[alephnerd]

Conversos and Moriscos were overrepresented among the early Spanish settlers [0].

Same story in Portuguese territories as well.

An exodus of Sephardim and Muslims was a win-win for the Spanish crown - they'd lose (in their eyes) a potential 5th column in their competition against the Ottoman Empire as well as have manpower to nominally stake their claim in the New World.

[0] - https://www.jewishideas.org/article/between-toleration-and-p...

[jjk166]

At the time, the Spanish were completely unaware that Columbus would find a land that could be settled. The goal of the expedition was finding a route to East Asia to establish trade with those known-to-be-inhabited areas. Colonization was a pivot after Columbus did not find Asia.

[namaria]

Also colonization didn't start in earnest until several decades later. For a generation or two the exploitation of the Americas was largely extractive.