Vasco Núñez de Balboa

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For other uses, see Vasco Núñez de Balboa (disambiguation).
Vasco Núñez de Balboa
Idealized 19th-century portrait of Balboa
Adelantado of the Coast of the South Sea
In office
September 23, 1514 / March 20, 1515  –  January 15, 1519
MonarchCharles I of Spain
2nd Governor of Veragua
(de facto)
In office
March 1, 1511  –  early 1512
MonarchsJoanna I of Castile
(her father, King Ferdinand II of Aragon, being Regent of Castile)
Preceded byDiego de Nicuesa
Succeeded byInterruption of the office
(by ruling of the Columbian lawsuits, whereby the remaining territory of Veragua not yet colonized on the Caribbean coast, from the isthmus of the new Governorate of Darién to Cape Gracias a Dios, passed nominally to the Castilian Crown)
/ Felipe Gutiérrez y Toledo
(restored from late 1535, as third Governor of Veragua)
Governor of Darién
(without the nominal territories litigated by the Columbian lawsuits of the Governorate of Veragua)
In office
December 8, 1511 / early 1512  –  July 1514
MonarchsJoanna I of Castile
(her father, King Ferdinand II of Aragon, being Regent of Castile)
Preceded byNew office
(himself, as governor of Veragua)
Succeeded byAbolition of the office
/ Pedro Arias Dávila (as first governor and Captain General of Castilla del Oro)
Governor of the Province
of Panama and Coiba
(with the Pacific coast of Darién and
the Pearl Islands)
In office
September 23, 1514 / March 20, 1515  –  January 15, 1519
MonarchsCharles I of Spain
Personal details
Bornc. 1475
Jerez de los Caballeros, Extremadura of the Kingdom of León
Crown of Castile
DiedJanuary 15, 1519
Acla of the Governorate of Castilla del Oro
Spanish Empire
SpouseMaría de Peñalosa
ProfessionSoldier and colonial ruler
Known for
  1. Founding of the city of Santa María la Antigua del Darién (1510)
  2. Taking possession of the South Sea (1513)
Signature

Vasco Núñez de Balboa (Jerez de los Caballeros, Province of Badajoz, c. 1475 – Acla, present-day Panama, January 15, 1519) was a Spanish adelantado, explorer, ruler and conquistador.

After Andrés Contero became the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean from a cliff on its eastern coast, Balboa was the first to take possession of those lands[1] and the first European to have founded a stable city on continental soil of the New World.

Family origin and early years

Vasco Núñez de Balboa was born around 1475 in the town of Jerez de los Caballeros, near Badajoz, which belonged to the Order of Santiago.[2]

The surname Balboa comes from the castle of Balboa, near Villafranca del Bierzo, in the present-day Province of León (Spain). His father is believed to have been the hidalgo Álvaro Núñez (or Martínez) de Balboa,[3] but almost nothing is known about the identity of his mother. He had at least three brothers: Gonzalo, a scrivener by profession, Juan and Álvaro. Little is known with certainty about his childhood, except that he learned to read and write, unlike other Spanish conquistadors,[4] as well as fencing.[5]

During his adolescence he served as page and squire of Pedro Portocarrero, 8th Lord of Moguer, with whom he lived in the Castle of Moguer during the preparations for and the course of the voyage of discovery.[6] He also lived in Córdoba and had a house in Seville.[7]

Voyage to the Indies

Detail of the world map made in 1500 by Juan de la Cosa before setting out on the Bastidas expedition.

