Was the Discoverer of America Jewish?
FROLICH, NEWTON
On August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail for India, searching for a new route to the Orient. But unlike most ship captains, he did not permit his sailors one last night carousing on the...
...God, Lord, God...
...Although he continued to hide the clues to his identity, nevertheless, like pieces of a puzzle, they begin to lock together...
...Neither did Columbus write in Italian—even his letters to his bank in Genoa, the bank of San Giorgio, are in Spanish...
...A coincidence...
...For example: He put some strange markings above the first word of 12 letters he wrote to his son, Diego, 10 written between November 21, 1504, and February 24, 1505...
...He was out by the deadline...
...Was he self-taught or tutored...
...He also asked his elder son, Diego, to whom he left the bulk of his estate, to take care of the Jewess, Beatriz, whom he had been unable to marry for reasons that were "well-known" to Diego...
...The interest in voyages of discovery by the ruling heads of state was economic and expansionist: The discovery of new lands opened up new products for trade, new material resources to exploit and a new people and land over which to exercise dominion...
...During those voyages, Columbus discovered a hint of the trade winds, the constant easterly winds that blow across the Atlantic...
...But two-thirds remained in Spain...
...In 1488, they had a son whom they named Fernando, after the king...
...Was Columbus ajew—or a descendent of Jews—searching not for treasures from the Orient to fill Spanish royal Was the Discoverer Of America Jewish...
...No one on record ever heard him speak more than a few words of Italian...
...Driven by their goal of a unified state, Isabella and Ferdinand agreed...
...Cartography was a highly regarded science supported by courts that hungered to expand their rule...
...These families often continued to speak Spanish at home, using the manner of speaking passed down to them by their grandparents...
...But the marranos persisted in their hyphenated ways and maintained many of their "harmless" Jewish customs...
...But war against the well-entrenched, wealthy Arabs was expensive—and promised to be more so if Cairo, Baghdad and Damascus sent help to their Moslem brothers...
...In his will, Columbus bequeathed money "to a Jew who was living at the entrance of the ghetto in Lisbon...
...some of these volumes were from his father's collection...
...When Columbus went to sea, he sailed on commercial vessels or on corsairs, ships owned by noblemen who raided merchant ships...
...In his later years, security, wealth and fame made Columbus less cautious...
...By order of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, the Spanish expulsion of the Jews began one hour after Columbus ordered his men to be on board—the day before sailing...
...Columbus also received the right to 10 percent of the net profits on all resulting commerce and on any other merchandise that might be bought and sold within the confines of his new admiralty...
...heth er the first words spoken to Native Americans in the new world were Hebrew will never be known, but after meeting the native people, Columbus appointed de Torres as ambassador on a six-day mission inland to visit what was described by the natives' hand gestures as a great city...
...When Columbus returned from his voyage, he sent his first report of his successes to Santangel, who had made Columbus a partner in the venture...
...In return for his support, on May 30, 1497, Santangel received a special charter protecting him and his descendents from the Inquisition...
...In them, he played on Isabella's fervent religious beliefs, suggesting liberatingjerusalem and obtaining the Holy Sepulchre for Spain...
...On one of the blank pages of his geography book, Historia Rerum Ubique Gestarum, preserved in the Biblioteca Colombina in Seville, Columbus calculated the date according to the Hebrew calendar...
...Italy, Spain and "even the Jews," wrote Harvard professor Samuel Eliot Morison, claim Columbus as their own...
...Whatever their intention, the marriage set in motion a political/religious power that destroyed the Jewish community...
...With his sailor's instinct, he believed the winds could enable him to reach the Orient by sailing west around the world...
...By publicly denying their roots in order to maintain their status as leading lawyers, bankers, doctors and government advisers, the New Christians continued to prosper and occupy many of the best homes in the urban centers of Spain...
...Arguing that the New Christians would never assimilate unless the Jews who stood behind them were removed, the chief administrative officer of the Inquisition, Friar Tomas de Torquemada—who also happened to be a New Christian—proposed to Isabella that all Jews be expelled from Spain...
...f1 V_/hristopher Columbus was most likely born Cristoforo Colombo between 1447 and 1453 in Genoa, where he lived for 13 years...
...He also changed his name again—to the more Spanish-sounding Cristobal Colon...
...Majorca, a Spanish island, served as the center of mapmaking and related sciences...
...Perhaps...
...He made his way to Lisbon, where his brother, Bartolomeo, was employed by a Jewish firm that made maps...
...Isabella herself, without funds for speculative projects—she had even pawned her fabled jewels to finance the war against the Moslems—did not reject the idea, however...
