I took an Intro to Judaism course last fall, and when we were talking about history the professor pointed out the fact that Columbus's first expedition left just a couple of days after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. He intimated that the reason for this might have been that Columbus or one of his crewmen was descended from a Jewish family and might have even still been privately practicing Judaism. Is there any evidence to support any of these claims?
The origin of Columbus (or any major figure, really) is rife with speculation and attracts major studies. Fortunately for this specific case, /u/gingerkid1234 already answered this in a previous post.
I believe his tl;dr gives the best perspective.
tl;dr some of the supposed evidence isn't convincing. I guess it's possible, but extremely speculative.