Vasco Núñez De Balboa
1475-1519
Spanish Conquistador
Vasco Núñez de Balboa was a Spanish conquistador who explored Central America, was the first to establish a permanent settlement in Central America, and was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean.
Balboa was a descendent of the Galician family of nobles in Castile; he began his life at Jerez de los Caballeros in the province of Estremadura. He grew up in a time when many from his social class were sailing to the New World to seek their fortune; he set out on his own in 1500. He sailed to present-day Colombia with Rodrigo de Bastidas (b. 1460?) but eventually moved to Hispaniola (present-day Haiti) to try his hand at pioneer farming. Unfortunately, Balboa experienced financial troubles, and in an effort to evade his creditors, he stowed away in a provisions cask aboard an expedition headed by Martín Fernández de Enciso (1470?-1528). This expedition took Balboa to a struggling Spanish colony in present-day Colombia. There, using his knowledge of the area along with his intelligenceand sheer willpower, he persuaded the remaining members of the colony to relocate across the Gulf of Uraba to Darien on the Isthmus of present-day Panama. Once there, he established the town of Santa Maria de la Antigua, the first permanent settlement in Central America. The town elected two magistrates, one of whom was Balboa. With the departure of Enciso to Hispanola, Balboa quickly moved to become the leader of the settlement. King Ferdinand of Spain declared Balboa the interim governor and captain general of the area in December of 1511; Balboa was 36.
Vasco Núñez de Balboa. (Library of Congress. Reproduced with permission.)Balboa began to explore and ultimately dominate the area, subjugating the Indians to slavery and sometimes torture to extract information about other Indian tribes. His treatment of the Indians was marked by force and by a policy designed to make the tribes war with themselves, making Balboa's task of domination all the easier.
Balboa and the Spaniards were told by the Indians of a sea that was to the south and of a gold-rich culture of Indians; he set about immediately to gain support for the expedition. Unknown to Balboa, an expedition was set out from Spain, but he ultimately was not to be the commander. Pedro Arias Davila, an aging nobleman, with 2,000 personnel, left Spain in April of 1514 with the objective of taking over for Balboa.
Balboa, impatient with waiting for the support from Spain, moved on from the settlement in Santa Maria de la Antigua to the narrowest part of the isthmus with 190 Spaniards and Indian support. On September 25 (or 27), 1513, Balboa became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean, which they called the South Sea. Balboa claimed the land and the sea in the name of the king of Spain; he was made governor of the Mar del Sur (South Sea) and the provinces of Panama but was to be under the authority of Pedro Arias Dávila.
Balboa and Dávila had a relationship marked by distrust and jealousy. Even under these conditions, Balboa was given authority to explore the South Sea, or the Pacific Ocean. Balboa oversaw the tremendous effort to build a fleet of ships on the Atlantic Ocean side, disassemble them, and then transport them across the isthmus, over mountains and through swamps, to the Pacific side where they were reassembled and used to explore the Gulf of San Miguel. During this time, Balboa's claims of incompetence leveled at Dávila succeeded—the king replaced Dávila with another governor. Dávila, in an effort to save his career and possibly his life, ordered Balboa home to discuss matters of mutual concern. Once Balboa arrived, he was charged with rebellion and after a mock trial was beheaded along with four accomplices in January 1519.
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