...By the time Isabella and Ferdinand defeated the Arab army of Granada in 1492, they had not only killed thousands of New Christians, they had catalogued and confiscated much of their wealth...
...The lengthy war had financially strapped the Spanish kingdom...
...Then, he sought out someone to back his voyage...
...But in Inquisition Spain, Columbus was forced to hide his Jewish origins...
...the other half converted to Christianity and were referred to as New Christians or conversos...
...Past marriage age, Filipa was residing in a convent...
...If, as Columbus directed, his firstborn descendants would forever use this signature in all writings, then he had created a vehicle that enabled them to fulfill—without danger of self-revelation—a central commandment of the Jewish tradition, that every son should pray for the soul of his deceased father...
...He wrote: This is the computation of the creation of the world according to the Jews....[F]rom the birth of Abraham until the Second Temple was destroyed there were 1088 years...from the beginning of the world to this year 1481 there were 5241 years...
...JR^esurrecting a little used institution of the Catholic Church, the Inquisition, they converted it into an instrument of national power and economic gain...
...He found a rich marrano, Don Luis de la Cerda, the Duke of Medina Celi, the owner of several corsairs, who agreed to build and provision the ships...
...Columbus' education, as evidenced by his writings, was grounded in the Old Testament, that is, the Hebrew Bible...
...After Filipa's death, in 1481 or 1482, Columbus moved with their young son, Diego, to Spain, where he hoped to secure backing for his plan...
...Without it, he could forget any claim to profits from future voyages, not to mention the honor of being granted a tide...
...Of these, approximately half continued to live as Jews...
...The government of Portugal invited sea captains and foreign scientists to their country on what today would be called academic exchanges...
...Some say he even expected to meet up with the 10 lost tribes of Israel, who had reportedly fled east to India and the Orient...
...Santangel proposed to the court that the court: underwrite the venture through a loan from Santangel...
...Nor for David, whom from a shepherd He raised to be king of Judea...
...Lord grant mercy...
...He had contact with a Jewish astronomer, Abraham Zacuto, who had prepared astronomical tables for sailors that proved very helpful for Columbus' voyage...
...and I am a servant of that same Lord who raised David to that state...
...Ironically, the union was arranged by leaders of the Jewish community, who perhaps merely wished to ingratiate themselves with the young royal couple...
...To enhance their royal money chest, Isabella and Ferdinand turned on the second element of the Spanish tripod—the insincere, high profile, wealthy New Christians...
...Many scholars agree with Spanish Christian historian Salvadore de Madariaga's assertion that Columbus was probably a marrano, a third-generation descendent of Jews who had converted to Christianity during' Spain's antisemitic riots of 1391...
...But this infuriated the Old Christians who thought the brutal riots—for example, in Seville, in which a quarter of the Jewish population was killed—had gotten rid of the Jews...
...On March 31, 1492, as soon as the Arab army of Granada surrendered, the king and queen drafted an edict of expulsion...
...Columbus' other son, Fernando, who wrote the biography of his father, History of the Life and Deeds of Christopher Columbus, first published in Venice in 1571, 65 years after Columbus' death, was an avid book collector...
...Instead of signing it with any of the names he had taken in his lifetime, he used a coded signature: .S...
...Seeking penance and punishment, the Inquisitors tortured, imprisoned and killed the New Christians, confiscating their homes, banks, loan portfolios, businesses and possessions^—all with approval of the church...
...But those who believe that Columbus—and members of his crew—were Jewish believe there was "method in his madness...
...Or perhaps they earnestly desired to contribute to the stability of their country by uniting the ruling families of two large kingdoms on the peninsula...
...Isabella's royal advisers recommended against the voyage Columbus proposed...
...The marriage of Isabella, Queen of Castile, to Prince Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Aragon, became the catalyst for harsher treatment of Jews in Spain...
...The prophecies were meant to convince the king and queen to finance his voyage, whose aim was liberatingjerusalem...
...The head of the academy, Jehuda Cresques, was a Jew from Majorca...
...If Columbus brought a Hebrew interpreter, he must have expected to encounter Hebrew-speaking people along the way—perhaps members of the 10 lost tribes...
...In the late fourteenth century—less than a century before Columbus' most famous voyage—the population of Spain numbered nine million...
...Frustration led to confrontation and the Jews were seen as an easy scapegoat...
...But unlike most ship captains, he did not permit his sailors one last night carousing on the town before their long journey into the unknown...
...As Columbus made the final preparations for a voyage that would offer so much hope to the world, the 300,000-member Jewish community of Spain began its journey, wandering again...
...Columbus often quoted Isaiah in his writings and referred to himself as a "light unto the gentiles...
