Columbus was not a good person. He all but started the slave trade and the genocide of the Native Peoples.

[mwmisses4289]

1. He did this with the backing of the Spanish monarchy

and the catholic church. The basic goal was resources, in other words, make money for the European elite.
They began with papal bulls that became known as the doctrine of discovery. Wikipedia has a fascinating article about them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_doctrine