How American to claim that the age of exploration started with Columbus.
Columbus was trying to find an alternative route to India. This means that India was already known to western world, along with Africa and the whole lot in between. Slavery, unfair trade etc etc, did already start and was executed by the Christian countries.
Somewhere earlier it was said the western countries did not prosper untill they cut themselves loose from the pope's power.
Perhaps you forgot that the English did not have much to do with the pope since they were not catholic?