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We live in a culture that includes the principle that if somebody else has something we need, and they won’t give it to us, and we have the means to kill them to get it, it’s not unreasonable to go get it, using whatever force we need to. .
That is because far too many Americans feel so superior as the "last remaining Super Power." It's a sense of entitlement...we're AMERICANS! We're BETTER, STRONGER, SMARTER, NASTIER, and we'll BOMB YOU TO KINGDOM COME IF YOU DON'T DO AS WE SAY...now give us your lunch money."

Spain was a very powerful nation during Columbus's time and his bringing back to Spain much wealth from the New World only made them more powerful.
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The Catholic Monarchs
Isabel and Ferdinand succeeded in uniting the whole country under their crown, and their effort to "re-christianize" Spain resulted in the Spanish Inquisition, when thousands of Jews and Moors who didn't want to convert to Christianism were expelled or killed.
After the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492 tons of gold and silver were brought in from the new continent, and Spain became one of the most powerful nations of this epoch called the Golden Age.
http://www.red2000.com/spain/primer/hist.html