Columbus Did Not Rest in Peace
Columbus' travels were by no means over following his death in 1506. After breathing his last, he was first buried in Valladolid, Spain, at a Franciscan friary and later placed in a family mausoleum in Seville for about 20 years. Columbus' son Diego had, however, expressed wishes that his father be buried in his New World, specifically in Santo Domingo, so, eventually, back across the ocean Christopher went. His stay there lasted until 1795, when the colony was ceded to France. His bones, to be kept out of their hands, were then shifted to Havana in 1796, where what was left was placed in a cathedral wall and covered with a marble slab "of doubtful artistic taste," according to the New York Times.
Then the Spanish-American War broke out, and when things didn't turn out so well for the Spanish in 1898, they decided to finally return his ashes home to Seville, this time to keep them away from detestable Yankee paws.