Did Columbus discover America?
The archives of the "Duchess of Medina Sidonia" and the discovery of America
This could be the theme characterizing the website recently launched by the Duquesa de Medina Sidonia, Luisa Isabel Álvarez de Toledo. It’s an initiative that will surely delight those who wish to uncover the secrets of many aspects of Spain's history, which have been hidden by obscure state interests.
The following manifesto reflects the intentions of the most rebellious of Spanish aristocrats, who has decided to make available to everyone one of Europe’s most extensive documentary archives:
- Wars, crises, and other catastrophes unrelated to natural elements are a result of human stupidity.
- The ambition for power and consumption destroys common sense, hinders logic, and promotes criminal foolishness. Culture is the antidote.
- Technical knowledge is a form of wisdom, but it is not the same as the culture that allows one to analyze society, as a whole or in parts, as well as the motivations behind individual behaviors. Inherited customs and traditions, often called culture, reflect the shapes that molded society. However, knowing or possessing them does not grant us analytical capacity or foster critical thinking.
- Culture is the information that enables us to understand our society, discover its errors and successes, and form judgments through reason. It’s the ability to apply logic and common sense to daily life, gained by understanding the thoughts, creations, and actions of past figures and the thoughts, creations, and actions of our contemporaries. This culture is not an exclusive domain for specialists; everyone should possess it to the extent possible, regardless of profession or activity, from the humblest to the most esteemed.
- Not all of us have the same capacity for comprehension or logical reasoning, but everyone has the potential to learn and improve within their possibilities.
- Knowing what happened to those before us helps us comprehend the present and foresee its effects, both short- and long-term. Situations may not replicate exactly but are often similar, which is why it’s crucial to understand our history as part of universal history.
- If what we learn as history is false, our conclusions will inevitably be false, leading to incorrect judgment. Applied in practice, it will yield the opposite effect of what we seek.
- Therefore, our historical analysis, intended as a guide for the present, must be based on truthful information that closely approximates what actually happened, not only focusing on the "how." We must seek the "why" and "for what purpose" within context to avoid half-truths, which easily become lies.
- As we often identify with our past, we tend to adopt their successes and failures as our own. Power reshapes history to suit its present interests, and false history misleads us, causing intellectual regression instead of positive evolution.
- Born from the past but not responsible for it, possessing technical means we neither know how to use nor leverage, we are closer to destroying life than to advancing intellectual development.
- An evolved human would neither fall victim to nor perpetuate greed, envy, or dishonesty. Such a person would act ethically without the need for reward or punishment, discerning right from wrong through the impact of their actions, considering both immediate and long-term effects.
- A society where the majority reaches this level of evolution would be more livable, and we should strive for it.
- Evolution is impossible in ignorance, which breeds stupidity.
- Therefore, the spread of culture is imperative—it is simply the knowledge of truth, unimpeded, and as many truths as possible.
- Truth cannot be attained without rigorous analysis, freedom of information, freedom of expression, the right to err, the ability to correct one’s mistakes, and the openness to critique, even if negative and mistaken.
- Because documentation not written for history is history itself, I have sought to preserve the Medina Sidonia archive, as I would wish to preserve all archives worldwide.
- Man cannot evolve positively from a void. To achieve what others could not, we must be firmly rooted in the past. The present is the sum of past generations' thoughts, actions, discoveries, and desires, including their successes and frustrations.
- Deprived of his material heritage, man can only spin in circles, rediscovering what others have found and stumbling upon the same obstacles. It is essential to preserve the environment of the past, not just the facts. That is why I have preserved the Medina Sidonia palace and recreated it as much as possible.
This should serve to spread this culture, teach it, and finally overcome the fear of truth—past and present—so that ethical behavior becomes the law embraced by more people. The Fundación Complutense-Casa de Medina Sidonia was created for this purpose.
