&quot;Who would have been foolish enough to squander the money, lives and resources needed to travel to and explore the New World?&quot;<p>You can only argue that the exploration of the Americas was a good affair if you ignore the cost of all the pillaging and killing and deaths and slavery... If you include the inhabitants of the Americas when you judge the benefit of the &quot;exploration of the new world&quot;, I&#x27;m not sure it ends up being a net positive for several centuries.