"Death of Columbus" by Francisco Ortega.

As we know, Christopher Columbus  died in Valladolid, may 20^th 1506. In 1536, thirty years after his death, his remains were transported to Santo Domingo, in the Antilles.

After the island became independent, this remains were moved to Havana, Cuba, before they were taken back to Spain in 1898, following Cuba’s independency.

There is still a doubt about the identity of the remains buried in Sevilla. The Dominican Republic maintains that the authentic remains of the seafarer is still in Dominican territory.

To give an end to this debate, Spanish scientists have been allowed to carry out a partial out digging in Sevilla, the purpose of which was to compare the supposed DNA of Columbus  with the attested one of his son. The out digging was carried out in June of year 2003, and the results of the analysis done by the university in Grenada should be known soon.

Where are really the remains of Christopher Columbus ? Is he buried in Sevilla or Santo Domingo ? The controversy has been going on for a century, and the historians try to know which of the two graves is really the one which contains the remains of Christopher Columbus us, Admiral of the Ocean sea, who discovered America. According to Marcial Castro, from Granada University, “no historian in the world has formal evidence to assert where Columbus is buried, and this is what we try to determine with this analysis “.

The Andalusian local authorities have asked several times to the clerical authorities of Sevilla and to the The Dominican authorities to open the graves, considered by each part as being the authentic one of Christopher Columbus, in order to do an expert assessment.

The Spanish grave is located in Sevilla’s cathedral.	The Dominican grave is located at “Faro de Colon”, Columbus' lighthouse.

The reason of this doubt

Christopher Columbus died may 20th 1506 in Valladolid (Spain). The funerals were celebrated in the Valladolid cathedral, Santa Maria Antigua (Holy Mary the ancient). In his will, Columbus had asked to be buried in America. At the time of his death, there was no church or religious building big enough to bury him there.

Therefore, the Franciscans buried him in the crypt of the convent of Observance in Valladolid, in waiting for a burying place worthy for him was found. Today, this convent does not exist anymore. There is an hotel on the site where Columbus was first buried.

Christopher Columbus goes on traveling after his death

First in Spain

In 1513, after his daughter-in-law’s request, the Admiral’s remains were transported in Sevilla. A royal decree ordered Columbus’s casket to be transported from the Franciscans convent to the Seville cathedral. 

 

A ceremony was celebrated, at the end of which the casket was brought to the Cartuja de Santa Maria de la Cuevas (Chartreux’s convent of Saint Mary of the caves), which is situated on the right bank of the Guadalquivir, in front of Sevilla. The casket  was laid the the Christ’s chapel which has just been built under  Fray Diego de Lugan. In 1526, the remains of Diego, elder son of the Admiral, rejoins the one of Columbus  in the Cartuja.

So, the New World

After the request of Maria de Toledo, a royal decree from June 2, 1537 allows the remains of Christopher Columbus  to cross the Atlantic to be buried in Saint Domingue.

It was buried in the newly built cathedral, at the right of  the main alter. During two hundred and fifty years, Columbus goes quietly towards eternity. Slowly he is forgotten, to the point that nobody remembers where he is buried...

In 1770, the real location of his burying site was ignored on the island. It is a Frenchman, Moreau de Saint-Mery which, almost accidentally, discovered this sepulture and established that it was the one of Columbus .

In the New World

In 1795, July 22, the Bale treaty gives France a compensation for its loss of territory in the Pyrenees: France receives a part of the island of Haiti. Spain must withdraw from the Dominican territory. The admiral Don Gabriel de Aristizabal organizes, with the help of the French, the transport of Columbus’s remains toward Havana, in the Cuba Island.

December 21th, 1795, in the course of an official ceremony between the two countries, the remains of Christopher Columbus are transferred from the French vessel “La Decouverte” to the Spanish vessel “San Lorenzo”, to be shipped to La Havana. In the course of this ceremony, which took place two hundred and ninety years after his death, Christopher Columbus  receives for the first time official honors from the Navy of his country, which joined the honors that the French Navy gave to a renown seafarer. Contrary to what some authors have written, the remains known as being the ones of Christopher Columbus were not moved out hastily to withdraw it from French occupation.