In 1500, encouraged by his lord and by the news of the voyages of Christopher Columbus and other navigators to the New World, he decided to enlist in the expedition of Rodrigo de Bastidas to the Caribbean Sea. Following Bastidas and his pilot Juan de la Cosa, in 1501 he sailed along the coasts of the Caribbean Sea from eastern Panama, passing the Gulf of Urabá, as far as Cabo de la Vela (present-day Colombia). The ships finally set course for the island of Hispaniola, where one of them was wrecked.[8]

With the profits obtained in that campaign, Balboa bought land on the island and lived there for several years engaged in agriculture and the raising of pigs. But he did not have much luck in this activity: the climate was adverse, as the area was highly exposed to hurricanes; the settlers of the island were sunk in poverty, and wild pigs competed with his products. Balboa began to fall into debt and, when his creditors began to pursue him, he finally saw no way out other than to flee the island.[8]

In 1508, King Ferdinand the Catholic put the conquest of Tierra Firme out to tender. Two new governorates were created in the lands between Cape de la Vela (present-day Colombia) and Cape Gracias a Dios (currently on the border between Honduras and Nicaragua). The Gulf of Urabá was taken as the boundary between the two governorates: Nueva Andalucía to the east, governed by Alonso de Ojeda, and Veragua to the west, governed by Diego de Nicuesa.

Journey to Tierra Firme

In 1509, wishing to rid himself of his creditors in Santo Domingo, Núñez de Balboa boarded as a stowaway inside a barrel on the expedition commanded by the bachiller and alcalde mayor of Nueva Andalucía, Martín Fernández de Enciso. He took with him his dog Leoncico, which was the son of a dog belonging to Juan Ponce de León.[9] Fernández de Enciso was on his way to relieve Governor Alonso de Ojeda, who was his superior.

Ojeda, together with seventy men, had founded the settlement of San Sebastián de Urabá in Nueva Andalucía. However, near the settlement there were many warlike natives who used poisoned weapons, and Ojeda had been wounded in one leg. Shortly afterwards, Ojeda withdrew by ship to Hispaniola, leaving the settlement in the charge of Francisco Pizarro, who at that time was no more than a soldier awaiting the arrival of Enciso's expedition. Ojeda asked Pizarro to hold out with a few men for fifty days in the settlement, or otherwise to use every means to return to Hispaniola.

Before the expedition reached San Sebastián de Urabá, Fernández de Enciso discovered Núñez de Balboa aboard the ship and threatened to leave him on the first deserted island they came across. But many of the crew, who knew Balboa, spoke out in his favor, and the bachiller became convinced of the usefulness of the stowaway's knowledge of that region, which he had explored eight years earlier.[10] He therefore spared his life and allowed him to remain aboard. On arriving at its destination, Enciso's ship ran aground and in the wreck the credential certifying the powers granted to Enciso was lost. This would later allow Balboa to challenge Enciso's authority.[11]

Once the fifty days stipulated by Ojeda had passed, Pizarro began to make ready to return to Hispaniola, just as Fernández de Enciso's vessel arrived. The bachiller, using his powers as Alcalde Mayor, ordered the return to San Sebastián. This surprised his men because the settlement was completely destroyed, and moreover the natives were waiting for them and began to attack relentlessly.

Because of how dangerous the territory was, Núñez de Balboa suggested that the settlement of San Sebastián be moved to the Darién Region, west of the Gulf of Urabá, where the land was more fertile and the natives were less warlike. Fernández de Enciso accepted the suggestion. Later, the company moved to Darién, where the cacique Cémaco awaited them, together with 500 warriors ready for battle. The Spaniards, fearful of the great number of warriors, made a vow before the Virgen de la Antigua of Seville that, if they were victorious in the battle, they would give her name to a settlement in the region. The battle was hard-fought for both sides, but by a stroke of luck the Spaniards emerged victorious.

Cémaco, who was lord of the district, abandoned the village with his warriors for the jungle of the interior. The Spaniards then decided to plunder the houses and gathered a great booty consisting of gold jewelry. In return, Núñez de Balboa fulfilled the vow and in December 1510 founded the first permanent settlement on the American mainland, Santa María la Antigua del Darién.

Struggle for power in Veraguas

The triumph of the Spaniards over the natives and the subsequent founding of Santa María la Antigua del Darién, now located in a relatively calm place, gave Vasco Núñez de Balboa authority and standing among his companions. His supporters described Martín Fernández de Enciso as a despot and a miser because of the restrictions he imposed on gold, which the settlers coveted.

