DNA Reveals Spain’s Hidden History

16 December, 2008, 11:15

DNA tests have proved there were mass conversions of faith in Spain over six centuries ago, and that the country now has a prevalent Jewish and Muslim mix.

Spain’s turbulent past was made even more perplexing when scientists unveiled remarkable new evidence that suggests there was a mass conversion to Catholicism by Muslims and Jews in the 15th and 16th centuries. 

During this time, Spain was under horrendous religious oppression. It is perhaps the country’s bleakest period. Historically, it has generally been agreed that some time after they conquered Spain, the Moors expelled all Muslims and Jews who refused to convert to the Catholic faith. 

Although historians have often debated how many Jews converted and how many chose exile, the new evidence controversially challenges the belief that the Moors’ desire to convert Jews and the Muslims caused two separate migrations from Spain.

Jane S. Gerber, an expert in Sephardic history at the City University of New York, believes the study shows that the numbers of religious conversions to Catholicism were “grossly underestimated.” 

The study, conducted by the American Journal of Human Genetics, gathered evidence through means of DNA testing and concluded that thousands of Spanish people, in particular Jews, converted to the Catholic faith in order to remain in the country. 

Francesc Calafell of the Pompeu Fabra University and Mark Jobling of Leicester University led the genetic study, which was based on an analysis of Y-chromosomes of Sephardic Jews in areas where they migrated to after being expelled from Spain in 1492 – 1496 and the DNA of over 1000 Spanish and Portuguese men. The geneticists then determined whether the participant’s Y chromosome came from a Jewish or Moorish predecessor or from another source.

Stunningly, evidence revealed that 20 per cent of the Iberian Peninsula’s population has Sephardic Jewish ancestry and that 11 per cent of the Spanish and Portuguese population has DNA matching Moorish descent. Fransesc Calafell said he did not anticipate the findings. “The Jewish link was particularly surprising, we had certainly not expected it,” he said.

The compelling evidence sheds new light on previous beliefs that few Jews converted to Christianity in Spain during this period. The findings came as a surprise not only to historians and academics, but also to the men who participated in the DNA tests, many of who were completely oblivious of their ancestry. 

Gabrielle Pickard for RT