Successful new world colonies were started by all except:

Columbus never sailed with Portuguese, but he did (he was actually Portuguese). 

It is little unknown, but Columbus (Cristobal Colón) sailed on some Portuguese expeditions on the African coast, although he was not the captain. At the time he was married to the Portuguese King cousin, daughter of the governor of the Madeira's Island. 

Later, he stole a (purposely fake) map from the King and went to Spain to sell his services. And the rest you already know...

                         Hope this helps :)

well the fact it is basically a peninsula allowed trade to come from many places, thus allowing cultural diffusion to take place. india has seasonal monsoons that merchants travel back and forth from india using the monsoons wind patterns