The casket arrived in Cuba June 15, 1796. January 19, 1796, Christopher Columbus’s remains were buried in La Havana’s Cathedral, near the main alter. He will stay there until September 26, 1898, date of the end of Spanish dominion over the island of Cuba.

He comes back to Spain

In 1899, at the end of the Spanish-American war, at the time of Cuba’s independency, remains thought to be the ones of Columbus are brought back to Seville. They were transported on the Spanish ship "CONDE DE VENADITO". The ship who was crossing Ocean Sea from Cuba, December 12th, 1898 to Cadiz Spain, January 15th, 1899

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In 1902, a monument is dedicated to Columbus in Seville's cathedral. His bones are preserved in a little casket

Overwhelming discovery

In 1877, while digging in Saint Domingo's cathedral, some workers find a lead box containing 13 bones and 28 small bones, on which was written :” Renown man: Don Cristobal Colon”. The official authorities from San Domingo then deducted that the genuine remains of Columbus had been found, and assumed that the Spaniards had digged up wrong remains in 1795.

A hefty discussion took place from this date.

In 1992, this relics were officially placed in a newly built monument called “Faro a Colon”. It is a gigantic construction in the shape of a cross, situated on Santo Domingo island. This building of several million dollars was raised to commemorate the 500 anniversary of America’s discovery by Christopher Columbus .

Experts apraisal

So as to end up  this twill some situation, in June 2003, the Spanish authorities decided to proceed with the opening of Christopher Columbus’s Sevillian grave, so as to retrieve bone samples, and compare Columbus’s DNA with the one of his second son.

If there are doubts about the sepulture of the Admiral of the Ocean sea, there is certainty about the authenticity of Hernando’s, his second son remains. Hernando, who was a cleric, is buried since his death, more than 400 years ago, in Seville cathedral, in the back of the choir.

The samples have been taken in the beginning of June 2003, under the command of Professor

Antonio Lorente, director of the “ laboratory for genetic identification” of the University of Grenada. He is coordinating the studies. The bone samples were taken with the assistance from experts from various origins, and coming from the universities of Santiago de Compostela, Barcelona, Roma, Leipzig, and even under scrutiny of US FBI agents. Two of Christopher Columbus’s descendants, Jaime and Anunciada Colon de Caravajal, were also in attendance. The scientists lifted a cloth which covered Christopher Columbus’s tomb. It was hiding a door shaped as a shield.

Back of it, they found a box on which was inscribed :”Here are Christopher Columbus’s bones, first admiral of the new world”. When those samples were taken, it was indicated that a result would be given within six months.( From 6^th June 2003)

The first analysis done on the remains of the Admiral of the Ocean Sea have confirmed some of the doubts, and shown that the skeleton has been damaged by the many transports it has been subjected to, and seems to be incomplete. Therefore, it is possible that other remains of Christopher Columbus are still in Santo Domingo....or somewhere else.

Conclusion

What if the body of Christopher Columbus never had left the convent in Valladolid ?

Various serious authors have suggested it. Gianni Granzetto has reminded us of this hypothesis in his book “Christopher Columbus ”. We will know quite soon.

Maybe was it not necessary to go so long ? Actually it must be remembered that, following to his wish, Christopher Columbus has been buried with the chains he was wearing on his ill fated return to Spain in 1498. At least, that what is written by Roselly de Lorgues in his book published in Paris in 1862.

From Rosely de Lorgues, “Vie et voyages de Christophe Colomb” – Paris,1862.

But this is confirmed by the son of the Admiral of the Ocean sea, Hernando, in book published in Italian much earlier, in Venice, the year 1571. In chapter LXXVIII,we can read : ”he had decided to retain this chains as a manner of relics, as a testimony of the price he had received for his achievements. And he kept them really: I saw them later in his bedroom where they were hanging, and he even ordered that they be placed in his casket”.

Before analyzing the chain of DNA originating from the bones, it would have been possible to know if the casket was really Christopher Columbus’s, by looking for the presence if this iron chain that he was wearing when returning to Andalusia, November 20^th, 1500, can be found in the casket....

Text by Jean Michel Urvoy. English translation of a study published in the French magazine "L'Histoire". Illustrations from private collection.

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