How did Christopher Columbus' voyages affect Europe?

I would say the Columbus' voyages had a direct impact on
Europe in that it helped to bring out the idea that the Age of Exploration can morph
into the Age of Exploitation quite easily.  The Columbian Exchange would be the primary
example that I could cite to help explain how Europe was directly impacted through
Columbus' voyages.  Once Europeans were able to see how Columbus was able to bring back
rarities and valuable commodities such as food, knowledge, and people in the form of
slaves, the door was swung wide open for nations in Europe to be able to see exploration
as a way of being able to take advantage of indigenous people as Columbus did.  This
ended up increasing more exploration throughout the world and increasing European
profits as a result.