Christopher Columbus's Wife Was Madeiran But Was He Really Genoese?

Summary: Explorer and navigator Christopher Columbus's wife was a Madeiran but was he really Genoese or were his origins in Portugal, Spain or elsewhere?

Displayed in the loggia of Genoa's Castello D'Albertis, "Colombo giovinetto" ("Young Columbus"), 1870 marble statue by Italian sculptor Giulio Monteverde (Oct. 8, 1837-Oct. 3, 1917), faces the Gulf of Genoa in the northwest Mediterranean Sea's Ligurian Sea.: Twice25 e Rinina25, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Late 15th and early 16th century explorer and navigator Christopher Columbus's wife was a Madeiran but was he really Genoese or do his origins actually trace to Portugal, Spain or elsewhere?

Filipa Moniz Perestrello was born to Portuguese parents on the northeastern Atlantic Ocean's Porto Santo Island. She married Christopher Columbus and was the mother of the explorer's only known legitimate offspring, Diego Columbus.

Northwest Italian ancestry and Genoa as birthplace have been associated with Christopher Columbus. Yet, the ancestry and birthplace of Filipa's explorer husband present puzzlements that point to possibilities for revisions in the navigator's genealogy, especially via a DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) project.

Filipa Moniz Perestrello, Porto Santo Island-born Madeiran Portuguese wife of Christopher Columbus

Filipa Moniz Perestrello (ca. 1452-ca. 1477/1485) was born on Porto Santo Island (ilha do Porto Santo), the second largest island of the North Atlantic Ocean's Madeira Archipelago (arquipélago da Madeira). She was the second child and only daughter of Bartholomew Perestrello (Portuguese: Bartolomeu Perestrelo; ca.1395-1457), first Capitão Donatário ("donatary captain"; royal governor) of Porto Santo, and his third wife, Isabel Moniz, according to Santa Cruz das Flores-born Portuguese educator, historian and journalist Antonio Maria de Freitas (pseudonym Nicolau Florentino; Feb. 10, 1859-Aug. 1, 1923) in his genealogical study, The Wife of Christopher Columbus (page 26), published in 1893 in English with Regina Maney. Filipa and her brother, namesaked Bartolomeu, were raised in Vila Baleira, Porto Santo's capital, on the island's southwest coast.

After her husband's sudden death in 1457, Isabel relocated with Bartolomeu, age seven, and Filipa, age five, to her widowed father's home in Machico, the easternmost municipality on Madeira (ilha da Madeira), the Madeira Archipelago's largest and most populous island. Vasco Martins Moniz ". . . gladly sheltered her and her children in her widowhood, providing for them with his fortune and the treasures of his loving heart" (page 40).

Christopher Columbus (Catalan: Cristòfor Colom; Italian: Cristoforo Colombo; Portuguese: Cristóvão Colombo; Spanish: Cristóbal Colón; ca. 1446/1451-May 20, 1506) arrived on Madeira ca. 1474 (pages 43-44). His marriage to Filipa, his only wife, "most probably" took place in 1475 in Machico (page 46). The Atlantic Ocean traveler's only known legitimate child, Diego Columbus (Italian: Diego Colombo; Portuguese: Diogo Colombo; Spanish: Diego Colón; ca. 1474/1480 – Feb. 23, 1526), was born in 1476 (page 46).

The Christopher Columbus House Museum (Casa Museu Cristóvão Colombo) recognizes the stone building as a possible home for Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Columbus in Vila Baleira, southwestern Porto Santo Island: Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Columbus DNA: His True Identity

Advances in genetic analysis technology advantage The Columbus DNA: His True Identity, a project undertaken by José Antonio Lorente Acosta, professor in the Department of Legal Medicine, Toxicology and Physical Anthropology at southern Spain's University of Granada (Spanish: Universidad de Granada, UGR), according to Madrid-based El País and Euronews journalist Heather Galloway's English version of El País editor and journalist Vicente G. Olaya's "Study of Christopher Columbus’ DNA set to reveal his true origins," published in the May 24, 2021, issue of El País. The project builds upon Professor Lorente's 2003 examination of the remains of Christopher Columbus, his illegitimate son Ferdinand (Portuguese: Fernando Colombo; Spanish: Fernando, or Hernando, Colón y Enríquez de Arana; Aug. 15, 1488-July 12, 1539) and Diego Columbus (Italian: Giacomo Colombo; ca. 1468-1515), the youngest of the explorer's three brothers. The explorer's and Ferdinand's remains were exhumed from the Seville Cathedral (Catedral de Sevilla). Diego's remains were disinterred from Seville's La Cartuja-Pickman Factory. The investigation confirmed family ties among the three sets of skeletal remains.

The widely accepted biography for Christopher Columbus has placed his birth in Genoa (Italian: Genova; Ligurian: Zêna), capital of northwest Italy's Liguria region. His mother was born in Corsica, and his Ligurian father's ancestral occupation was weaving. Christopher had three brothers and one sister.

Yet, questions remain about the explorer's genealogy. A conundrum focuses on the absence of Italian in the explorer's writings. Instead, he wrote in Galician, Mallorcan, Portuguese and Valencian. Origin theories for Christopher Columbus include Croatia, Poland, Portugal and Spain. Professor Lorente's Columbus DNA project aims to analyze such possibilities as Portugal and Spain's Galicia, Mallorca, Navarre and Valencia.