Núñez de Balboa took advantage of the situation by making himself spokesman for the disgruntled settlers and managed to remove Fernández de Enciso from the post of ruler of the city. To do so, he argued that the new city of La Antigua was no longer within Ojeda's Governorate, which ended at the Gulf of Urabá, but within the governorate of Diego de Nicuesa. Fernández de Enciso, as Ojeda's lieutenant, therefore had no jurisdiction in that territory. After his removal, a cabildo abierto was held and a municipal government was elected (the first on the American continent), and two alcaldes were appointed: Martín Zamudio and Vasco Núñez de Balboa.[12]

Shortly afterwards a small fleet led by Rodrigo Enrique de Colmenares arrived at Santa María de la Antigua, with the aim of finding Nicuesa, who was also in difficulties somewhere in northern Panama. When he learned of the events he persuaded the settlers of the city that they should submit to Nicuesa's authority, since they were within his governorate; Enrique de Colmenares invited two representatives, to be appointed by the Cabildo, to travel with his fleet and offer Nicuesa control of the city. The two representatives were Diego de Albites and Diego del Corral.

Enrique de Colmenares found Nicuesa badly wounded and with few men near Nombre de Dios, as a result of a skirmish he had had with natives of that region. After being rescued, the governor heard the account of the battle with the cacique Cémaco and of the founding of Santa María, and decided to set out for the city to impose his authority, since he regarded the acts of Enciso and Balboa as an intrusion into his jurisdiction of Veraguas.

The representatives of Santa María were persuaded by Lope de Olano, who was imprisoned along with several discontented prisoners, that they would be making a grave mistake if they handed control over to Nicuesa, who was described as greedy and cruel and capable of destroying the prosperity of the new city. With these arguments, de Albites and del Corral fled to Darién before Nicuesa arrived and informed both Núñez de Balboa and the other municipal authorities of the governor's intentions.

When Nicuesa arrived at the city's port, a crowd appeared and a tumult broke out that prevented the governor from landing in the city. Nicuesa insisted on being received not as governor but as a mere soldier, but even so the settlers refused to let him land in the city. Instead, he was forced to board a ship in poor condition with few provisions and was cast off to sea on March 1, 1511. Seventeen people embarked with the governor. The ship disappeared without a trace of Nicuesa or his companions.[13]

In this way Núñez de Balboa was left as de facto Governor of Veraguas. He immediately began efforts to obtain official recognition. To that end he sent two messengers, Alcalde Zamudio and Valdivia, to present themselves before the Viceroy of the Indies, Diego Columbus. From there, Zamudio went on to Spain. The efforts were successful, because on December 23, 1511 the Crown appointed Balboa "governor and captain" of "the province of Darién".[14][15]

Governor of Darién

Statue of Núñez de Balboa in Madrid (Enrique Pérez Comendador, 1954).

From then on Núñez de Balboa held absolute command of Santa María la Antigua and of Nombre de Dios. One of his first actions was to try the bachiller Fernández de Enciso for the crime of usurpation of authority; he was sentenced to prison and his property was confiscated, although Balboa later set him free on condition that he return to Hispaniola and then to Spain. On the same ship went two representatives of Núñez de Balboa, with the mission of giving his version of events in the colony and of requesting more men and supplies to continue the conquest of Veraguas, which nominally extended as far as Cape Gracias a Dios.

Meanwhile, Núñez de Balboa began to show his side as a conquistador, setting out westward and traversing the Isthmus of Panama, subduing several native tribes and forging alliances with others, such as those of the caciques Coíba, Careta and Poncha.[16] He crossed rivers, mountains and unhealthy swamps in search of gold and slaves. In a letter sent to the King of Spain he stated: "I have gone ahead as guide, and even opening the paths with my own hand". He was also able to put down revolts by several Spaniards who challenged his authority.

