This is a very colorful view of history. You can also see that the first university in America was built by the spaniards. The first university in Asia? Also, built by the spaniards.
The earlier ships were a mixture of those "barbarians" as you mentioned, and very learned people.
The concept of international law and human rights started with the discussions in Spain after the discovery of America:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/school-salamanca/#IusGent...