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There are indications he may have been raised Jewish, and later converted to Catholicism. Or, converted but still close to Judaism.

His choice to set sail for the New World on August 2, 1492, the exact date ordained for the expulsion of Jews from Spain does suggest he may have not converted yet.

Further, It's also known that the family profession was weaving, a traditionally Jewish profession at the time and that Jewish given names like Abraham and Jacob were common in the family of Columbus' mother.

One of the hypothesis from the dna analysis says:

> hypothesis proposes that Columbus was a Jew from the Mediterranean port city of Valencia. His obscure early life, according to this theory, can be explained by the fact that he sought to hide his Jewish background to avoid persecution by the fervently Catholic Spanish monarchs.

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> His choice to set sail for the New World on August 2, 1492, the exact date ordained for the expulsion of Jews from Spain does suggest he may have not converted yet.

This is one of the least compelling pieces of evidence: one doesn’t set out for a cross-oceanic voyage on a whim. He had sponsorship from the Spanish crown and lobbied and prepared for years for the journey. His journey was formally sanctioned by the the royal family in April of the year he left.

Conversos and Moriscos were overrepresented among the early Spanish settlers [0].

Same story in Portuguese territories as well.

An exodus of Sephardim and Muslims was a win-win for the Spanish crown - they'd lose (in their eyes) a potential 5th column in their competition against the Ottoman Empire as well as have manpower to nominally stake their claim in the New World.

[0] - https://www.jewishideas.org/article/between-toleration-and-p...

At the time, the Spanish were completely unaware that Columbus would find a land that could be settled. The goal of the expedition was finding a route to East Asia to establish trade with those known-to-be-inhabited areas. Colonization was a pivot after Columbus did not find Asia.

Also colonization didn't start in earnest until several decades later. For a generation or two the exploitation of the Americas was largely extractive.

> the exact date ordained for the expulsion of Jews from Spain

This came up in another part of the thread, but it wasn't the exact date—the decree gave Jews until the end of July [0], while August 3 (not second) is the date he sailed.

It's still close enough that it may have been related, but it's not the slam dunk that "the exact date" makes it sound like it is.

[0] https://www.fau.edu/artsandletters/pjhr/chhre/pdf/hh-alhambr...

Why would anyone ever think that it could have been anything but a coincidence?

Who would have sponsored his expedition knowing that Columbus would be legally banned from entering the country if he was successful? That just seems silly…

I think the argument goes that Columbus was a closet Jew who scheduled the expedition with symbolic meaning that only he would know.

It's definitely a Dan Brown plot, but it's not entirely inconceivable.

> His choice to set sail for the New World on August 2, 1492,

He could have just moved to Italy or the Low Countries?

> does suggest he may have not converted yet.

And he did while he was in the Americas? Why would the Castilian crown sponsor an expedition led by a known Jew and even make him governor of the newly discovered territories (note that in a few decades even converted descendants of Jews or Muslims were banned from emigrating to the new world after a few decades)

He set sail August 3rd, not August 2nd.

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