Olive Press News Spain Spanish DNA study set to finally solve mystery of true origins of explorer Christopher Columbus The 500-year old mystery of the adventurer’s true identity could about to be solved, thanks to modern science. Share \n');document.write('\n \n\n');} Spanish researchers have announced a bid to settle the dispute over which country could claim Christopher Columbus as their own. It was widely believed that he was the son of a weaver born in the Italian port of Genoa in 1451, but over the centuries he has been claimed as a native son of Greece, Catalonia, Portugal, Corsica, France, Scotland and even Poland.