There is something to be said for a monopoly, if the beautiful Spanish city of Seville is anything to go by. In 1503 it was awarded the exclusive right to trade with the New World that Columbus had stumbled upon for the first time – at least from a Western European perspective – a decade or so earlier. All ships bound for the Americas had to set off from the city and all goods and treasures brought back had to be unloaded there. By 1595 the annual value of the precious metals reaching Seville rose to some 35 million pesos, despite the best efforts of British pirates.
Alas, all good things come to an end and after a plague epidemic in 1649 halved the population, and with the Guadalquivir river becoming increasingly difficult to navigate, the monopolistic rights were transferred to Cadiz in 1680. Seville had to content itself with tobacco, over which it retained a monopoly, and built a large processing plant, which now houses the city’s university.
If you want to get a sense of the fabulous wealth that came from the Americas into the city in its heyday, you could do worse than visit the ornate cathedral. The most ostentatious display of wealth is to be found in the Capilla Mayor, an altarpiece some 20 metres tall, containing the Virgen de la Sede surrounded by depictions of 45 scenes from the lives of Mary and Christ, all exquisitely carved in wood and gilded with gold from the Americas. It is an astonishing piece of Gothic craftsmanship and even took the breath away from this unreconstructed agnostic.
It seems appropriate, therefore, that the cathedral should be the site of the last resting place of the mortal remains of the author of the city’s fortune, Christopher Columbus. And if you wander into the south transept, just inside the Puerta de San Cristobal, you will find his tomb, held aloft by four figures representing the kingdoms that made up Spain during his life: Castille, Aragon, Navara and Leon.
But all may not be as it seems.
A clue to the controversy may be gleaned from the fact that the monument, designed by the sculptor, Arturo Melida, was not installed in Seville cathedral until 1899, having been moved from Havana in Cuba. You see, having spent much of his life wandering the globe, Columbus’ bones were peripatetic too.
He died in the Spanish city of Valladolid on 20th May 1506, where he was buried. But Columbus had asked to be buried in the Americas and in 1506 his remains were moved to an island near Seville, La Cartuja, until a suitably impressive pile was built to accommodate them across the Atlantic.
In 1537 Columbus’s bones were on their travels once more, being laid to rest in the cathedral that had been built in Santa Domingo on the Spanish held island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean.
There they remained untroubled until 1795, when, following the signing of the second Treaty of Basel, Spain ceded two thirds of the island, later to become the Dominican Republic, and shipped them to Havana.
In 1895 the Spanish-American war broke out and Columbus’ remains were on the move again, this time coming to rest in Seville’s cathedral in Melida’s mausoleum, which accompanied him.
That’s the official version, at least. But a Spanish fly landed in the ointment in 1877 when some workers, digging in the Santa Domingo cathedral, uncovered a lead box, bearing the inscription 'Illustrious and distinguished male, don Cristobal Colon'.
This led the Dominicans to surmise that the Spanish, in their hurry to flee the island, had taken the wrong bones.
In 2006 the Spaniards carried out a DNA test on some bones interred in the cathedral in Seville and concluded that they probably belonged to Columbus, matching DNA from his brother, Diego, and his son, Hernando.
Case closed, you'd think? Not quite, since nobody is sure if the brother's remains were actually those of Diego Columbus. And while there is no doubt that Hernando's remains are genuine, comparison with a son rather than a brother raises the possibility that whoever lies in Seville is merely another member of the family.
What's more, the researchers also admitted that, based on the bones they found, the remains might well have been split up. And to add further fuel to the fire, latest evidence suggests that Columbus wasn't even from Genoa, but instead was a Portuguese nobleman who merely pretended to be Italian.
With all these grey areas it's little wonder that the Dominicans dispute the Seville claim – particularly since they have their own grand monument to the great man, El Faro a Colón (the Columbus Lighthouse). But they have so far refused to open up the sarcophagus in this cross-shaped building to any form of rigorous scientific testing.
