The work of the Spanish republican and abolitionist Emilio

Castelar, was typical of

the nineteenth-century perspective. In a book published in 1892
to commemorate
Columbuss first voyage, Castelar argued that the conquest of the
Americas was the
founding act of modernity and it was Spain which was at the
forefront: If we recognize that America signals a crucial starting point in the
development of Humanity,
then our American brothers must recognize that all of modern
culture and the vital
spirit of that culture originated in the people and the land of
Spain
To want the discovery of America without war, war without
conquest,
conquest without violence, violence without destruction,
destruction without ruin
and desolation is like wanting birth without pain and life without
death (27). S