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A new DNA study of the 500-year-old remains of Christopher Columbus has revealed that the controversial explorer was actually a Sephardic Jew from Western Europe.

Spanish researchers announced their findings in a new documentary film entitled Columbus DNA: The True Originwhich aired on Spain's national broadcaster TVE. Since 2003, scientists have examined samples of remains buried in Seville Cathedral in Spain, believed to be the final resting place of the 15th-century explorer.

In the documentary, Jose Antonio Lorente, a professor of forensic medicine who led the research at the University of Granada, said his analysis found that Columbus' DNA was “compatible” with his Jewish origins.

During the 21-year investigation, DNA experts compared samples of the remains with those of Columbus' known relatives and descendants. “We have DNA from Christopher Columbus, very incomplete but sufficient. We have DNA from Fernando Colon, his son,” Professor Lorente said, according to CNN. “And in both the Y chromosome (male) and the mitochondrial DNA (transmitted from the mother) of Fernando there are features consistent with Jewish origins.”

It was previously believed that Columbus was an Italian from Genoa who was born in 1451 into a family of wool weavers. Over the years, historians have suggested that the explorer may have been Greek, Basque, Portuguese or British. Although researchers were unable to pinpoint Columbus's birthplace, after analyzing 25 possible locations, they conceded that he likely came from the Spanish Mediterranean.

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“The DNA indicates that the origin of Christopher Columbus was in the western Mediterranean,” said Prof. Lorente. “If there were no Jews in Genoa in the 15th century, the likelihood that he came from there is minimal. There was also no large Jewish presence in the rest of the Italian peninsula, which makes the situation very delicate.”

An estimated 300,000 Jews lived in Spain before the Reyes Catolicos era, in which Catholic monarchs King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella ordered Jews and Muslims to convert to Christianity or face exile. The expulsion of the Jews from Spain took place in 1492, the same year that Columbus made his first voyage to America.

Researchers now believe that Columbus either hid his Jewish identity or converted to Catholicism to avoid religious persecution. The term “Sephardic” is derived from Sepharada Hebrew word that refers to the Iberian Peninsula, which includes modern-day Spain and Portugal.

As a result of the study, Prof. Lorente also confirmed theories that the remains in Seville Cathedral belonged to Columbus. “The result is almost completely reliable,” he said.

Columbus died in the Spanish city of Valladolid in 1506. He had wished to be buried on Hispaniola, which is now divided into Haiti and the Dominican Republic. His remains were brought there in 1542 and then transferred to Cuba in 1795 and finally to Seville in 1898.

With the support of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, Columbus made four voyages across the Atlantic for Spain. However, his conquests – and the subsequent genocide and colonization of indigenous peoples in the Americas – were widely condemned. For this reason, many states and cities in the United States have decided to rename Columbus Day, the holiday honoring the explorer, to recognize the violence against Native Americans since Columbus and his crews came ashore.