Colombus from a Greek Island or Christophoros Columbus: A Byzantine Prince?
Extremely speculative... Yet it is fun.
Mavi Boncuk |
There is a lot of speculation that Columbus came from the island of Khios (or Chios) in Greece.
The main point of this theory (http://www.grecoreport.com/christopher_columbus.htm) is that Columbus never said he was from Genoa but from the Republic of Genoa. The island of Khios was under the Genoese rule (1346 - 1566 AD), for the period of his life, and therefore it was part of the Republic of Genoa. There is a village named Pirgi in the island of Khios where to this day many of its inhabitants carry the surname "Colombus".
See: A New Theory Clarifying the Identity of Christopher Columbus by Ruth Durlacher-Wolper, San Salvador, Bahamas : New World Museum, [1982] and 2nd. Edition Chios, Greece : John Perikos, 1994.
Christophoros Columbus: A Byzantine Prince from Chios, Greece, by Ruth G. Durlacher-Wolper
Counter arguments
See also: "CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AND CHIOS" by Dr. Miljan Peter Ilich
"... Chios remained on Columbus' mind during his first voyage of discovery. In his log on Monday, November 5, 1492, he recorded the finding in Cuba of what he erroneously believed were mastic trees like on Chios.[7] Later in November, in what was also meant to be a report to the Spanish monarchs, he gave more details on this discovery in the New World that reminded him of Chios: "And in this river of Mares from whence I started last night, without doubt there is a very great quantity of mastic, and there may be more if it is desired that there should be more, because in planting the trees they grow easily and there are a great quantity and very large ones, and the leaf is like the mastic-tree and the fruit, except that the trees as well as the leaves are larger, as Pliny says, and as I have seen on the island of Scio* in the Archipelago. And I ordered many of these trees tapped to see if resin would flow out in order to bring some..."
Some other interesting details. When Columbus' son and biographer, Ferdinard, visited Genova (among other Italian cities) in 1515 and also in 1521, he could not locate a single relative of his father, nor his place of birth. Also, despite the fact that there were many relatives and descendants of the woolworker named Domenico Colombo (supposed father of Christopher), none of them claimed to be a relative of the explorer and navigator Christopher Columbus, nor he attempted to claim part of his inheritance. In addition, the authorities of Genova never offered to assist in any way Christopher Columbus (supposedly not only a Genovese citizen, but a very eminent one) in his troubled times in Spain. On the other hand, Spanish authorities never referred to Columbus as Italian, or as Spanish, either.
Extremely speculative... Yet it is fun.
Mavi Boncuk |
There is a lot of speculation that Columbus came from the island of Khios (or Chios) in Greece.
The main point of this theory (http://www.grecoreport.com/christopher_columbus.htm) is that Columbus never said he was from Genoa but from the Republic of Genoa. The island of Khios was under the Genoese rule (1346 - 1566 AD), for the period of his life, and therefore it was part of the Republic of Genoa. There is a village named Pirgi in the island of Khios where to this day many of its inhabitants carry the surname "Colombus".
See: A New Theory Clarifying the Identity of Christopher Columbus by Ruth Durlacher-Wolper, San Salvador, Bahamas : New World Museum, [1982] and 2nd. Edition Chios, Greece : John Perikos, 1994.
Counter arguments
See also: "CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AND CHIOS" by Dr. Miljan Peter Ilich
"... Chios remained on Columbus' mind during his first voyage of discovery. In his log on Monday, November 5, 1492, he recorded the finding in Cuba of what he erroneously believed were mastic trees like on Chios.[7] Later in November, in what was also meant to be a report to the Spanish monarchs, he gave more details on this discovery in the New World that reminded him of Chios: "And in this river of Mares from whence I started last night, without doubt there is a very great quantity of mastic, and there may be more if it is desired that there should be more, because in planting the trees they grow easily and there are a great quantity and very large ones, and the leaf is like the mastic-tree and the fruit, except that the trees as well as the leaves are larger, as Pliny says, and as I have seen on the island of Scio* in the Archipelago. And I ordered many of these trees tapped to see if resin would flow out in order to bring some..."
Some other interesting details. When Columbus' son and biographer, Ferdinard, visited Genova (among other Italian cities) in 1515 and also in 1521, he could not locate a single relative of his father, nor his place of birth. Also, despite the fact that there were many relatives and descendants of the woolworker named Domenico Colombo (supposed father of Christopher), none of them claimed to be a relative of the explorer and navigator Christopher Columbus, nor he attempted to claim part of his inheritance. In addition, the authorities of Genova never offered to assist in any way Christopher Columbus (supposedly not only a Genovese citizen, but a very eminent one) in his troubled times in Spain. On the other hand, Spanish authorities never referred to Columbus as Italian, or as Spanish, either.