phérein), "to bear", hence the name in its full Greek translation should be translated as “Bearer of the Anointed One”. To fail to translate “Christos”, makes the translation incomplete, and may mask the Jewish elements of Columbus’ first name.
Are we going to mention this in class? Great video professor!
Shabbat Shalom Professor Abramson! Prior to discovering your channel, I followed Rabbi Lapin on a cable channel. A decade ago, he convincingly argued that Christopher Columbus was Jewish. His insight that Columbus' flagship Santa Maria was outfitted with a Kosher Kitchen and other facts made his argument compelling. I was surprised several years ago when you offered the opposite conclusion. Reasonable mind may differ, but DNA is conclusive.
Exactly, it's like more reason to hate us, unfortunately...I'm from the Dominican Republic and the history is so bad in the way that the system has it , I preferred to have a secret Jew, like day one. People don't know how to differentiate the Colons crew of the inquisitor's that came after, not only for natives but for Jews primarily...but for such a time as these.
Join team white!
I'm a big history buff and I'm totally shocked by this history of Columbus. Years ago in college, I attended a lecture by an American scholar of German history and language. He was clarifying that the expulsion of Jews and Muslims from Spain under the Reconquista was not eugenic in philosophy like in Nazi Germany, but rather nationalistic or nativist. Because of the heavy presence of Jews and Muslims, Spain was wrestling with what was to actually be TRULY Spanish. The Moors ruled Spain for 800 years, so there was also a lot of intermarriage and that too was viewed as problematic for the budding Spanish national identity. He mentioned that King Ferdinand and Torquemada had Jewish ancestry. He said that Ferdinand was more sympathetic to the Jews because he was aware of his Jewish bloodlines.
This is something! How wild is this? I am so glad you are addressing this. I thought he was more a Portuguese.
There were many Portuguese Jews. They think he was from Valencia in Spain - but that still doesn't mean he wasn't originally Portuguese. Spain and Portugal were ruled together.
@@myradioon yes. This is so interesting, I am hooked and thank you so much for your wonderful work. You are awesome!
@@myradioonThe DNA results of Christopher Columbus, whose real name and those of his son indicate that his origins came from the western Mediterranean shores, meaning Catalonia, Valencia, or the Balearic Islands, and not from Portugal, despite the fact that the latter had great navigators.
@@josepcivil8090 Thanks for the info.
Always enjoy your content
Sopranos would be very upset.....
My first thought exactly when I read the article about Columbus lol
knights of Columbus have an identity issue, now
The results of the study will be communicated at the beginning of November with detailed explanations. The documentary Colon ADN,.... broadcast on October 12 on Spanish television, was only a preliminary announcement in the form of a popular science film.
If you find yourself in the San Juan area on a Friday or Saturday, I'd love to invite you to visit Temple Beth Shalom in San Juan. Happy to make arrangements.
Professor, the DNA testing has not gone through peer review yet. Please add that to the video.
Good point, although I do not know if TH-cam allows creators to modify their videos.
Peer Review is the reason History is so messed up.
I heard that he was from a Jewish family from Genoa many years ago. It wasn't news to me.
He could not have been Jewish from the city of Genoa because all Jews had been expelled from that city in the 12th century. However, according to Professor Francesc Albardaner, he could have been born in the silk-weaving district called 'Genoa,' but in the city of Valencia in Spain.
@@josepcivil8090 I am not familiar with the exact details so you may be correct. Maybe it was called Genoa by immigrants from Italy. It is only what I remember.
As a person of Italian descent, I want to assure you that you are welcome to him! (No tag-backs, as we used to say...)
Colombe (sp?) is 'dove'. Many languages use this surname.
French, Italian and Latin just to name a few...
Important for the first voyage was the role of Luis de Torres -either crypto-Jew or convert to Catholicisism- as an interpreter. Luis de Torres might be a distant relative of mine, as be both hail from eastern Andalusia and Torres is my fiffth last name.
In Latin America we know him as Cristobal Colon, which is a Spanish name.
He was Genoan. His birth name was Cristoffa Corombo.
Spanish names do not mean anything, due to the inquisition and forced conversions. Apellidos like Santamaría, Carvajal are of jewish conversos
@@jaimetorres950 They do. One of my ancestors chose Vergogna on forced assimilation.
Will you visit puerto rico while in the carribean? Would love to see ya in person 😊
...the letter he wrote to his son, Diego Rosenbaum, ....just kidding!
There is no doubt that Christopher Columbus was not Genoese, as he neither spoke Italian nor Ligurian, the language of the Genoa region, even when addressing his Italian or Genoese bankers. Linguist Estelle Irizarry, a Spanish language professor of Jewish American origin, after analyzing the discoverer's writings in Castilian, asserted that they are filled with Catalanisms, characteristic of someone who does not fully master the Castilian language. She thus concluded that he must have been Catalan.
