I spent a vacation from Alaska hanging around Fisherman's Wharf, which is a kind of Italianate piece of San Francisco. I recall a grand statue of Christopher Columbus and I will check to see if it is still there.

Incidentally, I saw a documentary on the Original Columbus a few years back and while it did not state that he was in any way Jewish in origin, apparently it was a rumor he played with for his own purposes, but he was personally secure in his Catholicism.

I doubt he was Jewish, but there is little doubt that Jews played a part in getting the hell out of Spain by any means necessary, and played a part in navigation and voyages out of Spain and Portugal.