Thanks for the extra context on Rhodes in South Africa, which is an accurate and valuable addition to the conversation. I'd still nominate him as an example of

Thanks for the extra context on Rhodes in South Africa, which is an accurate and valuable addition to the conversation. I'd still nominate him as an example of a rapacious colonist, based on the skirmishes, one-sided "treaties" and general land grabs that he made in the 1890s, stretching vastly farther north from Britain's initial presence in the South African Cape Colony. These fueled Britain's colonial era claims to what became known as Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). Columbus ended up in 1496 as Spain's colonial administrator for what's now the Dominican Republic. He did that role badly, too, but what's more important is that he did it -- creating a colonial pathway that kept widening for centuries.