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Pre-Columbia is a very definite time period - it ended in November, 1492. You're the one who set the rules for the comparison, not me. If you're going to contrast two cultures, what's the point of selecting random moments? Or are you seriously trying to compare modern Western civilization and pre-Columbian cultures? That's completely pointless? We might as well add in 19th Century Russia, 5th Century Greece and the Mongols.
The Europeans weren't trying to "be better". They were trying to turn a profit by cutting out the Arabs in the spice trade with Eastern Asia. Your premise of Europeans as noble explorers making maps simply for the glory of it isn't true except in imaginations. Every single explorer had an economic agenda of one form or another. There was no pressure other than economic to set sail. That's why the Portuguese went south and the Spanish went west. And why the Portuguese and Dutch had colonies in Southern Asia - to facilitate trade.
I see only one cultural trait present - greed. And that was certainly not unique to Europe or even in short supply elsewhere in the world.
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