This supports the studies of Peruvian researcher Luis Ulloa, who, in the early 20th century, after more than twenty years of research, asserted the same hypothesis. This idea was also validated by the intelligentsia of Barcelona, which had built the largest statue of the discoverer in the city in his honor a few years earlier.
These claims were revisited about twenty years ago by Catalan researcher Jordi Bilbeny, who argues that it is unlikely Columbus was the son of a simple weaver, given his extensive knowledge. According to him, he was more likely one of the sons of a prominent family of diplomats and merchants from Barcelona, who could have financed his education. The name of this man would be Joan Cristòfor Colom i Bertran. Observing the signature of the famous navigator, one notices that he signed with a large "J," perhaps for "Joan," or for "Judío" (Jew), or even for both at once.
Many Conversos were forced to take heavily Christian first names or surnames to show their faith (Bearer of Christ) and or adopted them to fit in. His mistress was from a Fabric/Indigo Dying merchant family in Genoa and Italy. That's all you need to know - exclusively a Jewish Trade in the Mediterranean. Just because he lived in Genoa NEVER meant he was Italian. His real wife was Portuguese Nobility with holdings on Madeira, though there is speculation that her lineage were Jewish that had gained status through Merchant wealth. It can even be assumed he had heard about the New World and Brazil through Jewish Merchant Sailors/Whalers- and he wasn't 'lost' at all. Jews were one of the first substantial Colonies to make it to Brazil through expulsion. Ports had international populations and the Jews in all of them spoke a common language - Ladino.
ColoM is written with an M (This is why ColoMbia is written with an M and not an N) from its TRUE CATALAN NAME. He could not have been born in Genoa if he was Jewish because the Jews had been expelled the century before his birth, and none remained there. However, he could very well have been born in the Jewish silk weaver's quarter of Valencia in Spain, called the GENOA QUARTER.
@@josepcivil8090 It may have been called "The Genoa Quarter' because many of the merchants and silk/Indigo had come there through Genoa - not far away but a critical stop on the "Silk Road'.
@@myradioon Yes, according to the version of Professor Francesc Albadaner, the neighborhood called "Gêne" in Valencia, Spain, which was dedicated to silk weaving, was inhabited by a large community of Jews originating from this city. However, this does not make him a Genoese, and even less an Italian, as Italy did not yet exist at that time.
Are we 100% sure the analysed bones were his? They were moved several times across the ocean . Object of dispute between spain and Republica Dominicana. Who knows if they were swapped with someone else’s bones?
The study of the DNA is not based so much on the remains of the discoverer, but rather on those of his son, whose tomb, also located in the Seville Cathedral, had remained intact.
Many of the navigators were Jewish. Such as Vasco da Gama.
They were looking for a Kosher restaurant that serves a decent Salt Beef sandwich
He wasn't, Gaspar da Gama was though.
Not Da Gama
Colon was always as I suspected to be one !!!
He was not
Xristoforos (Χριστόφορος Κολομβος) he is from the island of Hios a colony of Genoa. The mother land of great captain even today . A common Greek first and last name on this Aegean islands
Very interesting. The lecture in the first part of the video made me think of the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode with Larry's Swedish lawyer. Perhaps Columbus was opportunistic, and willing to let people believe whatever they wanted to believe about him as long as it furthered his ambitions.
So obviously Jewish if you read between the lines in history.
Slayer Read Between The Lies
My Sephardi husband told me me over 25 years ago that CC was Jewish. Doubtless memory in the Spanish speaking segment of Sephardim who really came from Spain. So was I surprised? No.
I read recently that Christopher Columbus’s mother was Jewish and that he may of been Portuguese.
The fact that he sometimes wrote from right to left, so called mirror writing, means anything?
I have been saying this for a long long time. If his brother was portuguese and jewish. Hello?
Also he used he Almanac perpetuum, the first printed book in portugal. Also my hometown, Leiria
Thank you for your video. I have been living in Portugal for over 35 years and the issue of Jewish Blood has come across several times. The reaction from the Portuguese population is twofold: some regard it as a source of pride to consider the possibility of being a Jewish descendant, and others despise the notion of having some Jewish blood in the veins. Imagine if the nazis had the means to test for DNA! They would have to murder a considerably larger number of individuals... including maybe Hitler himself! I agree with you, DNA testing is not the only factor that classifies an individual as a Jew.
