Christopher Columbus and his Polish roots

[justjohn]

Jim posted this on facebook.




May 17, 2012, 8:15 a.m. EDT

Christopher Columbus Was Polish: New Book Shows Proof, Readers Say

WARSAW, Poland, May 17, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- During the last few days Manuel Rosa, author of "KOLUMB. Historia Nieznana," a book published May 8, 2012 in Poland - translated from the Spanish book "COLON. La Historia Nunca Contada" - was a guest of REBIS in Poland. The book's main thesis that the "official history" of Columbus was incorrect has roused a lot of questions - controversies, but also lots of support for the results of the research made by Mr. Rosa.

The idea that Christopher Columbus was a Portuguese-born noble of Polish origin through his father, Polish King Vladislau III Warnenczyk, who disappeared in Varna (10th November 1444), is very fascinating. Nevertheless, it is also quite revolutionary, so it causes, of course, a lot of doubts and questions. The best way to answer these concerns was to have Mr. Rosa visit Poland, where he remained for nearly a week.

During his stay Manuel Rosa gave some 30 interviews to the media - from general TV programs and newspapers to radio, specialized historical magazines and portals, along with a Lecture in Poznan.

"It is really a big success," says Boguslaw Tobiszowski, Chief Marketing Officer at REBIS Publishing House, the Polish publisher of the book, recapitulating the visit. "We expected some interest from the media and readers, but it was beyond our expectations; marvelous. People want to know the truth even when it turns upside-down all that the official history maintained as fact until today." www.rebis.com.pl/rebis/public/news/news.html?co=print&id=3096&instance=1000&lang=pl&parent=0

Many skeptical points of view were crushed by hard arguments presented by Mr. Rosa, which were carefully collected during 21 years of research into the life of Christopher Columbus. His opponents, among them university historians, came to appreciate the gigantic work he has done researching the sources - books, maps and documents - and visiting all the places involved.

Some of the biggest Polish newspapers announced their support in the campaign for the truth, that is support to help Mr. Rosa get a sample of DNA from the Jagiellons dynasty to compare with the DNA of Columbus. However, this will be very difficult because of the complicated history between Poland and Lithuania, where Jagiellons have their origins.

"A completely new face of Christopher Columbus is emerging from a book published in Polish by Portuguese historian Manuel Rosa, who believes that the discoverer of America was the son of the Polish king for the Jagiellonian dynasty, Vladislau III of Varna," writes the Polish Newspaper Gazeta Prawna.

After leaving Poland, Manuel Rosa travelled to Portugal where, on May 16, he presented his research to the Portuguese Academy of History in Lisbon. There, a full house of Portuguese academics lauded Mr. Rosa's research and many, convinced by the evidence presented, promised to help in promoting the new version of Columbus history.

"This book is Awesome! An overnight sensational Bestseller that will forever change history," raved the show hosts Agnes Furtak and Raf Uzar on Polish Radio "Bed and Breakfast." www.polskieradio.pl/10/491/Artykul/601113 ,Krzysztof-Kolumb-byl-Polakiem

Mr. Rosa is currently working with actor Christopher Michael Siepietowski to turn his 21 years of research into a movie script exposing the newly discovered identity of Christopher Columbus.

Mr. Rosa can be contacted through [e-mail]

Contact:

Tomasz Nowak Dom Wydawniczy REBIS www.rebis.com.pl [phone]

This press release was issued through eReleases(R). For more information, visit eReleases Press Release Distribution at www.ereleases.com .

SOURCE REBIS Publishing House

[justjohn]

_{This guys father really moved around. He knew quite a few women in his time.}

Christopher Columbus was actually a Scotsman called Pedro Scotto, historian says

The 15th century explorer who opened up the American continents to Europe was actually called Pedro Scotto - not Christopher Columbus - and his family originally hailed from Scotland, a Spanish historian has claimed.

Alfonso Ensenat de Villalonga has disputed conventionally-accepted narratives on the explorer's origins - that he was the son of a weaver in Genoa, Italy, or that he was from Catalonia or Galicia in Spain.

In fact, he was from Genoa, but he was "the son of shopkeepers not weavers and he was baptised Pedro not Christopher," Mr Villalonga told Spain's ABC newspaper on Sunday.

And his family name was Scotto, and was not Italian but of Scottish origin.

"He had light-coloured eyes and freckles. He also had blond hair even though it quickly turned white. That's how his contemporaries described him. Nothing like the traditional images (of him), which are totally invented," the historian said.

Mr Villalonga cited a chronicle of Catholic kings written by Lucio Marineo Siculo, who referred in his writings to "Pedro Columbus", not Christopher.

The historian has also claimed that the navigator once worked for a pirate called Vincenzo Columbus, and adopted that family name in order not to "expose" his relations.

Mr Villalonga said his research involved combing the archives in the Genoa region along with those in the Spanish history academy and national library.



Christopher Columbus' Jewish Roots Examined By Historians


Over five centuries after the famed explorer's death, historians are taking a fresh look at what motivated Christopher Columbus to make his voyage across the Atlantic -- and how his faith may have played into those motivations.

Some scholars, after analyzing Columbus' will and other documents, have devised a new theory about the explorer. They believe he was a Marrano, or a Jew who pretended to be a Catholic to avoid religious persecution. These historians also theorize that Columbus' main goal in life was to liberate Jerusalem from Muslim control, and that he decided to take his historic quest to North America in order to find a new homeland for Jews who had been forced out of Spain.

During the time of Columbus' voyage, Marranos were a targeted group. Tens of thousands of them were tortured during the Spanish Inquisition, so keeping one's true religious identity secret was a crucial priority for many.

As CNN reports, Columbus' will contained five provisions that some scholars believe to be evidence of the explorer's true faith:

Two of his wishes -- tithe one-tenth of his income to the poor and provide an anonymous dowry for poor girls -- are part of Jewish customs. He also decreed to give money to a Jew who lived at the entrance of the Lisbon Jewish Quarter.

On those documents, Columbus used a triangular signature of dots and letters that resembled inscriptions found on gravestones of Jewish cemeteries in Spain. He ordered his heirs to use the signature in perpetuity.

According to British historian Cecil Roth's "The History of the Marranos," the anagram was a cryptic substitute for the Kaddish, a prayer recited in the synagogue by mourners after the death of a close relative. Thus, Columbus's subterfuge allowed his sons to say Kaddish for their crypto-Jewish father when he died. Finally, Columbus left money to support the crusade he hoped his successors would take up to liberate the Holy Land.

Scholars also point to the real financiers of the voyage as evidence of the trip's purpose. While most schoolchildren grow up learning that the expedition was financed by Queen Isabella, historians say it was mostly paid for by two prominent Jews who had been forced to convert to Catholicism, Louis de Santangel and Gabriel Sanchez.

While these claims may be difficult to verify, the new portrait of Columbus painted by these scholars adds a complicated layer to the already convoluted sentiment toward the famed explorer. While he is lauded in the United States with a federal holiday and a receives a great deal of credit for discovering North America, his legacy has been tainted by charges of genocide and exploitation. But if Columbus' true intent was not imperialism, but freedom from religious trial, public perception of the man may shift yet again.