Columbus did break new ground. He proved that Copernicus was right about the shape of the earth. He was an oustanding explorer and all, however, he also knew that he and his gang were killing the natives with disease and overwork, not to mention outright butchery. Of course his clergymen saved their souls first. The French, however, in North America, had a different approach. They traded with the natives, gave them their religion, and generally treated them like humans. The English, gave them blankets infested with small pox. We never did figure out who gave who syphillis.