As colonists.
Absurd non-comparison.
35 years after Colombus, Cortez or Lewis and Clark, the new lands were swarming with colonists. They just sailed over or walked in, the same way as the explorers.
How do your "colonists" get to Mars, in a way that is self-paid and self-sustaining? And not as part of a trillion dollar stunt project?
Show me your self-paying colonists on the moon, and then talk to me about Mars.