The consensus among historians is that the Columbus family hailed from the coastal region of Liguria, and that explorer Christopher Columbus himself was born and spent much of his early years in Genoa before moving with his father to Savona at the age of 19. Despite his Genoese origins not having been controversial during his own lifetime or for centuries thereafter, the ethnic or national origin of Columbus has become the subject of much speculation during the 19th and 20th centuries, Heers, Jacques. "Christophe Colomb." Hachette, 1981. pp. 21–23 in what came to be known as the Columbus Question. Many European authors proposed alternative origins for Columbus, motivated largely by a nationalistic desire to claim his heritage for their own countries.

Christopher Columbus seemed to refer to Genoa as his homeland in his own writings, and his Genoese origin can also be inferred from a biography written by his son Ferdinand Columbus. Historians have since catalogued numerous records, documents and literary references associating Columbus with Genoa.

Evidence for Genoese origin

Personal writings In a 1498 deed of primogeniture, Columbus writes:

Many historians affirm the document's authenticity; others believe it apocryphal. Some believe that the fact that it was produced in court, during a lawsuit among the heirs of Columbus, in 1578, does not strengthen the case for its authenticity.

A letter from Columbus, dated 2 April 1502, to the Bank of Saint George, the oldest and most reputable of Genoa's financial institutions, begins with the words:

Though some people consider this letter unreliable, the majority of scholars believe it genuine. Examination by graphologists testifies in favour of authenticity. The letter is one of a group of documents entrusted by Columbus to a Genoese friend, after the negative experiences of his third voyage, before setting out on his fourth.

In the spring of 1502, Columbus collected notarized copies of all the writings concerned with his rights to the discovery of new lands. He sent these documents to Nicolò Oderico, ambassador of the Republic of Genoa. To Oderico he also gave "the letter to the Bank of Saint George", in which he announced that he was leaving the bank one-tenth of his income, with a recommendation for his son Diego. Oderico returned to Genoa and delivered the letter to the bank. The bank replied on 8 December 1502, lauding the gesture of their "renowned fellow-citizen" towards his "native land". The reply, unfortunately, never reached its destination; Columbus, back in Castile after his fourth voyage, complained about this in another letter to Ambassador Oderico, dated 27 December 1504, and promptly annulled the bequest.

The first letter was preserved in the archives of the Bank of Saint George until it was taken over by the municipality of Genoa; the other three remained in the Oderico family archives until 1670, when they were donated to the Republic of Genoa. After the fall of the Republic, they passed to the library of one of its last senators, Michele Cambiaso, and were finally acquired by the city of Genoa. There are also public and notarial acts (more than a hundred) — copies of which are conserved in the archives of Genoa and Savona — regarding Columbus's father, Columbus himself, his grandfather, and his relatives.In May 2006, the Dr. Aldo Agosto, a noted Columbus scholar and state archivist at Genoa, collected one hundred and ten notarial documents, largely unpublished, to be officially presented to the conference of studies in Valladolid. Agosto claims that these documents reconstruct the family tree of Christopher Columbus, going back as far as seven generations.

The life of Admiral Christopher Columbus by his son Ferdinand A biography written by Columbus's son Ferdinand (in Spanish and translated into Italian), The life of the Admiral Christopher Columbus by his son Ferdinand,Full title: Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo; nelle quali s'ha particolare, et vera relatione della vita, et de' fatti dell'Ammiraglio D. Christoforo Colombo, suo padre; Et dello scoprimento, ch'egli fece delle Indie Occidentali, dette Nuovo Mondo ("Accounts of His Lordship Ferdinand Columbus; among which there are particulars and a true relation of the life, and of the deeds of the Admiral, Sir Christopher Columbus, his father; and of the discovery, which he made, of the West Indies, called the New World") exists.Colón, Fernando (translated by Benjamin Keen). The life of the Admiral Christopher Columbus, Greenwood Press, 1978 Colombo, Fernando. Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo, IntraText Digital Library. Retrieved 2011-11-18. In it, Ferdinand claimed that his father was of Italian aristocracy. He describes Columbus to be a descendant of a Count Columbo of the Castle Cuccaro (Montferrat). Columbo was in turn said to be descended from a legendary Roman General Colonius. It is now widely believed that Christopher Columbus used this persona to ingratiate himself with the aristocracy, an elaborate illusion to mask a humble merchant background.Greene, Robert; Elffers, Joost. The 48 Laws of Power, Profile Books, 2000. pp. 284–285. Retrieved 2011-11-08. Ferdinand dismissed the fanciful story that the Admiral descended from the Colonus mentioned by Tacitus. However, he refers to "those two illustrious Coloni, his relatives." According to Note 1, on page 287, these two "were corsairs not related to each other or to Christopher Columbus, one being Guillame de Casenove, nicknamed Colombo, Admiral of France in the reign of Louis XI". At the top of page 4, Ferdinand listed Nervi, Cogoleto, Bogliasco, Savona, Genoa and Piacenza (all inside the former Republic of Genoa)The city of Piacenza was part of the Duchy of Milan; the Republic of Genoa was the latter's satellite. as possible places of origin. He also stated:

In chapter ii, Ferdinand accuses Agostino Giustiniani of telling lies about the discoverer:

In chapter v, he writes:

Ferdinand also says (chapter XI) that before he was declared admiral, his father used to sign himself "Columbus de Terra rubra," that is to say, Columbus of Terrarossa, a village or hamlet near Genoa. In another passage, Ferdinand says that his father went to Lisbon and taught his brother Bartholomew to construct sea charts, globes and nautical instruments; and sent this brother to England to make proposals to Henry VII of his desired voyage. Finally, Ferdinand says incidentally (chapter LXXII) that Christopher's brother, Bartholomew Columbus named the new settlement Santo Domingo in memory of their father, Domenico.

