Christopher Columbus was Scottish

[mexpiper]

hello Folks,

I saw this and thought I would share it!.....
A historian in Spain, says that Christopher Columbus was not Italian, but Scottish.....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...rian-says.html

So that means Saint Brendan(an Irish man) landed in the New World, followed by a Scot..
"t is well established that Columbus went to look for St. Brendan’s Isle when he discovered the West Indies. As a student of the University of Pavia, Columbus would have learned of Brendan’s voyage from the manuscripts brought there, seven hundred years previously, by Dugal, student and founder of the University of Pavia. On the eve of his great voyage in 1492 he wrote: “I am convinced that the terrestrial paradise is in the Island of Saint Brendan, which none can reach save by the Will of God."

[Bryan]

So that means Saint Brendan(an Irish man) landed in the New World, followed by a Scot..

There is absolutely no archaeological evidence that suggests St. Brendan ever made it anywhere in North America. The first evidence of Europeans in the New World is the remains of a Norse settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada, dated to around AD 1000.

It's an interesting take on Columbus, though I doubt he was Scottish.

[Nick the DSM]

any tangible proof???

[Bryan]

any tangible proof???

Proof of what? The Columbus being Scottish story or L'Anse aux Meadows?

[O'Callaghan]

After reading the article I'd still say Christopher Columbus, aka Pedro Scotto, was Italian, just of Scottish descent. His alleged true family surname, Scotto, looks to me as if it means something like 'the Scot' in Italian (guesstimating because I never learnt Italian). It certainly doesn't look like a Scottish name. In many countries (but not Gaelic ones so much), one of the early forms of surnames indicated the town where you were born, or if you were a foreigner, the country. If his parents owned a shop in Genoa, they may have been born in Scotland, or their forebears may have been, but he was probably born in Italy.

Wonder if he had a claim to belonging to a clan? Probably not. As the son of shopkeepers more likely he was of lowland descent, and they would have regarded highlanders and clans as barbaric at that time, LOL!

[Nick]

After reading the article I'd still say Christopher Columbus, aka Pedro Scotto, was Italian, just of Scottish descent. His alleged true family surname, Scotto, looks to me as if it means something like 'the Scot' in Italian (guesstimating because I never learnt Italian). It certainly doesn't look like a Scottish name. In many countries (but not Gaelic ones so much), one of the early forms of surnames indicated the town where you were born, or if you were a foreigner, the country. If his parents owned a shop in Genoa, they may have been born in Scotland, or their forebears may have been, but he was probably born in Italy.

Wonder if he had a claim to belonging to a clan? Probably not. As the son of shopkeepers more likely he was of lowland descent, and they would have regarded highlanders and clans as barbaric at that time, LOL!

Scozia is Italian for Scotland, so I think a locative name would be something along the lines of Pedro di Scozia. Scot or scottish is scozzese. Scotto means 'overcooked' in modern Italian. Don't know if that helps.

[O'Callaghan]

I'd also like to say that when archaeologists discovered L'Anse aux Meadows the locals had known all about it for some time, but no-one ever asked them, so I'm told.

[Bryan]

I'd also like to say that when archaeologists discovered L'Anse aux Meadows the locals had known all about it for some time, but no-one ever asked them, so I'm told.

Actually, that's not entirely true. The locals did know about the site, but they thought it was an Indian site according to Helge Ingstad.

[Phil]

These damn Scots get everywhere.

[Nick the DSM]

Proof of what? The Columbus being Scottish story or L'Anse aux Meadows?

Columbus being Scottish, I don't see it. Just because his last name is Scotto doesn't mean he's Scottish. For all we know the name could be derived from Scoti, which meant pirate(right?). I've looked on wikipedia and a bunch of Italian and Italian- Americans had the last name Scotto.

But that's just me, skeptical as usual.