He succeeded in getting maize planted and received provisions from Hispaniola and from Spain. He made his soldiers accustomed to the life of explorers. Núñez de Balboa managed to gather a great deal of gold, partly from the ornaments of native women and the rest obtained by violent means. In 1513 he wrote a long letter to the King of Spain in which he asked for more men acclimatized in Hispaniola, weapons, provisions, carpenters to build ships, and the materials needed to set up a shipyard. In 1515, in another letter, he spoke of his humane policy toward the natives and at the same time advised that cannibal or feared tribes be punished with extreme severity.

At the end of 1512 and the beginning of 1513, he reached a district ruled by the cacique Careta. Careta was easily defeated and then became Balboa's friend, receiving Christian baptism and making an alliance with the Castilians that ensured the survival of the colony, since the cacique promised to supply them with food. In exchange, the Spaniards would give him iron goods, a metal unknown on the American continent which quickly became an object of prestige for the natives.[17]

To seal the alliance, Balboa took the daughter or niece of the cacique Careta "as if she were a lawful wife".[18] Núñez de Balboa continued his conquest, reaching the lands of Careta's neighbor and rival, the cacique Ponca, who fled his district for the mountains, leaving the Spaniards and Careta's allied natives alone to plunder and destroy the houses of the district. Shortly afterwards he went to the domains of the cacique Comagre, a fertile but very wild territory, although when they arrived they were received peacefully, to the point that they were invited to a feast; Comagre was likewise baptized.

It was in this district that Núñez de Balboa first heard of the existence of another sea on the other side of the mountains. During a dispute among the Spaniards over the little gold they were finding, Panquiaco, Comagre's eldest son, grew angry at the Spaniards' greed, knocked over the scale that was weighing the gold and retorted: "If you are so eager for gold that you leave your own land to come and disturb that of others, I will show you a province where you can satisfy that desire by the handful."

Panquiaco told of a kingdom to the south where the people were so rich that they used gold dishes and utensils to eat and drink. He also warned that they would need at least a thousand men to defeat the tribes living inland and those on the coasts of the other sea. This was the first news of the Inca Empire.

Discovery and conquest of the South Sea

Route of Núñez de Balboa's journey to the South Sea in 1513.

Núñez de Balboa took the unexpected news of a new sea rich in gold very seriously. He decided to return to Santa María at the beginning of 1513 to obtain more men from Hispaniola, and it was there that he learned that Fernández de Enciso had persuaded the authorities of his version of what had happened in Santa María. Núñez de Balboa then sent Enrique de Colmenares directly to Spain to seek help, given that there had been no response from the authorities of Hispaniola.

Meanwhile, expeditions were organized in Santa María in search of the new sea. Some traveled up the Atrato River as far as ten leagues inland, without any success. The request for more men and supplies in Spain was denied because the case of Fernández de Enciso was already known to the Spanish Court. Thus Núñez de Balboa had no choice but to use the few resources he had in the city to undertake the discovery. He had the wisdom to rely heavily on the natives, who knew all the secrets of the jungle: which routes to follow, where to obtain water, how to light a fire.[19]

Site of the first sighting of the South Sea
Discovery of the Pacific Ocean by Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Panama – September 25, 1513, 11 a.m., painted by Matthias Laurenz Gräff (2009/10)

Using various reports given by friendly native caciques, Núñez de Balboa set out on the expedition from Santa María across the Isthmus of Panama on September 1, 1513, together with 190 Spaniards, hundreds of natives and a pack of dogs. Using a small brigantine and ten native canoes they sailed to the lands of the cacique Careta. And on the 6th, from what was later called Acla, together with a large contingent of a thousand of Careta's natives, among them Ponquiaco,[20] they headed for the lands of Ponca, who had regrouped; but he was defeated, subdued and made an alliance with Núñez de Balboa. After several days, and with several of Ponca's men joining them, they went up into the dense jungle on the 20th. They advanced with some difficulty, encountering black-skinned tribes.[21]

On the 24th they reached the lands of the cacique Torecha, who ruled the settlement of Cuarecuá. In this settlement a fierce and persistent battle broke out; Torecha was defeated and killed in combat. On bursting into Torecha's house, the conquistadors discovered his brother "in women's clothing" surrounded by other notables. The Spaniards interpreted the scene as a homosexual harem and executed them all by throwing them to the dogs.[17] After the battle, Torecha's men decided to ally themselves with Núñez de Balboa, although a large part of the expedition was exhausted and badly wounded from the fighting, and many of them decided to rest in Cuarecuá.

