Corombo Or Colom: The Columbus conundrum

Christopher Columbus wasn't born Christopher Columbus. He was born Christoffa Corombo. Or he was born Cristòfor Colom. Let's go with the latter.

Some time in 1460, Cristòfor Colom was born in the Mallorcan town of Felanitx. The exact location was the finca of s'Alqueria Roja. His father was an Aragonese nobleman, the brother of Fernando who was to become king of Aragon and of Castile and Léon, and his mother was called Margarita Colom. Cristòfor was the bastard nephew of the Spanish king. This bloodline, unknown to others at the royal court, was to prove vital in giving Cristòfor the patronage to sail to what he thought was Japan or China, but which turned out to be the Caribbean, and in his being named a viceroy and becoming governor of Hispaniola.

There are certain things wrong with this. Wrong, that is, unless you subscribe to the theory that Columbus was indeed born in Felanitx.

Some time in 1451, Christoffa Corombo was born in Genoa, an independent republic which eventually became part of Italy. His father was called Domenico, and he was a lowly weaver who later became an innkeeper. Christoffa's mother, Susanna, was also a weaver. Somehow, Corombo managed to rise from these humble origins to find a place in the Spanish court and acquire the patronage that he did in order to sail to find China in a direction opposite to the one that was already known about.

There is nothing wrong with this, unless you subscribe to the theory that Columbus was born, not in Genoa, but in Felanitx.

Which is right and which is wrong? The Genoa version is the accepted version. The Felanitx version is one that has been proposed by the Mallorcan historian Gabriel Verd Martorell. He has devoted more or less his life's work in seeking to prove that Corombo was Colom and that he was born in Felanitx.

I have huge admiration for Verd's scholarship and for his persistence. His Felanitx theory is not without persuasiveness. It is one that has arisen from what remain legitimate questions as to Columbus' background and specifically how he acquired a strange speaking voice (and it is argued that this was because of Catalan origins) and how he came to be given a title (that of viceroy) that would have been reserved for the Spanish nobility.

Verd has challenged the orthodox view of Columbus, but part of the problem he has had in making a truly convincing case for there to be a complete revision of history is that his theory is just one of many which place Columbus' birthplace as anywhere but Genoa.

Undeterred by the fact that Verd has yet to convince a sceptical world that Christoffa  from Genoa was indeed Cristòfor from Felanitx, the town of Felanitx has co-opted Columbus as an "illustrious son" and is to open an exhibition in Portocolom (note the Colom). This exhibition, conveniently near to the tourist office, is to be dedicated to Columbus and to his Mallorcan connection.

While the exhibition may well assist in promoting Verd's theory, there is another benefit; one to the town of Felanitx. Even without definitive proof of Columbus' association with the town, there is presumably a gain to be made by promoting the association. A tourism gain. Or so the town hall would hope.

Its mayor, Gabriel Tauler, has been pushing the Columbus association for some time. He has wanted Columbus "routes" this and no doubt Columbus souvenir mini-carabela ships that. The routes, one imagines, wouldn't involve taking a carabela and heading off to Genoa. He has managed, however, to fall foul of linguistic dogma in issuing invites to the opening of the Columbus-expo. They've gone out in Castellano and not in Catalan. They are more widely understandable, says the mayor. Which is true, but much of the Columbus-from-Felanitx argumentation has to do with that strange speaking voice. If he was indeed originally a Catalan speaker, then Catalan as at least part of the invite was probably warranted. 

Who knows? Maybe Columbus did come from Felanitx. His Catalan connection is at least intriguing, but that he also often wrote in Catalan isn't necessarily so much of a surprise. He could well have acquired the language and, if one accepts his origins in Genoa, then he wouldn't have written in Ligurian, the language of Genoa, as it wasn't a written language. It would also, as a tongue, have given him a strange speaking voice.

Christoffa Corombo or Cristòfor Colom, who can tell? Verd would insist that it were the latter. I wish him well in continuing to try and prove his theory.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.