Knowing that he is a convert from Judaism only makes the story stronger in my mind. Bottom line - western Europe was an unwelcome environment for Jews and he among many sought survival and refuge in any way they could. Ironically, the people the Spaniards met in the western hemisphere would now suffer the same inquisition fate. In my mind, indigenous peoples and Jews were on the same side of the discriminatory line - unredeemable heathens ripe for persecution. The exploitative and colonizing intentions of the Spanish Crown should not overshadow the precarious position of their Jewish subjects. Thanks for sharing this on Indigenous Peoples Day.
@7drytongues He wasn't a convert. He was baptized as a child. Both his parents were Catholic.
Documents show that Columbus had a Rabbai with him on his journeys . This means much more than any evidence .
And Vasco da Gama. And Fernando Cortez.
And Thomas Edison. And Henry Ford.
I remember your talk on this. I thought you discussed the possibility and reasons given were moving jews away from pogroms?
It has been estimated that some 40%m of Spanish, Portugese, and southern Italians today have Jewish ancestry. The royal house of Hapsburg had some jewish ancestry, as did both King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. DNA tells us the true story of our ancestry. It has been specualted that Abe Lincoln also had Jewish ancestry. Let's dig him up and look at his DNA.
Greetings, Professor.
We believe Cristóvão Colombo was Portuguese, born in the little southern village of Alentejo - Cuba. :))))))))))))))
(Not Cuba in the Antilhas. Cuba, Alentejo, in the South-East of Portugal, which was conquered during the "reconquista", in the reign of D. Sancho II, in the XIII Century.)
Of course, Colombo was Jewish, and probably was also a spy to Fernando and Isabel of Spain, working for D. João II of Portugal.
We are very proud of Cristóvão Colombo, and we are not prone to wave his citizenship to Spain or Italy.
Shalom, from Lisbon.
He's either Converso or Marrano.
Likely the former, considering the Marrano community maintained synagogues and traditional ways and were persecuted by the Roman Catholic establishment while the true Converso attended mass and had the support of Catholic monarchs.
Why would you say that word mar****
@@Fellowrser Stop.
The term marrano is pejorative
@@melo39987 No it's not.
@@melo39987 Stop arguing just to argue. That's like saying calling someone Mestizo is a hate term. It's literally their own self imposed identity.
Can we have Columbus Day back now?
A common misunderstanding of why Columbus had such a hard time getting funding for his voyage, was that people thought the Earth was flat. In fact, it was known by most learned people and rulers that the Earth was not only round, but much larger than Columbus claimed. Already the ancient Greeks already had an accurate estimate of the Earth's circumference. I would have thought (though I can be wrong) that learned Iberian Jews would have had _at least_ as good access to Greek and Arab learning in geodesy and astronomy (specifically the size of the Earth) than the average Christian monk at that time. If Columbus was Jewish and had access to this learning, it seems unlikely he would make such a blunder. Somehow this doesn't quite "sit right". Or perhaps he was just an unusually poor student of geodesy?
thank you Sir
Maybe this is why most people in the Southeast USA have autosomal DNA that shows Iberian and Jewish living populations. All participants in the study also matched several Native American Tribes (Muscgoee, Cherokee, Athabaskin Athabaskin, Miwok, Lumbee and Shawnee) Surprisingly there is very little British DNA notwithstanding the current narrative that the Southeast is largely British descent.
Looks like you have a great sense of humour! But I have read that the first European off of Columbus' ship to land, was a jew. And that was many years ago I read that.
He was Catholic. His genetic ancestry is a mere curiosity.
His signature Looks like the Shema Ysrael to me. And the first SX could be HaShem Ehad remember aleph looks like an X. Also remember what two Yods mean in Hebrew.
יש לי במשפחה סיפורים על קירבה משפחתית לקולומבוס. או לפחות לדודה של קולומבוס. המידע על זה נתגלה במסגרת עבודה גיניאולוגית על המשפחה של אמא שלי. מקור המשפחה בעת האחרונה באיזורים של דרום איטליה שבמקור גורשו מספרד.
אותה משפחה היתה לאורך הדורות ברובה יהודים , כאשר הם היגרו לארה"ב בתחילת המאה העשרים, רובם התרחקו והתבוללו מהיהדות ונשארו רק קומץ יהודים מהם. סיפור נחמד סה"כ.
In Spain since the XVI century there has been a non official but almost accepted version that Colombus was a sefaradi Jew...lts not a surprise for many..and as a part jew l feel in a certain way proud.🎉❤
this guy's argument strengthens the likelihood that he was a jew.
That was fantastic. Thank you.
