CURRICULUM VITAE OF FRANCESC ALBARDANER

 

 

 Francesc Albardaner Llorens (Barcelona, 1949) is an historical researcher on Christopher Columbus. He is member and former president of the Columbus’s Study Center in Barcelona and also member of the Catalan Society for Historical Studies (Institut d’Estudis Catalans) and the Catalan Institute of Genealogy and Heraldry (ICGH). During the last 30 years he has done research in many historical archives in Barcelona, Spain and abroad, including the Archivio Segreto Vaticano. Albardaner is the author of a book intitled “The Catalan origins of Columbus: historical science or patriotic fanatism” (Barcelona,2012). His articles on Columbus have been not only published in several Spanish historical journals but also in international journals as “The Northern Mariner” (Canada), “Imago Mundi” (Journal for the History of Cartography; USA), “The American Journal of the Medical Sciences” (USA), “The European Journal of Human Genetics” (Germany),etc.

 

He has taken part in several international symposiums on Columbus and the history of discoveries: Erice (Sicily 1992); Washington (1992 and 2000) and Baltimore (2005). Albardaner collaborated also in the script and production of the documentary “Columbus: secrets from the grave” for Discovery Channel Latinamerica (2004).

 

His last lectures outside Spain have taken place at the FES Acatlán of the National Autonomous University of México (13-16 October 2015) and at the University of the Cloister of Sor Juana in Mexico City (14 October 2015). In August 2015, Albardaner has given a lecture at the Casa Colombo – Museu de Porto Santo in Vila Baleira  (Porto Santo / Madeira) in Portuguese. Previously he gave two lectures at The American Museum in Britain in Bath and on board of “The Matthew” in Bristol in August 2013.

 

Albardaner was adviser, together with Mr. Charles J. Merrill, of the script of the Discovery Channel program named “Columbus, secrets from the grave” (2004).

 

 

ARTICLES IN INTERNATIONAL JOURNALS IN ENGLISH

 

“Surname and Y Chromosome in Southern Europe: a case study with Colom/Colombo”. European Journal of Human Genetics, August 2011. Co-authors: Francesc Calafell, José Antonio Lorente, Luis Javier Martínez and Olga Rickards.

 

“Columbus, Corsair, and the Pinzón brothers, Pirates, in the Mediterranean before 1492”; The Northern Mariner/Le Marin du Nord (Journal of the Canadian Nautical Research Society) Vol XXI, No. 3 (July 2011)

 

“A mariner with crippling Arthritis and Bleeding Eyes”; The American Journal of the Medical Sciences; September 2006. Volume 332, Issue 3. Co-authors: Frank C. Arnett, Philip A. Mackoviack, and Charles J. Merrill

 

“Book Review: “Giovanni Caboto e le vie dell Atlantico Settentrionale”; Imago Mundi (The International Journal for the History of Cartography. Volume 54. (July 2002)

 

“John Cabot and Christopher Columbus Revisited” ; The Northern Mariner/Le Marin du Nord (Journal of the Canadian Nautical Society) Vol. X, No. 3 (July 2000)

 

“Evidence of Columbus’ Catalan Roots”. Forty-First Annual Meeting of the Society for the History of Discoveries. Washington D.C.; (October 12-15, 2000.)

 

“Columbus in the Crossroads of Social Intolerance”; The Catalan Contexts of Columbus, Proceedings of the third Catalan Symposium; Peter Lang , New York 1994.

 

 

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUMS

 

The Canadian Nautical Research Society annual conference held at HMCS Bytown, Ottawa, Canada.  11-13 June 2015. “A silk trail to Columbus”.

 

The 2005 Historical Clinicopathological Conference; University of Maryland School of Medicine; Davidge Hall – Baltimore (May 6, 2005)

 

The Society for the History of Discoveries -Forty First Annual Meeting”; Library of Congress. (Washington, October 12-15, 2000.)

 

“The Catalan Contexts of Columbus”; Third Catalan Symposium. Catholic University of America (Washington, October 1992)

 

“La scoperta Colombiana e la cultura europea contemporànea”; Accademia Nazionale di Scienze, Lettere e arti di Palermo. Erice 22-27 April 1992 (Sicily, Italy).

 

 

INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH

 

French Archives:

Aix-en-Provence: Archives Dép, du Bouche du Rhone, Bibliothèque Mejanès.

Marseille: Archives Départamentales du Bouche du Rhône, Archives Municipales

Paris: Archives Nationales , Bibliothèque Nationale

Pau: Archives Départamentales des Pyrénées Atlantiques

Perpignan: Archives Départamentales des Pyrénées Orientales

Rouen: Archives Départamentales de la Seine Maritime.

Tarascon: Archive Municipale

 

Italian Archives:

Florence: Archivio di Stato, Biblioteca Nazionale

Palermo: Archivio di Stato

Roma: Biblioteca Nazionale

Venezia: Biblioteca Marziana

 

Vatican State:

Archivio Segreto Vaticano and Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.

 

 

SPECIAL  DNA  ANALYSIS RESEARCH COLLABORATION

 

In the year 2005, the Center for Columbus’s Studies in Barcelona accepted to collaborate with the School of Medicine of the University of Granada (Spain) in order to proceed to take DNA samples to 300 contemporary men who had “Colom” as his family name in Catalonia, Valencia, Balearic Islands and Roussillon (France). The goal of this study was to determine the true origin of Christopher Columbus by analysing his DNA of the Y chromosome and compare it to the DNA of the Y chromosome of contemporary men named Colombo in Italy and Colom in the former independent kingdom of the Catalan confederation (XVth. century). All this tremendous task on the Catalan side was organised and coordinated by Francesc Albardaner between November 2005 and January 2006. The final result of this study has not yet been published by the University of Granada, but the collected data have been very useful for other genetical studies.

 

LAST INTERNATIONAL LECTURES

 

2015

 

13-16 October 2015: Seminar about Christopher Columbus at the FES Acatlán of the Autonomous National University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City, composed of the following lectures:

“Cristóbal de Colomo, extranjero:  Geopolitical contexts in the Iberian peninsula during the life of Christopher Columbus”.

“Five years of the life of Columbus before his arrival in Portugal: 1471-1476.”

“The possible Catalan origin of Columbus following the theory of the Peruvian historian Luis Ulloa Cisneros (1927).”

“Cristoforo Colombo: a state imposture. The interested manipulation of history.”

 

14 August 2015: “Os cinco anos na vida de Cristóvao Colom antes da sua chegada em Portugal: 1471 - 1476”. Casa Colombo – Museu de Porto Santo, Vila Baleira (Arquipelago de Madeira). Lecture given in Portuguese.

 

 

RECENT LECTURES IN 2016

 

June, 10th, 2016: “The theory of a possible Catalan origin of Cristopher Columbus following the Peruvian historian Luis Ulloa Cisneros (1927)”; Auditorium of “Les Homilíes d’Organyà”, Carles Morató Library, Solsona (Catalonia). Lecture promoted by the Historical Archive of the Solsonès and the Municipal Library of Solsona.

 

14 April 2016: Seminar given at the University of the Balearic Islands in Palma de Mallorca, to the students of the Department of Historical Sciences and Art Theory  (Area of Modern History of America) under the title: “Anomalies in the orthodox historiography of Christopher Columbus and the scientific method.”

 

29 February 2016: “The fake of Cristoforo Colombo: a double question of state.”

Lecture given at the “Ateneu Barcelonès” in Barcelona, forming part of the annual program of lectures organised by the Columbus’s Study Center (Centre d’Estudis Colombins de Barcelona).