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| Dominican Republic attribution: alexrk2 |
To continue with the Who's in the Grave search, it was on December 6, 1492 that Chris found a chunk of land in the Caribbean and dubbed the island as Hispaniola. To us modern folk, we know it as an island composed of two countries; the west one-third being Haiti and the eastern two-thirds being the Dominican Republic. Actually, Chris landed on the Haiti side, but to him, it was just one island. At the time, he had no idea of the wars, civil wars and division that was to come.
The Spanish used Hispaniola for their first seat of colonial rule in the New World. Because of wars in Europe among various countries, the ownership of islands in the Caribbean often changed hands. During a war when the French got involved, Spain ceded the western portion of Hispaniola to France. This part then became known as Haiti. Revolutions and civil wars finally decided languages, borders and governments for both new countries. On at least two occasions, the U.S. later stepped in to quiet things down.
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| The catafalque in Seville Cathedral |
In 1795, France took Hispaniola from Spain, so Chris' remains were removed to Havana, Cuba. Then during the Spanish-American War in 1898, Chris once again took ship. He landed in Andalusia and was interred in a tomb at Seville Cathedral.
And just when everyone thought the matter was settled, we have to back up to 1877 when a worker in the Cathedral de Santa Maria la Menor discovered a lead box of bones. The box was inscribed "The illustrious and excellent man, Don Colon, Admiral of the Ocean Sea." So, it's possible that some industrious Dominican had swapped in a different set of bones and the Spanish unknowingly took the wrong ones to Cuba in 1795. After all, Chris had stated before his death that he wanted to be interred in Hispaniola. One small problem with the inscription on the lead box, his son Diego was also known as Don Colon, Admiral of the Ocean Sea.
Today, two countries claim to have the burial site of Christopher Columbus. In 2003, to prove up their claim, Spain had the bones in their catafalque tested. The DNA results published in 2006 confirmed a close match to Chris' brother Diego. (Both son and brother had the same first name of Diego.) To bolster their side of the argument, the Spanish also had well documented travels of the remains, although some scientists did not think these bones were those of a man who had suffered from severe arthritis as Columbus was known to have endured in later life.
As for the Dominicans, citing respect for the dead, they declined to have their bones in the lead box which was held in their newly built Columbus Lighthouse disinterred for DNA analysis. That leaves the world to wonder if the bones in the Dominican Republic are those of a stranger, those of his son Diego, or if some of Chris got left behind way back in the 1795 Cuba trip, meaning at least part of him got his wish to be interred in his old Hispaniola.
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| That's me on the right |
As for my experience in the Dominican Republic, our snorkel excursion was cancelled due to rough seas, so we did our own brave new world exploring and went zip lining for our first time ever.
It was exhilarating.
Fun post here! I had no idea about all this.
ReplyDeleteAnd hey, glad your own travels were fun too. :-)
Excellent article. I have an anecdote for you. In 1965 my cousin in the US Marine Crop was sent to Florida to prepare for an invasion. He ended up on a tropical island sparring with men speaking Spanish. For three days he thought he was in Cuba. So much for telling grunts anything except - go kill that guy. They were, of course, in the Dominican Republic.
ReplyDeleteGood post - It's important to remember that this was an age in which about a dozen places claimed to have the head of John the Baptist. Why shouldn't more than one place have Chris's bones?
ReplyDeleteFascinating post, R.T. I'd never known that Columbus's travels continued even after his death. I hope he's truly allowed to rest in peace now (wherever he may be).
ReplyDeleteI went on a zipwire in the mountains at age 41. It was so fun! Would love to do that again!
ReplyDeleteI'd think whichever bones showed the arthritic deterioration, would be the bones of the real Columbus.
Columbus got his wish to travel. What a trek!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to Elizabeth and you. I've not zip-lined since the age of 10 or 12 when we rigged pulleys and ropes in the barn to zip from one mow to the other. Does that count?
History is always more fun when you can look behind the veil to find little known facts, or those facts that usually don't get into the standard history presentation.
ReplyDeleteThanks all for the comments.
Eve, when I was doing research for "The Left Hand of Leonard" in my 1660's Paris Underworld series, I read about the possible locations of John the Baptist's head. It also seems that during the Crusades, holy relics were a prized possession for churches and monasteries to have on display. Such relics brought fame and followers who left contributions. Thus many a con man of that era sold pieces of bone with no certificate of authenticity, other than a good verbal story. Some bones weren't even human. No doubt there's a lot of splinters of the cross out there.
ReplyDeleteR.T., I understand that there's a place that claimed to have the head of John the Baptist - as a child... And we think people of today are gullible!
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