The publication of The life of the Admiral Christopher Columbus has been used by historians as providing indirect evidence about the Genoese origin of Columbus.

The testimony of the ambassadors In April 1501, in the feverish atmosphere of the discovery, Nicolò Oderico, ambassador of the Genoese Republic, after praising the Catholic Sovereigns, went on to say that they "discovered with great expenditure hidden and inaccessible places under the command of Columbus, our fellow-citizen, and having tamed wild barbarians and unknown peoples, they educated them in religion, manners and laws". Furthermore, two diplomats from Venice added the appellation "Genoese" to Columbus's name: the first, Angelo Trevisan, in 1501, the second, Gasparo Contarini, in 1525. In 1498, Pedro de Ayala, Spanish ambassador to the English court, mentioned John Cabot, "the discoverer, another Genoese, like Columbus".

Contemporary European witnesses and writers The historian Bartolomé de las Casas, whose father traveled with Columbus on his second journey and who personally knew Columbus's sons, writes in chapter 2 of his Historia de las Indias: De las Casas, Bartolomé; Saint-Lu, André. "Historia de las Indias" (Volume I). Fundacion Biblioteca Ayacuch, 1986. p. 26. Retrieved 2011-02-06.

The historian Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, writes that Domenico Colombo was the Admiral's father; De Oviedo y Valdés, Gonzalo Fernández. Historia general y natural de las Indias, islas y tierra-firme del mar océano (Volume I), Real Acad. de la Historia, 1851. p. 12. Retrieved 2011-11-10. and in chapter 2, book 3 of his Historia general y natural de las Indias: De Oviedo y Valdés, Gonzalo Fernández. Historia general y natural de las Indias, islas y tierra-firme del mar océano (Volume III), Real Acad. de la Historia, 1855. Retrieved 2011-02-06.

Many other contemporary writers agree that the discoverer was Genoese: The Portuguese Rui de Pina wrote two works, Chronica d'El Rey, dom Affonso and Chronica d'El Rey, dom João II. It has been ascertained that the manuscripts had been completed before 1504, although they were published in the Eighteenth century. Chapter 66 in the second manuscript, "Descubrimiento das Ilhas de Castella per Collombo," explicitly states, "Christovan Colombo italiano." In the 1513 edition of the Map of the New World from Ptolemy,K. Kretschmer's atlas, Die Entdeckung Amerikas, Berlin 1892, plate XII. it says: "This land with the adjacent islands was discovered by the Genoese Columbus, sent by the King of Castile." The Turkish geographer Piri Ibn Haji Mehmed, known as Piri Reis, in his map of 1513, writes: "These coasts are called the coasts of the Antilles. They were discovered in the year 896 of the Arabic calendar. It is said that a Genoese infidel, Columbus by name, discovered the place." Hernando Alonso de Herrera, in his anti-Aristotelian dissertation, completed in Salamanca in 1516, and published in Latin and Spanish, wrote: "Xristoval Colon ginoves." In a Portuguese map of 1520,Also in K. Kretschmer's Die Entdeckung Amerikas, plate XII. it is said: "Land of the Antipodes of the King of Castile, discovered by Christopher Columbus Genoese." The German Peter von Bennewitz writes, in 1520, in the Typus Orbis Universalis:AE Nordenskiold, Facsimile Atlas, Stockholm 1889, plate XXXVIII. "In the year 1497 (sic) this land (America) with the adjacent islands was discovered by Columbus, a Genoese by mandate of the King of Castile." The German Johannes Schöner states in the Globus of 1520:K. Kretschmer, Die Entdeckung Amerikas, plate XIII. "This (island) produces gold, mastic, aloes, porcelain, etc. and ginger — Latitude of the island 440 miles — Longitude 880 — discovered by Christopher Columbus Genoese, captain of the King of Castile in the year of Our Lord 1492." The Spaniard Francisco López de Gómara writes:Historia general de las Indias of 1533, under the fourteenth title in part I. "Christopher Columbus was originally from Cogurreo or Nervi, a village of Genoa, a very famous Italian city." The Portuguese Garcia de Resende, poet and editor, writes:Crónica de D. João II, published in 1544, p. 110. "Christouao Colombo, italiano." The Swiss Heinrich Glarean (Loriti) writes:De Geographia, liber unus, published Venice 1534, p. 45. "To the west there is a land they call America. Two islands, Hispaniola and Isabella: which regions were travelled, along the coast, by the Spaniards, by the Genoese Columbus and by Amerigo Vespuzio." The Spaniard Hieronymo Girava, who lived in the first half of the 16th century, writes:Dos Libros de Cosmographia, published Milan 1556, p. 186. "Christoval Colon Genoese, great seaman and mediocre cosmographer." The Portuguese João de Barros writes: "As all men declare, Christovão Colom was of Genoese nation, a man expert, eloquent and good Latinist, and very boastful in his affairs"; and: "As in this kingdom came Christopher Columbus Genoese, who had just discovered the western islands that now we call Antilles."Da Ásia, translated by Alfonso Ulloa, Venice 1562, p. 55. The German known as Giovanni Boemo Aubano, of the first half of the 16th century, writes:/ costumi, le leggi et l'usanze di tutte le genti, Venice 1564, p. 193. "Christoforo Palombo, Genoese, the year 1492."