The results of the Columbus DNA project are expected to be publicized in a documentary directed by journalist and television producer Regis Francisco López and produced by RTVE (Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española, S.A, "Spanish Radio and Television Corporation"; known as Radiotelevisión Española), Spain's public broadcasting service, and Story Producciones, a Madrid-based television producer. López, RTVE and Story Producciones are credited with the 2020 documentary on the European-Berber ancestry of Tenerife's indigenous Guanches, "Las momias guanches (The Guanche Mummies)."

Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza (Duarte Pio de Bragança), whose ancestors might include Christopher Columbus, at Belem Tower (Torre de Belém), built of lioz limestone, completed in 1519 and located at meeting of Tagus (Tejo) River and Atlantic Ocean, the point of embarkation and disembarkation for Portuguese navigators: SAR O SENHOR DOM DUARTE DE BRAGANÇA, via Facebook June 17, 2011

Secrets and Lies of Christopher Columbus documentary: "some DNA connection" between Christopher Columbus and Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

In addition to the Columbus DNA project, Professor Lorente has served as scientific collaborator for "Secrets and Lies of Christopher Columbus," a documentary released in 2018 by Sakkara Productions (United States) in association with Crown Pictures (Portugal). The documentary's three co-hosts American underwater explorer Dave Horner, American author and documentary filmmaker Paul Perry and Portuguese Canadian author, archaeologist and historian Carlos Evaristo have posed three questions. 'Was Columbus Italian, or was he the illegitimate son of a Portuguese prince?" "Was Columbus Jewish?" "Was Columbus a secret agent for King John II?"

The documentary ended with the assessment of the need for their research "to be continued." Professor Lorente's testing of a DNA sample from Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza (Portuguese: Duarte Pio de Bragança; born 15 May 1945) indicated "some DNA connection" between Christopher Columbus and him. Columbus is suggested as born in Cuba, in southern Portugal's historical Baixo Alentejo province, as the illegitimate son of Dom Duarte Pio's ancestor, Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu and Beja (Portuguese: Fernando Infante de Portugal Duque de Beja e Duque de Viseu; Nov. 17, 1433-Sep. 18, 1470), and Isabel Zarko, an Alentejana of possible Jewish descent.

"Portrait of a Gentleman, Said To Be Christopher Columbus"; oil on canvas (1512) by High Renaissance Venetian School painter Lorenzo Lotto (1480-ca. 1556/1557): CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Filipa Moniz Perestrello was a Portuguese Madeiran but was her husband, Christopher Columbus, definitely Genoese?

"About a year ago the American Register, of which we were for many years the Spanish and Portuguese correspondent, copied a paragraph from the Inter-Ocean to the effect that while tons upon tons of paper had been and were being used to glorify Columbus, nobody thought of employing a single sheet for the purpose of telling the world something about Columbus' wife.

"That paragraph attracted our serious attention," wrote Regina Maney in her foreword, addressed "To the Women of America," as co-author of The Wife of Columbus, published in 1893.

Interestingly, the birthplace and ancestry of Filipa Moniz Perestrello have been established in Florentino and Maney's 48-page booklet. Yet, "tons upon tons of paper" have not confirmed her husband's birthplace and ancestry.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Displayed in the loggia of Genoa's Castello D'Albertis, "Colombo giovinetto" ("Young Columbus"), 1870 marble statue by Italian sculptor Giulio Monteverde (Oct. 8, 1837-Oct. 3, 1917), faces the Gulf of Genoa in the northwest Mediterranean Sea's Ligurian Sea.: Twice25 e Rinina25, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giulio_Monteverde,_Columbus_as_a_boy.jpg

The Christopher Columbus House Museum (Casa Museu Cristóvão Colombo) recognizes the stone building as a possible home for Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Columbus in Vila Baleira, southwestern Porto Santo Island.: Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Casa_Colombo_Columbus_House_-_Vila_Baleira_-_Porto_Santo_(Portugal)_(2180443749).jpg

Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza (Duarte Pio de Bragança), whose ancestors might include Christopher Columbus, at Belem Tower (Torre de Belém), built of lioz limestone, completed in 1519 and located at meeting of Tagus (Tejo) River and Atlantic Ocean, the point of embarkation and disembarkation for Portuguese navigators: SAR O SENHOR DOM DUARTE DE BRAGANÇA, via Facebook June 17, 2011, @ https://pt-pt.facebook.com/domduarte/posts/10150200456871331/

"Portrait of a Gentleman, Said To Be Christopher Columbus"; oil on canvas (1512) by High Renaissance Venetian School painter Lorenzo Lotto (1480-ca. 1556/1557): CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Circle_of_Lorenzo_Lotto_-_PORTRAIT_OF_GENTLEMAN,_SAID_TO_BE_CHRISTOPHER_COLUMBUS,_1512.jpg

"Is Christopher Columbus Who We Think He Is? / Secrets And Lies Of Columbus / Timeline." (1:11:40). Uploaded to YouTube Oct. 3, 2020, by Timeline -- World History Documentaries. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0yoVsZfypQ

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