Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of the Americas, wasn't Italian? In Granada, the Spain, some researchers are preparing to reexamine the DNA: of the great navigator.
They want to clarify the origin: was Columbus, officially born in Genoa in 1451 (and died in Valladolid, Spain, in 1506), actually Spanish? Portuguese?
The results of the research, carried out in collaboration with University of Florence and American University of North Texas, are expected for the month of October.
New examination of Colombo's DNA: the expert's explanation
In interview with AFP, José Carlos Lorente, Professor of Forensic Medicine, Toxicology and Physical Anthropology at the University of Granada, said: “In 2003, we exhumed the bones of Columbus and his son Fernando. Both are located in Seville Cathedral. Shortly before, we had obtained the Diego Columbus, brother of Christopher. From there we began to examine the bones from an anthropological and genetic point of view.”
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Then, Professor José Carlos Lorente added: “The simple sight of the bones shows that they are all in a poor state of conservation. Fernando's were a little better, but Cristóvão and his brother Diego's were in very poor condition, which is a problem for genetic analysis, because clearly if the bone is degraded, everything in the bone, including the DNA, is also very damaged. degraded.”
However, a new technology, using small fragments of DNA extracted from the bones of Christopher Columbus kept in a security chamber at the University of Granada, will allow them to be compared with some presumed members of Columbus's family and with the DNA of living people who carry the same surname in different parts of the world (such as Colòn in Spain and Colombo in Portugal).
Lorente explained: “Today you can work with less DNA and you can purify or clean the extracted DNA better. If before we could only extract a little information, today we have a kind of more powerful lens that allows us to read all types of information, no matter how small the codes.”