I appreciate the anthropological / socio-political framework of this discussion. Personally I think religion should be resigned to the anthropological record. But mortality is a tough hurdle and giving up the status as the creator-of-the-universe’s favorite creation is especially tough to walk back once you get used to it. I am not an atheist in the stereotypical sense. But I do identify as anti-theist. That’s a conversation which is far too complex for my comment to this video.
The bottom line: We are ALL merely products or our environment. We ALL evolved out of primates from Africa. The middle east is a natural part of that evolutionary migration. To wit; I am descended from many, many generations of Irish/Roman Catholics. Yet I also have “jewish DNA”, as subjective and vague as that may be. I also have traces of Neanderthal DNA. I would assume that the semitic cultures do too.
If Jewish people want to own Christopher Columbus, that’s fine. Not sure why anybody would. But if you’re going to take Christopher Columbus you also have to take folks like Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Bernie Madoff, and lets not forget James DeWolf.
Bottom bottom line: People need to get their heads out of the bronze age and evolve. There is no room for supremacy in human evolution.
He Salvador and i do have the rest of his name and his mother's back ground, all Jewish to her mother and to her grandmother and his family bloodline, this was shared with us Sfardic Jews in early 2000's by those of us Indigenous Powatowanami Anasazi who did massive deeper research for a project, this is when my Sfardic Rabbis brought us the hidden treasures about what Salvador really went through for us to have a Safe Haven from Spanish Catholic Inquisition, H-Sh-M used Salvador as like unto Moshe Rabeinu to help our ancestors escape Tyranny from king Ferdinand and Queen Izevela and The Deathly Grip of The Catholic Church.
Mary aka Miriam
Cecil Rohde, who founded Rohdesia/Zimbabwe was also Jewish. Baruch HaShem!
There is no evidence that Cecil Rhodes was jewish.
That's a relief to all us Jewish Catholics
How interesting, I was just discussing this with a friend rhe other day...
Tony Soprano and his made guys will have a field day with this !!!
As the Catalan professor Francesc Albardaner tells us, ColoM is written with an M (this is why Colombia is spelled with an M and not an N) because of its TRUE CATALAN NAME.
He could not have been born in Genoa if he was Jewish, since the Jews had been expelled the century before his birth, and none remained there. However, he could very well have been born in the Jewish silk weavers' quarter of Valencia, known as the GENOA QUARTER.
Luke 4:24 New International Version: “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown". Columbus may have chosen to pretend he was a foreigner to increase his aura of mystery and chances of success and acceptance.
Bejamin Disraeli was in fact a Jew of Italian origin.
So he was a Converso and tried to get permission from Ferdinand and Isabella to go on his journey. Christopher ewas a typical name for a converso!
Here is an old fan, and I remember the original lecture! But strangely when I heard the new rumours I seemednto remember you saying columbus was probably somewhat jewish 😂
Just one thing: "Colom" is a very common Catalan (including Mallorca, Eivissa and Valencia) and it refers at this bird we often find in the big cities.
He was Moorish (Moroccan) Jewish. Moroccan jews are still the biggest Sephardic group. Even the Spanish or Portuguese jews have 60%+ Moorish origin.
Izuzetni ljudi. Poput Njemaca. 👍
Marrano, in Spanish history, a Jew who converted to the Christian faith to escape persecution but who continued to practice Judaism secretly. It was a term of abuse and also applies to any descendants of Marranos.
Well Done
you're all wrong he was a Hindu from Nepal get over with it now !
Thank you, very interesting.
Toda Raba Rebbe Henry.from germanit
Chuck Missler knew this decades ago. Right?
As an Italian I can only rejoice in the fact that the guy that ssscrewed up the "Americas" was not Italian, phew! :D
someone said that even Adolf was a Jew and that Donald Duck was a goose....
What about Leif Ericson?
There's another possible explanation. Many Christians see themselves as Jews. Paul in the new testament says something about that. I think it's notable that the period of history which had the greatest discrimination towards Jews was when most Christians didn't have access to the Bible. Columbus would have had access to the bible as a wealthy and influential person, and could have read that part. I think it's an awfully huge stretch to say a guy who's name literally means "follower of Christ" is a Jew in the normal sense - but in the biblical sense, it fits.
He was fluent in ladino not Italian his last name was Colom not Columbus!!
This is really the worst time ever to claim the worlds #1 colonizer as a jew.
Why #1? the whole world has tons of history of colonization
Don't be obtuse. Columbus wasn't a 'colonizer', he was an explorer looking for a passage to China. It's like calling the Apollo astronauts 'colonists'. He had no idea there was a continent between Europe and Asia, let alone that this unknown continent had any people in it.
Not only was he Jewish but he was Spainish and not Italian. What will our Italian American friends do.
That was very interesting.