520th Anniversary of Columbus Stumbling Upon the New World

It would have happened at some point. The Chinese had at least temporarily lost interest in exploration. They had sent out big ships, seen what the rest of the world had to offer, and they were decidedly unimpressed. So they packed up their moster ships and sailed home. Don't worry, the English figured out how to get them to come out and play. Opium helped keep the balance of world trade with China, despite their lack of interest in other things they had to offer (which does not seem to be a possible solution to the current trade imbalance). So Europe had a chance! The shipping nations started off exploring in earnest--the Spanish, the Portuguese, and the Dutch, with the English bringing up the rear. If Columbus hadn't found the Americas, someone else would have soon thereafter. It was bound to happen.
The things that followed had some intended and some unintended consequences.
The Europeans were not going out to explore to meet new people.  They wnated to loot riches, and thought that the native people should be happy to work for them, and the women should also have sex with them--why they thought this would happen, when it wouldn't have at home, is a bit of a mystery.  Vasco da Gama was not finding it all that easy to come by either of these situations in his trip around the Horn of Africa.  unfortunately for the New World, they were woefully behind on weapon development and what they gained by being familiar with the terrain, they conceded in susceptability to diseases they had no previous exposure to.  We all know the end of this story, and while allt hat Columbus did is hardly worth celebrating, the discovery of America changed the world forever, and today is the day that we recognize that ahppening.