New Theory Suggests Columbus Did Not Bring Syphilis To Europe

It has been widely known and proven that European explorers unwittingly brought with them chickenpox, measles, mumps, and smallpox to the new world, decimating some populations and wholly destroying others.

Understandably, it was also believed that that Christopher Columbus brought syphilis to the old world in 1492. However, new ancient DNA contradicts that theory.

According to the Journal of Medicine and Life, syphilis was a very common sickness in Europe, Asia and Northern Africa, with countries blaming each other for starting the spread. Three hypotheses emerged within the past century about the origins of syphilis:

• The pre-Columbian hypothesis: Syphilis was already widespread globally before Columbus’ journey.
• The unitarian hypothesis: Syphilis and related diseases were widespread, but its prevalence depended on the climate and cultural development of an area.
• The Columbus hypothesis: Christopher Columbus and his fleet brought syphilis back to Europe from the new world. This last theory is what has been shared the most and continues to be brought up in our time as a likely reason for the syphilis outbreak in Europe in the 1400s.

A newly published study in the peer-reviewed journal Nature describes findings from 2,000-year-old human remains discovered in Brazil. Researchers used DNA from the remains to reconstruct four known ancient genomes that can cause syphilis.

In doing so, scientists were able to reconstruct the oldest known genome of syphilis from indigenous remains that dated before Columbus’ arrival. It adds evidence that some form of syphilis was already in the new world before Columbus’ arrival, but it doesn’t quite rule out the possibility that Columbus’ fleet brought it back to Europe.

Verena Schuenemann, a professor of paleogenetics from the University of Basel and one of the scientists that helped lead the study, had this to say to CNN: "The new findings do not mean the venereal syphilis that caused the 15th century epidemic came to Europe from the Americas at the time of Columbus."

Schuenemann’s team conducted another study similar to the new study back in 2020 that involved reconstructing the syphilis genomes from human remains found across Northern Europe. They found that there was already a form of the bacteria, T. pallidum (the bacteria that can cause syphilis), widespread across Europe before or around Columbus’ time.

These new results will help scientists as they continue to study the origins of syphilis, with Schuenemann’s team now having evidence that the bacteria that can cause syphilis and other related diseases was already widespread across both continents before Columbus’ time, per Business Insider.