A Spanish explorer crossed what is now the Isthmus of Panama
and became the first European to reach the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic.
With a party of about 190 Spaniards and 800 Indians, Balboa first sighted the
pacific on September 25, 1513. Four days later, the party reached the Pacific
coast at the gulf San
Miguel. Balboa named the sea the Mar Del Sur (South Sea)
and claimed it and the coast it touched for Spain.
Balboa was born in Jerez de Los Caballeros, in western Spain.
In the early 1500’s, he started on the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the
Dominican Republic). An unsuccessful
farmer, Balboa was soon in debt. To escape his creditors in 1510, he hid in a
cask on board a ship. The ship was taking soldiers to a colony on the Colombian
coast. When they arrived, they found that Indians had driven away most of the
colonists. Balboa suggested that the expedition should move to Panama, where
they founded a settlement called Darien. Balboa took command and became temporary
governor.
Indians told Balboa about the sea on the west. When he heard
that the king was sending a new governor to Darien, Balboa set off to find the
sea. Following his discovery, he was made governor of the South Sea and Cobia.
His success was resented by Darien’s new governor, who managed to have Balboa’s
governorship taken away. He also prevented Balboa from leaving Darien, and
finally arrested and executed him on unjust charges of treason.
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