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International Team to Study Columbus DNA to Determine His Origin

VOA News

   An international team of scientists gathering in Spain Wednesday will
   launch a project to determine once and for all where famed explorer
   Christopher Columbus came from by examining his DNA.

   While Columbus has long been claimed by Italy, there is also
   speculation he may have been Spanish, Portuguese, Croatian or even
   Polish. There is little known about his early history, and the project
   is designed to settle the question.

   In 2003, a team from the Spanish University of Granada's medical school
   established, through DNA research, that bones in a tomb in the
   cathedral of Seville were those of Columbus, settling a dispute with
   the Dominican Republic which claimed his body was buried there.

   At that time DNA technology was not advanced enough to determine much
   else. Breakthroughs in the technology since then, however, have made it
   possible to now roughly ascertain the area of person's ancestry.

   The bones of Columbus, his son Hernando and his brother Diego are to be
   examined at Granada University, with genetic material sent to
   laboratories in Italy and the United States.

   To kick off the project, the University of Granada is hosting a
   gathering what it is calling the first world meeting of Columbus
   researchers, who are presenting evidence for their different theories
   about the explorer's origins. The scientists and historians brought
   with them documentation, artifacts and reportedly even some genetic
   material.

   Columbus's four transatlantic voyages on behalf of Spanish monarchs
   between 1492 and 1504 opened a door to Europe's colonization of the
   Americas, then known as the New World.

   Columbus died on May 20, 1506, and was buried in the Spanish city of
   Valladolid.