Interview with Isabel Álvarez de Toledo, Duchess of Medina Sidonia
By Yusuf Fernández
"Islam was in America from at least the 11th century," states the Duchess of Medina Sidonia at the presentation of her book Africa versus America, held on November 28 at Madrid's International Press Club. The introduction was given by the club's honorary president, Tito Drago, who criticized the way the "Columbus myth" has been treated so far. According to the Duchess, "Columbus's arrival was merely the continuation of a movement that began with Alfonso X the Wise, aiming to control American gold mines, in competition with Portugal and other nations, and especially with the Muslims under the authority of the Sheriff of Morocco, who were already there before Columbus arrived." Luisa Isabel Álvarez de Toledo, Duchess of Medina Sidonia, investigates where officially accepted history falls short. Her book Africa versus America: The Power of the Paradigm is the result of several years of exhaustive work: locating manuscripts, interpreting texts, and conducting comparative analyses of data that official history often overlooks or conceals.
Granddaughter of Don Antonio Maura, a tireless polemicist and liberal dissident, Luisa Isabel has spent over thirty years immersed in historical research. Her strong and suggestive discourse gradually reveals how historical texts have often been altered for political and religious reasons, making the history we learned more a product of extrapolation than accurate narration. As we delve into the text, we begin to realize that the history of Spain we learned in school and university was more the result of ethnic and confessional consensus than a genuine desire to understand a past that we could recognize as our own.
Africa versus America: The Power of the Paradigm is, above all, a history book, denied by the interests of states formed at the expense of the social, political, and religious realities of the peoples of the Iberian Peninsula. With this book, we see how maintaining historical falsehood has served the interests of a power based on "the plunder of cultures it encountered along the way."
The existence of kingdoms on the other side of the Atlantic, in places referred to as "allen mar," as mentioned in analyzed documentation, introduces a Copernican shift in the traditional view of relations between Europe and America, promoted by historians loyal to successive empires and consensuses.
What motivated you to write this book?
The idea of writing the book began with a doubt, as is often the case with research projects. I discovered that in 1463, Henry IV spoke of certain lands and fisheries discovered from Cape Aguer in Agadir to Cape Bojador, both located south of Morocco. However, it’s impossible that these lands, known since ancient times, were the "discovered" ones. Things got more complicated when he mentioned the wealth of these "new lands": "fifths of Moors," pasture rentals, and "whatever is fished in the rivers and fisheries." For five thousand years, only modest winter streams have flowed through those regions.
Thus, these lands had to be somewhere else, so I began consulting documents. I found that the river was navigated by hundred-ton ships, making it even more impossible that these lands were in the African territory we now situate between Cape Aguer and Cape Bojador. Later, I found a reference to Mazagán, a place located twelve leagues from the river's mouth. Checking a map, I found Mazagán twelve leagues from the Amazon's mouth. That led me to conclude that the Aguer River might be there. I kept finding clues and continued my research. It became evident that a confusion existed between the African and American continents.
In your book, you quote and reproduce numerous documents from official and private archives. Could you cite one or two documents that were particularly revealing?
I can specifically cite the letters from Henry IV I mentioned before, as well as those that followed (reproduced on page 417 and onward in the book). I would also like to mention documents from the Simancas Archive, signed by Queen Isabella and dated April 30, 1492—the same date the Capitulations of Santa Fe were supposedly signed (one of these documents is reproduced on page 466 and following pages of the book).
What conclusions can be drawn from all this documentation?
The conclusion becomes clear through the investigation reflected in the book. I’ll mention a simple anecdote: the murex, a shellfish that produces purple dye. It can be found in Provence and various Mediterranean regions, but not the type that produces the specific purple hue. Purple-producing murexes are located in the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the Gulf of Panama. However, the purple-yielding murex appears in a document from that era. There’s also rubber, a plant known to be native to America. Rubber appears in another document from 1491. There are other similar examples.
I neither affirm nor deny anything outright; I reach conclusions. History, like any experimental science, deals with evidence supported by proofs. Historical analysis uses documents, which allow certain conclusions to be drawn.
