A 2024 documentary produced by Spanish public broadcaster
RTVE argues that DNA evidence conclusively proves Columbus's
Sephardic Jewish origin.The documentary focuses on the work of José Antonio Lorente, a professor at the
University of Granada, who performed DNA analyses on samples of bone fragments collected from the tombs of Columbus, his son
Ferdinand Columbus and his brother Diego, in the
Seville Cathedral in 2003. In the documentary, Lorente states that Ferdinand's Y chromosome and his mitochondrial DNA "show traits consistent with a Jewish ancestry." Lorente also states that the DNA evidence shows Columbus had origins in the western Mediterranean, likely in Mediterranean Spain or the
Balearic Islands. Lorente's research, however, has not been published in any peer-reviewed scientific journal, and Lorente has not made the data available for review by other scientists. In response, forensic genetecists and historians dismissed the claim, making reference to the abundance of available sources showing Columbus was from Genoa, Italy.
Perhaps it is correct to repeat Davidson's words quoted in the previous section:
"What is the reason behind so much futile speculation? ... Each of the nations and cities mentioned wants to claim him for its own. ...at that time not all of the archives had been adequately researched... To do so today is to fulfill Montaigne's maxim, "No one is exempt from talking non-sense; the misfortune is to do it solemnly."