Although Columbus was technically born in Italy, he sailed to the New World officially under Spanish control, which is why the Spanish had a "head start" on New World colonization.
Europe. Other than during the plague... they've mostly had a good quality of life. Many philosophers and the renaissance. Their technology kept improving constantly, enough so many European countries colonized other places such as Africa and North America/parts of South America. However like any other place a majority of the people were poor and the social hierarchy wasn't too great to them.
