http://www.understandingprejudice.org/nativeiq/columbus.htm

The most famous name that comes to mind when thinking of the discovery of America would be Christopher Columbus he is widely regarded as the first to discover 'the Americas' he even has a national holiday named after him. But if you were to actually look into the man perhaps you would feel a little skeptical as to his current world status. My chosen link divulges his thoughts on the Native American people and their uses.

"They should be good servants .... I, our Lord being pleased, will take hence, at the time of my departure, six natives for your Highnesses."

He starts after his first encounter by stating that they would be better off as servants and despite later praising their generous nature he again reverts back to giving their leaders gold in order to ship them back to Spain as slaves.

"their Highnesses may see that I shall give them as much gold as they need .... and slaves as many as they shall order to be shipped."

The fact Columbus is generally represented in a positive light is rather unsettling considering his immediate want to enslave a peaceful nation which he did with brute force, sources state that Columbus ruled over these people with an iron fist using torture to control the population. After the discovery Pope Alexander VI granted official ownership of this New World to the Spaniards which therefore meant any land apparently discovered by the Spaniards despite it's native population was property the of Spain.

"We of our own motion, and not at your solicitation, do give, concede, and assign for ever to you and your successors, all the islands, and main lands, discovered; and which may hereafter, be discovered,"

What all these quotations convey is the Spanish want of power, wealth and ultimately an empire which they were willing to achieve by any means necessary. The result of this was an expansion into Mexico and states like Texas and California. The point being that the natives suffered in the wake of the Spanish expansion being tortured, killed or sold into slavery. The reason for this being that they were seen as culturally and technologically weaker and they were of a different faith hence the Pope Alexander's statement above and that of Columbus who I mentioned earlier.

Perhaps the discovery of this new and vast continent and the fact that the Spaniards and most Europeans genuinely believed that they were superior to the Natives alleviated the situations negative aspects and allowed them to plow on leaving a path of what we in this contemporary age saw as destruction but what they saw as a time of opportunity and discovery.