Five hundred years ago, in 1492. Christopher Columbus discovered America. To commemorate that anniversary, Michael Bradley reveals an explosive new theory. In his book he challenges the famous tale of the poor Genoese mariner who bravely set sail to find the New World.
The book poses some intriguing questions and provides some startling answers. Was Columbus really a merchant sailor from Genoa, the son of humble wool carders? Or was he, as the author suggests, possibly a French pirate, or a Mallocran navigator, or even the scion of some royal or noble family? If Columbus was a penniless castaway of common birth, what, what mysterious power did he wield that allowed him to marry into Portugese nobility only two years after his sudden appearance on the pages of history? What awesome secret did he hold that guaranteed him the friendship and support of the Royal House of Portugal? How did he influence Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand to sponsor his voyage? Was he Queen Isabella's lover? Where and how did Columbus obtain the maps that showed his "discovery" in advance? None of these strange paradoxes has even been explained before.
Historians now admit that much of what has been accepted and taught is, in fact, a myth, concocted from a few sparse facts. We do not know where Christopher Columbus was born or where he was buried. Even the name "Christopher Columbus" may be an alias.
By fitting the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together, the author has provided some provocative and controversial conclusions. Michael Bradley suggests that the man known as Christopher Columbus was part of a grand conspiracy - a secret agent, desperately searching for a safe haven for what we have come to call the Holy Grail - not a chalice, as commonly thought - but a code name for something much more important and valuable, the true meaning of which was known to only a few select people. The Columbus Conspiracy, based on meticulous research, offers a convincing explanation of Columbus' real mission - one of the most romantic and evocative in history.