Balboa, Vasco NÚÑEz De

(born 1475, Badajoz, Extremadura province, Castile—died Jan. 12, 1519, Acla, near Darién, Pan.) Spanish conquistador and explorer. In 1500 he explored the coast of modern Colombia, then settled in Hispaniola. Forced to flee creditors, he joined an expedition to assist a colony in Colombia.

He persuaded the settlers to move across the Gulf of Urabá to Darién, where in 1511 they founded the first stable settlement on the South American continent. In 1513 he became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean and took possession of the Mar del Sur (South Sea) and adjacent lands for Spain. He became governor of the Mar del Sur and of the provinces of Panamá and Coiba but remained subject to a rival, Pedro Arias Dávila, or Pedrarias (1440?–1531). Fearing Balboa's influence, Pedrarias had him seized and charged with rebellion, treason, and other misdeeds. After a farcical trial, Balboa was beheaded.