And regarding the Muslim presence in America?
Islam was in America from at least the 11th century. A document found in Simancas, predating the “discovery,” shows that Queen Isabella ordered an armada to be sent to Africa and Guinea to bring her gold, slaves, and manegueta (pepper). This pepper is an American plant, confirmed by Fernández de Oviedo, the governor of Castilla de Oro in the early 16th century. Fernández de Oviedo even made a drawing of the plant, noting it was American. He also mentioned that the natives called their leader queví, meaning "great" in Arabic, and prayed in "mosques." Chronicles from the mainland use the term xeque instead of "chief." Additionally, on February 14, 1502, Columbus himself requested one or two people who knew Arabic for his fourth voyage.
Juan Castellanos, in Venezuela, fought, as stated in texts, "followers of the sect of Muhammad." Moreover, Charles V forbade enslaving native Muslims in 1540 unless they preached Islam, disobeyed, or were subjects of the Sheriff (of Morocco).
In Colombia, there’s a town called Cartago, which hasn’t changed its name. Cartago was a city in present-day Tunisia, Islamized in the 7th century. Its surroundings include names difficult for a Spanish 16th-century discoverer to imagine: Antioquia, Palmira, Armenia, and Susa. Numerous pieces of evidence suggest a Muslim presence in America before Columbus. Even the Portuguese king acknowledged the Sheriff's power in America during his conquest.
Why has this reality been denied? Because of reluctance to recognize Islamic influence?
Probably, and also due to reluctance to accept that medieval Spaniards weren’t as closely tied to Catholicism as we are led to believe. Medieval records show this wasn’t the case; many "converts" were in fact hidden Muslims or Jews. In 1465, after a brief war, Henry IV issued a decree modifying the law, ordering Muslims and Jews to be confined to ghettos, wear distinctive symbols, abandon their trades, and that converts be investigated if they didn’t live as Christians. This led the Cortes to call themselves together for the last time. They met in Ávila and dethroned Henry, replacing him with his brother, Alfonso XII—a king erased from history.
What challenges have you faced during this research?
Initially, none. I worked in the Simancas, Indies, and Toledo archives, though I had to wait for certain documents. Some documents from the Simancas Archive didn’t arrive, but I managed without them. It became clear that some supposedly lost documents were cataloged. Some duplicate documents had the same number, with a specific note saying, “Note: careful” on one related to Columbus. Now, if I request documents from Simancas or other national archives, access is restricted. I’ve even received threats, though I’ve continued regardless.
Publishing was another struggle. If not for the Islamic Board’s publisher, the book might never have been published. Later, some attempted to twist my words, spread rumors of things I never said, and published defamatory press notes.
Is it surprising that a book like this didn’t attract interest from publishers?
The censorship in Spanish publishing houses is brutal. I had to withdraw a book from Martínez Roca, even after a publication date was set, because they cut out half the content.
Regarding your own archive, one of Spain’s finest, have you faced problems?
They’ve tried to take or damage my archive. The state wants to buy it and store it in Toledo, where only photocopied cataloged documents can be requested, making it impossible to find documents they wish to hide.
How could documentation that survived destruction remain inaccessible for public dissemination? Do you believe there’s an interest in maintaining historical myths like the Discovery or the Reconquest for political purposes?
Yes, it’s evident from a note saying “Note: careful” on a document, reproduced in full in my book. I could have reproduced the duplicate document but wanted readers to see the annotation. I haven’t really uncovered anything; it’s all there. I’ve just “lifted the veil.” However, much more investigation is needed. I’ve used about 50% of the documents available to me, but there’s more in England, Portugal, Nordic countries, and Italy. Much more work remains to give history its due place.
It’s documented today that the Catholic Monarchs revised chronicles about previous kings. Charles V did the same with maps in 1536 to maintain the argument that justified Spain and Portugal's control over American gold as moral authority. It’s scandalous that this policy of obscuring official history persists today.