Núñez de Balboa decided to continue on with a detachment of 67 Spaniards and an undetermined number of Indians,[22] among whom were Ponquiaco and Francisco Pizarro.[23] They entered the mountain ranges of the region of the Chucunaque River, today called the Urrucallala mountains, between the Sabanas River and the Cucunatí. According to the natives' reports, the sea could be seen from the summit of this range, so Núñez de Balboa went ahead of the rest of the expedition members and before noon managed to reach the summit and behold, far off on the horizon, the waters of the unknown sea.

Vasco Núñez de Balboa claiming the Pacific Ocean for Spain in 1513 together with his soldiers.

He was on one of the peaks of the Urrucallala mountains. The others hurried to show their joy and happiness at the discovery achieved by Núñez de Balboa. The expedition's chaplain, the cleric Andrés de Vera, intoned the Te Deum Laudamus, while the rest of the men raised cairns of stones and tried to carve crosses and initials with their swords on the bark of the trees of the place, bearing witness that the discovery had been made at that spot. All this took place on September 25, 1513.[24]

Buena Vista beach, site of Balboa's first taking of possession of the South Sea in 1513

After the moment of discovery, the expedition came down from the mountains toward the sea and entered the lands of the cacique Chiapes, who was defeated in a brief fight and invited to collaborate with the expedition. From the district of Chiapes three groups set out in search of paths leading to the sea. The group led by Alonso Martín de Don Benito reached its shores two days later, boarding a canoe and bearing witness that he had sailed that sea for the first time. On their return they informed Núñez de Balboa, who marched with 26 men who reached the beach (near what is known today as Punta Buena Vista); Núñez de Balboa raised his hands, in one his sword and in the other a banner bearing an image of the Virgin Mary; he walked into the sea up to his knees and took possession of it in the name of the sovereigns of Castile, Joanna and Ferdinand.

Balboa named the gulf where they were San Miguel, because it was discovered on the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel, September 29, and the new sea South Sea, the name then given to the Pacific Ocean, because of the direction the exploration took on reaching that sea.[25] This event was an important milestone in the long search carried out by the Spaniards for a sea route to Asia by the west. A month later, on October 29, he made the second taking of possession, now outside the Gulf of San Miguel and on the open-sea coast, somewhere on the present-day beach of Gonzalo Vázquez.

Afterwards, Balboa devoted himself to searching for the districts rich in gold. He traveled through the lands of the caciques Coquera and Tumaco, whom he easily defeated and stripped of their riches in gold and pearls. He then learned that pearls were produced in abundance on some islands ruled by Terarequí, a powerful cacique who dominated that region. So Núñez de Balboa decided to set out by canoe for those islands, even though it was the month of October 1513 and the weather conditions were not the best. He barely managed to sight the islands, and he named the largest of them Isla Rica (today Isla del Rey), and the whole region the Archipiélago de las Perlas (Pearl Islands), a name it still retains today.

In November, Núñez de Balboa decided to return to Santa María la Antigua del Darién but by a different route, in order to go on conquesting territories and obtain greater riches for his booty. He passed through the districts of Teoca, Pacra, Bugue Bugue, Bononaima and Chiorizo, defeating some by force and others through diplomacy. When he reached the territories of the cacique Tubanamá, Núñez de Balboa had to confront him with great violence and managed to defeat him; in December he reached the lands of the cacique Pocorosa on the Gulf of San Blas, already on the Caribbean, and then went to the lands of Comagre, where the cacique had already died of old age and his son Panquiaco had been named the new cacique.

