[hinckley buzzard]

So did Columbus have any Jewish members of his crew? Surely some doctoral student somewhere did a dissertation on this.

[inpajamas]

Columbus was a Jewish convert to Catholicism, but other Hebrews may have come to America much earlier and were unable to return.

[Pharmboy]

Yes...he indeed did. Some were Jews and some were conversos or maranos, depending who was doing the naming. That year was the start of the inquisition, so a chance to leave Spain was often taken by Jews at that time. And since Columbus thought he was going to China, he took at least one Jew conversant in Eastern languages.

[wrench]

Luis de Torres - Jewish Explorer/Interpreter

Crew member on Christopher Columbus’s 1492 voyage to the New World and also the first Jew to step foot in the Americas

Columbus also had some Jewish ancestors. Likely several other crew were Jewish as well

[kabumpo]

Yes, Manuel de la Torre or Torres, the translator with Colombus, was a Jew.

[QBFimi]

>> So did Columbus have any Jewish members of his crew?

[So where is Mel Brooks now that we need him?]

Seriously, though, any Jews on the ship were without a doubt Sepharditos (Sephardic Jews). For a fascinating read, Google up “cryptic jews new mexico”. I own several books on this. When things got hot in the old country, they escaped to la Frontera (the frontier). (Who, us? Jews? Oy! - er, ah - ha ha... don’t be silly.)

[afraidfortherepublic]

So did Columbus have any Jewish members of his crew?

I read an article about 10 years ago that claimed that Columbus, himself, was Jewish. I think that it was in the Smithsonian.

[AnalogReigns]

So did Columbus have any Jewish members of his crew?

I believe there's a plausible theory that Columbus himself was Jewish--and with a Spanish crew at that time surely some of his men would of been (at least genetically) Jewish.

I have read that something like 40% of current-day Spanish men have Semitic DNA... (of which some may of come from the Arabic Moors, in addition to the Jews). In 1492 the last of the Moors were ejected from Spain...AND infamously, the Jews too, were forced from the country (or, perhaps more often, forced underground--or forced to convert to Roman Catholicsm)--so this could account for why so many Spanish today show some Semitic DNA.

Given that Spanish explorers made it into the South-West very early (before 1525?) I don't see Jewish DNA any mystery with the Indians there...