Agreed that it's important not to read too much into this about Columbus as a person, but if this is true there are plenty of interesting things to draw from it

Agreed that it's important not to read too much into this about Columbus as a person, but if this is true there are plenty of interesting things to draw from it. It would suggest that he probably came from a family that converted to Catholicism (given the time period, probably under duress). Had his ancestors made a different choice Columbus himself may have been expelled from Spain shortly before he sailed on August 3.