Born 1475,
Jerez de Los Caballeros Spain
Died January 1519,
Santa Maria La Antiqua del Darién, Panama
Like most explorers of his time, Vasco Núñez de Balboa came to the New World in search of riches. He was successful, though he soon fell into poverty and eventually met a violent end. When Balboa climbed a mountain to view the Pacific Ocean for the first time, he was reportedly accompanied by only his dog, Leoncico.
Balboa was born at Jerez de los Caballeros, a town in the Spanish province of Extremadura. Coming from a family of impoverished gentry, he served as a page to a Spanish nobleman, Don Pedro Puertocarrero. In 1501 he left Spain with the expedition of Rodrigo de Bastidas, who had been inspired by reports from Christopher Columbus (see entry) that pearls could be found on the northern coast of Venezuela.
The expedition was a success. Bastidas and Balboa were able to trade their European goods for a large quantity of pearls and gold. They then sailed west from the Gulf of Maracaibo to the mouth of the Magdalena River in what is now Colombia. Farther west they found a harbor they named Cartagena, which was later to become the main Spanish port in northern South America. They continued to follow the shoreline until it turned southward to the Gulf of Urabá, located on the northwestern coast of present-day Colombia. When their ship began to take on water, they headed north to the island of Hispaniola. They were forced to abandon the ship on its southern coast, however, and their goods were confiscated by the governor of the island. Balboa was left penniless.
Balboa tried to make a living as a farmer in the new Spanish colony of Santo Domingo, which is now the Dominican Republic, but he was unable to pay his creditors. In 1510, in an attempt to escape his situation, he stowed away with his dog, Leoncico, on board a ship in Santo Domingo harbor. The ship turned out to be one of two commanded by Martín Fernandez de Enciso, who was taking relief supplies to the settlement of San Sebastián on the Isthmus of Darien, now called the Isthmus of Panama. San Sebastián had been founded by Alonso de Ojeda, a Spanish adventurer, who had relinquished command of the garrison to Francisco Pizarro (see separate entries), another Spanish explorer. Once he had been discovered on the ship, Balboa proved to be a great help to Enciso, who turned out himself to be an ineffective leader.
Upon reaching San Sebastián, the Enciso party found that it had been burned down by native people. Balboa then convinced the group to follow him to the Gulf of Urabá, which he had seen on his earlier expedition. Near a native village they founded the town of Santa Maria de la Antigua del Darién. After a quarrel with Enciso, Balboa arrested Enciso and sent him back to Spain. Balboa himself then assumed the offices of captain-general and governor.
Balboa ventured into the neighboring region of Coiba. He befriended a local chief, Careta, and married the chief’s daughter. Balboa arranged an alliance between the Spaniards and Comogre, another powerful chief. Comogre’s oldest son saw how avid the Spanish were to find gold, and he offered to lead them to the other side of the peninsula if they would help defeat one of his tribe’s enemies. The Spanish agreed and, under Balboa’s command, set out with 190 Spanish soldiers and 810 Native Americans. On September 1, 1513, they sailed across the gulf to the Isthmus of Darien.
Part of Balboa’s expedition remained behind while he led a group through some of the roughest terrain and densest rain forest in the world; even today there is no road that traverses this region. Unlike other Spanish conquistadors, Balboa had befriended the native people and treated them well. Several of the natives therefore went with him on his journey across the isthmus. On the way Balboa’s party fought enemy tribesmen in the Sierra de Quareca; they massacred 600 of the tribesmen and destroyed their village.
Many of the Spanish soldiers were ill, so Balboa set out from the village with a small party of 67 to cross the mountains in the center of the peninsula. Legend has it that on the morning of Sunday, September 25, 1513, accompanied by only his dog, Balboa climbed a peak and became the first European to look out on the Pacific Ocean from its eastern shore. The other Spaniards, including Pizarro, then joined him. Erecting a pile of stones and a cross, they knelt and sang a Catholic hymn of thanksgiving. They marched to the ocean shore and formally took possession of it in the name of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. Twenty-six of the men witnessed this act on September 29, St. Michael’s Day, and Balboa named the place Bahia San Miguel (St. Michael’s Bay).
The Spanish spent a month on the Pacific shore collecting gold and pearls and visiting the Islas de las Perlas, or the Pearl Islands, in the Caribbean Sea. Crossing the isthmus by another route, they conquered more native chiefs and took even more gold. They reached the settlement of Darien on January 19, 1514, without the loss of any Spanish lives.
Upon his return, however, Balboa learned that back in Spain Enciso had made unfavorable reports of his actions and that King Ferdinand was sending out a new governor, Pedro Arias de Avila. When Arias de Avila arrived, he developed an intense hatred toward Balboa and spent several years spinning plots against him. In the meantime, Balboa had crossed the Isthmus of Panama. He had also built a fleet of four ships, with which he intended to sail south to Peru. Finally able to make up convincing charges against Balboa, Arias de Avila sent Pizarro to arrest him. In January 1519 Balboa was tried and convicted of treason and publicly beheaded.
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