Some friends of mine said they were watching Jeopardy and that they had said Columbus was Jamaican. I think they're crazy. Did anybody see that episode, or know what they're talking about?

Jamaican, huh? Now, that's a new one to me.

I've heard that Columbus was a.) Spanish b.) Portugeuse c.) Italian
And now, Jamaican. lol

I've also heard that Christopher Columbus wasn't even his real name. I've also heard different versions, all close variations (i.e. Christo Cologne).

There is so much debate and controversy over this guy who's been dead and buried for 5 centuries now, it's unreal. Who knows what to believe, when every other version you read says something completely different.

Like a regular 'Legend' from the olden days. You remember that childhood game called "telephone"? By the time the story gets passed around and back, it's been twisted, altered and customized to the point of unrecognition. Well, this one has been getting passed around for about 500 years now.

And btw, if they really said that on Jeopardy, I'll bet they also included "based on..." or "according to..." in the answer. That doesn't make it a fact.

And you know what? His accent totally duped Queen Isabella!

Now if he had come to one of us and said, " 'ay! Ah neeja bote do go do dah indies, mon!" We would have known it!

Hay, Omega Raven, here's one for you: Mark Twain once visited Europe. He said he went to one museum claiming to have on display Christopher Columbus' real skull (as a middle aged man). He went to another museum in another city claiming to have his real skull (as a teen)!

I think gojenni's friends are experiencing a Mondegreen there is no conceivable way Columbus could be Jamaican he was born in Genoa he was a Genoan.

but they insisted that they saw this on Jeopardy. Go figure. I have no clue what they heard.

Christopher Columbus was born with Cristoforo (?) Columbo in Genoa,,Italy. His name, like many other famous people in history, has been Anglicized in the US and UK. In Spain, he is Cristobal Colon. The country anmed after him is Colombia (sic). His ancestry is unclear, and he may have had any of almost a dozen different different ethnic backgrounds, including Jewish. But he wasn't Jamaican.
Regarding the Jeopardy mention, Yankee asnwered this question in the TV. Your friends must have misheard Colin Powell's name when his ancestry was the answer on Jeopardy. I saw that particular show. He is Jamaican.