In 2003, José Antonio Lorente, professor of forensic medicine at Granada University, and the historian Marcial Castro, exhumed what were believed to the remains of Columbus from Seville cathedral to take DNA samples. They also took DNA from the bones of his son, Hernando, and brother, Diego.

A decades-long investigation led by forensics scientist José Antonio Lorente from the University of Granada in Spain has now come out in support of claims that Columbus may not be of Italian heritage after all, but was actually born somewhere in Spain to parents of Jewish ancestry.

A 20-year DNA study by Spanish scientists suggests Christopher Columbus may have been a Spanish and Jewish, born in Valencia instead of Genoa. This theory challenges traditional beliefs.

Christopher Columbus was Jewish, DNA experts concluded in a long-awaited investigation into the true origins of one of history’s most famous explorers.