I learned in the US that he was a mixed bag, but no specifics, until I took a history class in Spanish in college. It could be the language difference or the fact that it wasn’t a Catholic school (edit: or honestly, it could have been that instructors are less likely to get angry calls about nightmares in college), but that’s the first place that we got accurate information about him.

We read his journals, which should be possible with a B2 Spanish (but I suspect Italian would also help, because Columbus was pretty confused about Spanish/italian/portuguese and the journals have a lot of idiosyncratic vocabulary), and they’re stomach turning. He was a fucking monster.