Where's the evidence that Columbus intentionally sought to destroy Native American populations that he encountered?
He wrote back to the king of Spain that the Taino Indians were perfect slave material. One of his firsts acts upon encountering a native woman was to invite her onto his ship and try to force her to have sex with his men. After she resisted he beat her mercilessly until the fight went out of her, then passed her around to his crew. This is all available with only a cursory glance at his own writings about his encounters once he discovered the new world.
Do you think that it was unusual for conquerors to sexually abuse women? Do you think that is unusual, even today? It's not.
But I'm not going to go out of my way to criticize Columbus specifically for actions that male conquerors have been doing for all of history. I'm not condoning it, nor am I excusing it. But Columbus was a person of immense importance to human history, that is being attacked to satisfy an agenda.
You don't applaud them for those rapes, do you? So why are you applauding Columbus?
I'm not applauding Columbus for rapes either, are you obtuse? I'm saying that's what conquerors have done throughout all of history. And even in the modern era, when the stigma against it is much greater it still happened rampantly even during the so-called Greatest Generation. ---