Christopher Columbus beyond centuries of myth
Christopher Columbus: The explorer wasn’t a revolutionary thinker or a pauper in his final days
Historian Esteban Mira Caballos presents a rigorous biography of the navigator that uses data to refute some of the legends that surround his figure.
Christopher Columbus was Spanish. He was also English, French, Portuguese, Croatian, Greek, and even Swiss. Over the centuries, researchers and writers have traced his birth to more than a dozen lands. Esteban Mira Caballos, a doctor in American History from the University of Seville, refutes all these hypotheses, maintaining, “indisputably, because the sources and evidence are overwhelming,” that the navigator was Genoese. The rest, he insists, are nothing more than “fables shaped by individual interests, often fueled by nationalist sentiments, without providing scientific evidence.”
This debate — fueled by the silences and gaps left by the navigator himself — is just one of the many myths and half-truths surrounding a name embedded in the collective imagination for centuries. Mira Caballos rescues the historical figure buried among thousands of pages of “fanciful, self-serving, ideological, and nationalist literature” in Colón. El converso que cambio al mundo (Columbus. The convert who changed the world, 2025), a rigorous biography that debunks several of these falsehoods.
The book’s title itself offers a first glimpse into the controversy and addresses another enigma: his supposed Jewish origins. The theory, always latent, was revived just a year ago, when Spanish state broadcaster RTVE premiered a documentary — widely criticized by experts — about an investigation by forensic pathologist José Antonio Lorente, professor of forensic medicine at the University of Granada, which concluded that Columbus was a Sephardic Jew born in Valencia. “Outrageous,” Mira Caballos responds: “To begin with, he wasn’t Jewish, but a convert, which isn’t the same thing.”
This same theory has been fueled in various ways. From those who base this origin on the fact that a third of the crew on the first voyage were Christians, to those who attribute it to his profound knowledge of the Old Testament. On the other hand, there is no doubt that Columbus was, at least in appearance, a good Christian, “essential if he wanted to garner the support he needed.” He observed the sacraments, prayed, and showed devotion to the Virgin Mary and Saint Francis. In fact, the historian continues, “he was always hostile toward Jews and converts and even went so far as to tell the Queen that they were enemies of the prosperity of all Christians.”
But it’s also “undeniable,” says Mira Caballos, that he harbored ideas — such as his conviction that he was a new messiah or over the recovery of the Temple of Jerusalem — that were not characteristic of a Christian, but rather of a false convert or even a Jew. So, what are we left with? “He was a convert and held certain Jewish convictions, although perhaps he got away with it in his attempt to appear to be a sincere convert,” concludes the author.
Columbus was an experienced sailor and a reasonably well-educated man, a voracious reader. But as a cosmographer and scientist, Mira Caballos explains, “he was a disaster.” His great project, the one that forever changed the course of history, “was a botched job.” The Genoese intended to reach Asia via the west, but he erred and manipulated the data to suit his purposes. “The biggest error was the calculation of the distance between Europe and Asia, dubbed the most fruitful mistake in history,” says the historian.
To sustain his proposition, he had to overcome a central scientific obstacle: scholars’ conviction that the distance was unbridgeable with the means available at the time. So, in the presentation of his project, he reduced the size of the globe by a quarter and artificially stretched the Asian continent, relying on authors such as Pierre d’Ailly and Paolo dal Toscanelli, whose theories were already discredited. “It had no scientific credibility, but it reduced the 10,600 miles that separated Europe from Asia to a mere 2,400,” the historian notes. And how, despite everything, did he manage to sell his project to the Spanish Crown?
A stubborn man of faith
Columbus always considered himself chosen by providence to accomplish his feat and always tried to demonstrate that his encounter with the new continent had already been foretold in the Holy Scriptures. According to Mira Caballos, “it was this mysticism, his aura of a prophet, that aroused the interest and support of the Catholic Monarchs.”
That faith was also the basis of a stubborn character that drove him to never give up. Before presenting his project to the Catholic Monarchs — Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragón — he had tried the Portuguese monarch John II, who took it seriously enough to refer him to a conclave of the most prestigious experts in nautical astronomy in the world. They dismissed it, of course. Later, he tried again with the same result. The same thing, and by a very similar process, happened the first time he presented it to the Catholic Monarchs, although eventually, years later, he won their approval through his persistence and because it was a relatively inexpensive project that carried little risk for the Crown.
This belief has also given rise to theories claiming that the discovery was actually the work of a protonaut, a pioneer navigator. Mira Caballos is emphatic: “Since it was no longer feasible to grant him another nationality, because there is so much evidence that he was from Genoa, Plan B has now been to try to find a pre-discoverer, from a different place of origin, who was the one who told Columbus where the New World was, thus turning him into a usurper.” The most popular theory in Spain over such a figure is that of a sailor from Huelva, Alonso Sánchez, who traveled to the new continent and conveyed his knowledge to Columbus before his death.
The historian dismisses these theories simply because “there is no historical science for or against” them, and the explorer’s personality “did not correspond to that of a fraud, but rather of a perceptive and observant man.” For him, Columbus’s faith, the collection of testimonies, and his reading of various authors were enough to convince him of the existence of lands to the west.
From wealth and fame to poverty and oblivion?
Finally, he set out on his journey after signing a contract with the Crown replete with benefits. If he accomplished the feat, he would be appointed admiral of all the lands he discovered, as well as viceroy and governor of the territories, and would receive a tithe on all merchandise. “Let’s not forget that he was an eccentric figure whose great life project was always to establish a noble house,” Mira Caballos explains. “The King and Queen accepted the conditions because they had no hope that he would succeed.”
But Columbus did, and upon returning from that first voyage — undertaken, incidentally, with only two caravels and a nao, a different type of vessel — he was greeted with surprise and admiration, almost like a hero. He returned accompanied by a handful of natives dressed in exotic feathers, bracelets, and pieces of gold in their noses, and with chests full of jewels, textiles, curiosities, and a little gold. That, along with his eloquence, was enough to promise a New World filled with gold and abundance, prompting many to enlist in a second expedition.
But his great promises soon turned hollow. The gold didn’t exist in the quantities he claimed — although the Spanish would soon discover that the land’s main resource was manpower — and, as Mira Caballos says, “he was also a terrible governor.” He so disliked those who followed on subsequent voyages that after the third, he returned as a prisoner. He was soon released, but removed from his positions as viceroy and governor, which he would never regain.
Is it true that Columbus died poor and forgotten, as many claim? For Mira Caballos, it’s just another myth: “It is known that in 1504 — two years before his death — he received 8,000 gold pesos, and in 1505, another 8,000. He died wealthy, and proof of this is that his descendants lived extremely wealthy lives. And he is hardly forgotten, given that five centuries later he remains a cultural icon.”
It’s also common to hear that the navigator never realized he had reached a new continent. Mira Caballos’ book makes it clear that Columbus thought that vast expanse of land was a new world, although he believed it was right next to Asia. He was never able to verify this. “I think he eventually learned that it wasn’t Asia,” says the historian, who affirms that the Genoese had plenty of evidence at hand. “But he would never admit his failure. He was determined and had promised to reach Asia, and he wasn’t going to back down.” That proud and stubborn Genoese will, as with so many other things, always leave us with doubts.