...Soon, Old Christians began to refer to them as marranos, swine...
...In Genoa, the Colombos had found safety by residing on the grounds of a monastery, San Stefano...
...Those who did lived as conversos, keeping to themselves as much as possible...
...Some scholars claim they are the Hebrew letters bet and hey, for be'ezrat hashem—with the help of God—customary markings on letters written by observant Jews...
...But Columbus realized he would never achieve what he wanted if he only obtained financing and not royal sponsorship as well...
...Unfortunately, she was unable to make the investment in unexplored territory at the same time as the war in Granada was draining her coffers...
...Approximately 10 percent—one million—were Jews...
...Later, de Torres was one of the first Europeans to settle in the new world, where he became a wealthy land owner and lived out his life on a royal pension from Spain...
...but if Columbus succeeded, the court not only had to repay the loan, it also had to grant the Santangel family immunity from prosecution by the Inquisition...
...The last two lines are said to be Columbus' signature: Xpo FERENS has been translated as a Greco-Latin form of his name and El Almirante means "the admiral...
...Jews were not allowed to reside in Genoa for more than three days at a time...
...Other Santangel family members had been hunted down and burned at the stake...
...Ferdinand accepted Santangel's proposal and Santangel lent the court 17,000 ducats, interest free...
...Columbus' contemporaries often characterized his Castillian as "old-fashioned...
...On his voyage to the new world, Columbus took with him Luis de Torres, an interpreter who spoke Hebrew...
...De Torres was a Jew who was baptized shortly before Columbus' mission so he would be eligible to participate...
...Sanctus, Adonai, Sanctus...
...W]hen he saw thee of an age that satisfied Him, marvelously did He make thy name resouncf in the earth....What more did He do for the people of Israel when He led them out of Egypt...
...No records survive to tell us...
...On his final voyage to America, when he was ill with fever and hallucinating, Columbus wrote to Isabella and Ferdinand about voices that had called to him: Oh, fool, man slow to believe and to serve thy God, God of all...
...He rented a house in Genoa owned by the church...
...During this period, Columbus was comforted by Beatriz Enriquez de Harana, his Jewish mistress...
...The Inquisitors' hunger for Jewish blood and the money that resulted from confiscating Jewish possessions made the Santangel family a prime target of the Inquisitors' ruthless tactics...
...A group of Jewish scientists, including Abraham ibn Ezra, Jacob Carsoni and Jacob ben Machir, collaborated to improve navigation instruments...
...Meanwhile, the Inquisition developed extensive plans to ferret out those who, although maintaining they were Christians, were secredy Jews...
...In Portugal, Columbus also executed the first of his name changes, adopting the local approximation, Christovao Colom...
...There he was introduced to Filipa Moniz y Perestrello, a daughter of the first governor of the Madeira island, Porto Santo...
...He lodged Diego in La Rabida, the Franciscan monastery, perhaps to counter suspicion and continue a family tactic of survival...
...Then, an outbreak of antisemitism swept the land, and a third of the Jews fled—to live elsewhere, either as Jews, or, in the case of Columbus' forebears, as converted Christians...
...In a letter Columbus wrote to the governess of Prince Juan, cited in the biography of Columbus written by his son Fernando, Columbus said: [L]et them call me by any name they want, for after all, David, a very wise king, tended sheep and later was made king of Jerusalem...
...In a vision of national greatness, uniformity and order, the royal couple set out to eliminate the Moslem element that, with the Christian and the Jewish, formed the tripod on which Spain was based...
...Instead, he spoke an old dialect of Castillian, a style of Spanish spoken by Jews and conversos...
...When he arrived in Palos, the Inquisition was arresting New Christians, imprisoning and torturing them until they confessed to 'Judaizing practices...
...In Castile, he used the same approach...
...Despite their preoccupations, however, Isabella listened to Columbus' proposal...
...Diego had become experienced in the ways of the royal court and had attained a position first as the queen's personal guard and then, later, as the king's personal guard...
...Columbus then sought the help of Don Luis de Santangel, a marrano banker from one of the wealthiest families in Aragon who advised Ferdinand on financial matters...
...Columbus' signature on his will is intriguing...
...Chesed Moleh Yehovah (God...
...This same book contains numerous passages describing Israel next to which Columbus has placed his own handwritten comments, replete with his characteristic sign of a hand to emphasize their importance, the index finger pointing to the passage he underlined, the wrist decorated with ruffles...
...He even wrote a Book of Prophecies, based on his broad historical, philosophical and scientific knowledge...
...Under the guise of examining the sincerity of the New Christians' faith, the king and queen commenced a massive investigation and inventory of every piece of property held by New Christians...
