America will return the Vatican's stolen letter to Columbus

The United States of America (SHBA) has announced that they will return the Vatican's copy of the letter written in the 15th century by Christopher Columbus, in which the explorer relates to Spain's royal family, the discovery of America.

Columbus's letter, written in 1493, will be returned to the Vatican Library, which was described as “the right house for letter”. The Vatican Library accepted a copy in 1921, but in 2011 an expert found that the letter had been forged and used as a substitute for theft.

The stolen copy was found in the American city of Atlanta, where it was reached after an American had bought it from a merchant in 2004, unaware that it had been stolen.

This will be Columbus's third letter, stolen and converted, one returned to Florence and another to Barcelona.