A new DNA study on the 500-year-old remains of Christopher Columbus has found that the controversial explorer was actually a Sephardic Jew from western Europe.

Specialists criticize the absence of scientific evidence in the RTVE documentary featuring forensic expert José Antonio Lorente, who has not published any analysis since the exhumation in 2003 of the

Several countries disputed origins of Columbus, the divisive explorer who led Spanish-funded expeditions from the 1490s onward.