...Once his trade winds idea was in the public domain, he would be just an outsider who had found a route...
...He went to Lisbon to obtain royal sponsorship for such a voyage, but would not reveal his insight for fear others would steal his idea...
...Next to the section on Israel, Columbus drew a whole cluster of ruffles and wrote "manyJewish places mentioned...
...Perhaps Columbus benefited from these scientific laboratories...
...Columbus married her and the couple lived in the Madeiras, where he sailed commercial vessels down the coast of Africa...
...Such behavior was common among descendants of those who had fled Spain's antisemitic riots a generation or so earlier...
...Perhaps the hunted Jews of Spain could then find a haven with their co-religionists in the "Orient...
...First, Isabella and Ferdinand turned on the Arab kingdom of Granada...
...A more compelling hypothesis is found in the writings of those scholars who maintain that, during the Inquisition, cryptic messages were often utilized by marranos and that the letters stand for a Latinized Hebrew prayer: Sanctus...
...On one of these voyages, his ship was destroyed...
...If Columbus failed, the court need not repay Santangel...
...S.A.S...
...On hearing this theory, the royal Committee of Mathematicians understandably rejected his petition...
...c V^J artography and astronomy were Jewish professions during Columbus' time...
...Almost seven years of waiting followed...
...One of the new discoveries was a method to determine a ship's position by the angle formed between the sun and the horizon...
...Tension increased as thousands of Christian farmers streamed into the cities of Europe—including Spain's—seeking a place in the emerging urban economy, competing for jobs, financing and space...
...NEWTON FROHLICH coffers but for a safe haven in which his coreligionists could live...
...Atypically, Columbus demanded that all crew members board his three ships by 11:00 P.M., the day before sailing—on August 2. It just so happens that after midnight on August 2, it became illegal for a Jew to remain on Spanish soil...
...XMY :Xpo FERENS./ El Almirante While some scholars argue that the triangular pattern represents a Catholic prayer, there would have been no reason for Columbus to hide evidence of his Catholic faith...
...Remnant of the once mighty Moslem state that had ruled much of Iberia, Granada occupied a strategic corner of what is now Spain...
...In January 1486 the Duke of Medina Celi helped Columbus obtain an audience with Isabella...
...She ended up granting him a small pension to sustain him until she made a decision, referring the matter to her advisers on scientific matters...
...The evidence—documents, diaries, letters, events that coincide—not only support de Madariaga's conclusion but also clarify who financed Columbus' voyage and why...
...Fernando bequeathed his library to the Dominicans of the Monastery of San Pablo in Seville, where it serves as a base for the Biblioteca Colombina, the Columbus library in Seville...
...Several Santangels had been convicted of Judaizing by the Inquisitor's Office and had received heavy sentences—fines and imprisonment...
...What more did He do for Moses or for David his servant...
...So was his crew...
...By maintaining relationships with Jewish friends who hadn't converted and continuing to share many of the Jewish customs (like secret Shabbat observance), health standards (like avoidance of pork), eating habits (Jewish foods) and even prayers, the New Christians signaled to their Old Christian contemporaries that their profession of a new faith was less than sincere...
...Although he dared not marry her in Inquisition Spain, he lived with her until he died...
...He took no chances...
...Even more telling is his chauvinistic exaggeration next to a mention of Jewish contributions to astronomy: "All nations," he wrote, "derive their astronomy from the Jews...
...Santangel secured the appointment of Columbus as viceroy of all the lands he discovered and admiral of all the seas he crossed—the latter a title descending to his and his descendants' firstborn sons, forever...
...Before Columbus' death, Diego often argued his father's case regarding duties and other money owed to him by the royal court After his father's death, Diego was briefly appointed governor of Santo Domingo...
...By age 25 he was already a professional cartographer...
...Columbus' father was, at various times, a weaver and a guard...
...Fernando's library contained more than 15,000 volumes on science, navigation, geography and travel...
...Strangely, although he was "world-famous" in his own day, Columbus, the itinerant traveler, has left us no record of his birth...
...Instead, Columbus invented a theory that the shape of the world was oblong and the distance between Portugal and Japan only 2,500 miles...
...Santangel had persuaded the royal court to grant Columbus' demand for 12.5 percent of the gross of any resulting trade in the newly discovered territories...
...She and Ferdinand were preoccupied with their military effort to expel the Moslems from Granada while simultaneously conducting the Inquisition...
...Portugal's King John II even established a scientific institute—the Academy for Cosmographs in Sagres, Portugal—specifically to chart the course of new world exploration...
Vol. 16 • December 1991 • No. 6
