Evening star., 1938-10-09
By Mary Jane Moore.

BY Mary Jane Moore.
w yHO was Christopher Colum
wv Where was he born ant
in what year?
Was Columbus really the discovere
Of America?
Had he been in the New York
before 1892?
Where Is Columbus buried?
The millions of persons who thi
week will mark the anniversary" O.
the discovery" of America by Chris
topher Columbus" may be very Ger.
Atain that they know all the answers
and all the correct answers, to these
questions. Or that they can lool
them up in any handy reference book
But the strange fact is that al
though countless thousands both here
and abroad Tuesday will pay homage
to the intrepid mariner known as
Columbus and widely regarded as the
discoverer of America there is no fig
ure in history about whom more con-
troversy RACES.
For centuries scholars have battleo
back and forth upon every point In
the Columbian saga.
That controversy is still going on
Indeed if anything 1t has increased
In intensity, and today more than
ever a great question mark hovers over
the traditional figure of Americas
discoverer.
TOR example, just few years age
Prof. Luis Ulloa of the Peruvian
National Library declared that, on
the basis of documentary evidence,
he was prepared to back up the as
sertion of an older savant that Co
lumbus had been in America long
before 1492-perhaps in 1477. Prof.
Ulloa went on to affirm that Colum
bus was a Spaniard and corsair at
that.
Prof. Ulloa's statements aroused a
worldwide story among Columbian
scholars, most of whom disagree vio-
lently.
But that is just one phase of the
great mystery; simply latter-day ac-
cretion to the ever-lengthening list
of questions about the discovery OF
America and it's discoverer which, il
seems, never will be answered finally
and definitely.
The appearance of Columbus, that
Il, his physical appearance, is mat
ter Of conjecture. But, you say, there
is q portrait Of him. Yes, there is
portrait-there are more than 500 diff
ferent portraits. That is just the trou-
BILE. One starts looking for likeness
of Columbus and runs into great guam
titles of them, and not one is like an
other.
Rash indeed would be the scholar
who would place his finger on some
one painting or engraving of Christie
pher Columbus and say, That was
the man."
So, we do not really know what
Columbus looked like. Nor, as a mat
ter of fact, do we know where he
was born, or when. Which might
lead some skeptic to observe that
perhaps he never lived at all" And
while that would be going rather far,
one still would have to admit that
the information we do have about so
important a parsonage is baff1ingly,
and irritatingly, sketchy. That is,
definitive information.
When Prof. Ulloa told the world
Columbus was Spaniard. he heard a
thing or two from the city of Genoa
In Italy, which has been loudest in its
claims as the mariners birthplace.
And, it must be admitted, Genoa was
most assidious and most successful in
adducing proofs that it was within
its gates that Columbus first saw the
light of day.
PUT is it certain that Columbus
was born in Genoa? BY no means.
AS matter of fact, study of
scholarly tones reveals the amazing
fact that no less than % cities, scat
tered over the face of Europe, and
including England, have claimed the
honor Of being the birthplace of the
discoverer of America. If one wishes
to dismiss the matter and allow Genoa
that honor, one still cannot entirely
forget that % other cities are dis
satisfied with the decision and have
worked up more or less convincing
evidence in their own behalf.
Now as to the year in which Co.
lumbus was born? That, you say,
should be easy. But it isn't so at all;
no easier than pinning anything else
about Columbus down so tight that
there is no doubt.
Some scholars hold out for 1870,
others for 1896, others l440, and still
= others for 1451. The reader can take
his choice without fear of complete
contradiction.
II 1t Is true, as the Genoese hold,
that Columbus was an Italian, and
that he grew to manhood in Italy.
1t is held by some to be strange that
everything he wrote was in Spanish.
This fact gives just another twist to
the mystery which grows deeper and
darker the more one delves into it.
1t already has been said that some
savants hold fervently to the belief
that Columbus had been in the New
World long before 1892, and that
others are just as firm in their con-
tention that his first landfall of
America actually was October 12, 1892
But there is that difference of opin-
son, decidedly.
THERE is one point about the dis
- covery" of America on which
scholars do seem to agree; namely,