And so there matters lie.
There is no definitive answer to our question but my money is on Seville.
Credit: Alamy
Curious questions: Are you really never more than six feet away from a rat?
It's an oft-repeated truisim about rats, but is there any truth in it? Martin Fone, author of 'Fifty Curious Questions',
Credit: Getty
Curious Questions: How did Abraham Lincoln come to be the only US president to hold a patent?
Statesman, lawyer, fearless leader – and part-time inventor. Martin Fone looks at one of Abraham Lincoln's lesser-known talents.
Credit: Photo by FLPA/Hugh Lansdown/REX/Shutterstock – Bullet Ant (Paraponera clavata) adult, standing on leaf in rainforest, Tortuguero N.P., Limon Province, Costa Rica
Curious Questions: What is the world’s most painful insect sting – and where would it hurt the most?
Can you calibrate the intensity of different insect stings? Martin Fone, author of 'Fifty Curious Questions', investigates.
Curious Questions: What is the perfect hangover cure?
If there's a definite answer, it's time we knew. Martin Fone, author of 'Fifty Curious Questions', investigates.
Curious Questions: Why is the Green Room called the Green Room?
Whether you're performing a play or about to go on television, the waiting room is called the Green Room – but
Credit: Alamy
Curious Questions: Does throwing a snail stop it from returning to your garden?
The oldest gardeners' remedy for getting rid of snails is also the simplest: throw them as far away as you
Credit: Alamy
Curious Questions: Why do you wake up just before the alarm goes off?
-
'True waterfront homes are finite... miss one and it could be years before you see another like it again': Why the best waterfront property always hits the spotThere’s no denying the appeal of waterfront property, which now sells for some 51% more than its inland equivalent, finds Knight Frank. Annabel Dixon explores the shore.
-
Beyond Royal Portrush: Castles, country houses and ancient towers in the other dimension of golf in IrelandRory McIlroy's history-making exploits and The Open arriving at Royal Portrush have made 2025 a banner year for Irish golf — but there's far more to golf on the island of Ireland than those headline-grabbers, as Toby Keel finds out.
-
Small engines, big batteries: The quiet revolution of car designMore and more cars on the road are electric, and some unusual shapes and sizes glide past silently. But what does it all mean for design?
-
You can’t always rely on the Great British summer — but you can rely on its watchesBritish watchmakers have excelled themselves in recent months — releasing bright and beautiful timepieces that you'll want on your wrist through summer, and beyond.
-
No strings attached: A brief history of swimwear, from heavy skirts of linen linked to women's drownings, to the skimpy two-piece named after a nuclear weapons siteFrom knee-length numbers to a scandalous suit denounced by the Pope, the colourful history of swimwear has been brought to life by a glamorous London exhibition.
-
Downtown Abbey is about to finish forever, and you're about to get a chance to see — and to buy — the costumes from the showDownton Abbey's exquisite costumes and props are going on show at a free exhibition ahead of a sale being held by Bonhams later this summer.
-
‘One of the most effective pieces of propaganda ever made’: the Bayeux Tapestry heads to Britain for the first time in almost a millenniumA historic agreement between this country and France sees the 225ft-long tableau — which may have been made in Britain but has been in France since 1077 — arrive at the British Museum in Autumn 2026.
-
‘They remain, really, the property of all of those who love them, know them, and tell them. They are our stories, the inheritance of the people of Scotland’: The Anthology of Scottish Folk Tales -
Canine muses: Lucian Freud's etchings of Pluto the whippet are among his most popular and expensive workIn the third edition of our limited series, we meet the dogs who've inspired some of our greatest artists.
-
Maybach SL680: A modern motoring marvel from the marque that once catered for Maharajas and movie starsThe Maybach name has been attached to many of Germany's most luxurious cars over the last century — so does the latest iteration live up to the reputation? Simon de Burton got behind the wheel of the Mercedes-Maybach SL 680 — but only after a quick pronunciation lesson.
