Manuel da Silva Rosa (born 1961) is a Portuguese historian who supports the theory of a Portuguese origin for Christopher Columbus.

Biography

Born in Pico, Azores in 1961, Manuel Rosa emigrated to the United States in 1973. Besides being a historian, he is also a poet, songwriter and producer[1], and is involved in the planning stages of a Regata to trace the Return Route of Columbus.

Research on Christopher Columbus

Manuel da Silva Rosa is the main author of the book O Mistério Colombo Revelado[2], which exposes some obscure and even contradictory aspects of the Admiral's biography and tries to better explain them under the light of a political conspiracy contrived by the King of Portugal D. João II against the Crown of Castille, in which Columbus would have played a key role. According to the authors, the book shows evidence, among other things, that the Testament of 1498 is a fraud[3], that Christopher Columbus could not have married Filipa Moniz without permission from the King himself, that Columbus knew he was not heading to India, that he was the most expert navigator in Castille and that the coat of arms used by the Admiral could not have been borrowed from the woolweaver's guild of Genoa. Confirming they were correct, is the original Royal Decree, signed by the Catholic Kings, that was located in 2006 in which is drawn the original arms of Columbus. The authors have added the original arms to their website.[4]

The 15 years of research that went into writing this book is solid enough to have the endorsement of several members of the Portuguese scientific community and is the first such work to convincingly put in doubt the Genoese theory. Professor Joaquim Verissimo Serrão, former Dean of the University of Lisbon and author of XV volumes of the History of Portugal, has written that he is 99% in agreement with the facts presented in Mr. Rosa's book. Mr. Rosa is the only Portuguese historian collaborating on the DNA studies with the U. of Granada relating to the Portuguese Theory and has participated in several conferences at the invitation of Portuguese universities and took part in a 5-hour documentary titled Colón al Descubierto, for TV Canal 2 Andalucía, as well as Discovery Channel interview presenting some of his findings in an upcoming Christopher Columbus special.

CIS with Russel Pal