Christopher Columbus was a Sephardic Jew from western Europe, according to latest research that challenges previously held beliefs of his origins.
The traditional view that the explorer came from Genoa in Italy has been questioned by historians.
To solve the mystery, researchers conducted a 22-year investigation, led by Spanish forensic expert Miguel Lorente, by testing tiny samples of remains buried in Seville Cathedral.
The cathedral is officially designated as the last resting place of Columbus, though this has been disputed.
The researchers compared the samples with those of known relatives and descendants, and their findings were revealed in a TV documentary called Columbus DNA: The true origin on Spain's national broadcaster TVE on Saturday.
"We have DNA from Christopher Columbus, very partial, but sufficient. We have DNA from Hernando Colon, his son," Mr Lorente said in the programme.
He said in the male Y chromosome and the mitochondrial DNA, which was transmitted by the mother of Hernando, “there are traits compatible with Jewish origin”.
Columbus died in Valladolid, Spain, in 1506, but wished to be buried on the island of Hispaniola that is today shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
His remains were taken there in 1542, moved to Cuba in 1795 and then, it had been long thought in Spain, to Seville in 1898.
About 300,000 Sephardic Jews lived in Spain before the 'Reyes Catolicos', Catholic monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand. The word Sephardic comes from Sefarad, or Spain, in Hebrew.
Along with Muslims, they were ordered convert to the Catholic faith or leave the country when Isabella and Ferdinand came power.
Historian Francesc Albardaner, who has researched the origins of Columbus, said if the explorer was Jewish, that casts doubt on him being from Genoa.
“Jews could only spend three days at a time in Genoa by law at that time,” said Mr Albardaner.
Columbus landed in the present-day Bahamas in 1492 and is credited with the discovery of the New World.
But his legacy has become increasingly controversial in recent years, with his voyages seen as the starting point of colonisation and genocide against indigenous groups in the Americas.
In particular the Columbus Day holiday, first proclaimed by US president Franklin D Roosevelt in 1934, has been opposed.
Italian-American communities used the holiday to highlight their heritage and accomplishments in honour of the explorer. Some US state and local governments are, however, choosing instead to recognise an Indigenous Peoples' Day.
In 2020, protesters mobilised by the death of George Floyd at the hands of police, pulled down a statue of Columbus and threw it into Baltimore harbour.
Statues of Columbus were also vandalised in other cities, including Boston, where one was decapitated.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