From there he decided to cross the lands of Ponca and Careta, finally reaching Santa María on January 19, 1514, with a great booty of cotton goods and more than 100,000 castellanos of gold, not counting the quantity of pearls; besides, of course, the discovery of a new sea for the Spaniards. Núñez de Balboa assigned Pedro de Arbolancha to travel to Spain with the news of the discovery and sent one fifth of the riches obtained to the King, as the laws established.

Balboa would make a second crossing in 1517, setting out from Acla but by a different path. The so-called Balboa Route would quickly fall into disuse when, a few years later, the road from Nombre de Dios to the city of Panama was opened.

Disputes with Pedrarias

The accusations of the bachiller Fernández de Enciso, whom Núñez de Balboa had stripped of power, and the removal and subsequent disappearance of Nicuesa led the King, at the request of Bishop Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca, to appoint Pedro Arias de Ávila, better known as Pedrarias Dávila, as Governor of the new province of Castilla de Oro, who would thereby replace Balboa in the Governorate of Darién. When Balboa's emissary, de Arbolancha, arrived at the Court, tempers calmed somewhat.

The requests for men that Balboa had made to the Spanish Monarch were fulfilled by the latter through the new governor, who set out with an expedition of 1,500 men and 17 ships that cost 40,000 ducats. It was the largest and most complete fleet that had left Spain for America up to that time, and King Ferdinand devoted a great part of his time to organizing it, expecting it to be a great business venture.

On this great expedition traveled the licentiate Gaspar de Espinosa with the post of alcalde mayor; the same bachiller Fernández de Enciso, now as Alguacil Mayor; the chronicler Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, who went as a royal official; the pilot Juan Vespucio; several captains, among them Juan de Ayora as Pedrarias's lieutenant; several clerics, among whom stood out the Franciscan friar Juan de Quevedo, assigned as bishop of Santa María; and finally there came women, among them Isabel de Bobadilla, Pedrarias's wife.

More than five hundred men died of hunger or as victims of the climate shortly after landing in Darién. Fernández de Oviedo recounted how knights clad in silks and brocades, who had distinguished themselves bravely in the wars of Italy, died of starvation, consumed by the nature of the tropical jungle.

Balboa received Pedrarias and his emissaries in July 1514 and accepted, rather resignedly, his replacement in the post of governor and alcalde mayor. This caused some anger among the settlers, and some were already thinking of taking up arms to confront them; however, Núñez de Balboa showed his respect toward the new governors.

When Pedrarias took office, Gaspar de Espinosa arrested Núñez de Balboa and he was tried "in absentia", resulting in the payment of compensation by Núñez de Balboa to Fernández de Enciso and to other accusers. However, he was declared innocent of the death of Nicuesa, and was therefore subsequently released.

On September 23, 1514, Balboa was appointed by the Crown adelantado of the South Sea and Governor of Panama and Coiba, subordinate to the new governor, but at the same time Pedrarias was ordered to grant Balboa freedom to exercise himself in matters of government. The Crown thus maintained ambiguity both in the division of powers between the two leaders and regarding the geographical extent of their jurisdictions, which were not delimited.[26] The appointment reached Balboa on March 20, 1515.[27]

Because of the overpopulation in Santa María, Pedrarias called on several expedition members to look for new sites to settle. Núñez de Balboa asked Pedrarias to let him carry out an expedition to Dabaibe, in the basin of the Atrato River, where a temple with great riches was rumored to exist. However, this expedition was a failure and Núñez de Balboa was wounded by the constant attacks of the natives of the region.

Pedrarias replaced the policy of alliances with the Indians begun by Balboa with another based on war and plunder. He even went so far as to bring about the death of the cacique Ponquiaco.[28] In 1515 Balboa complained by letter to King Ferdinand about what he considered Pedrarias's mistaken policy and the atrocities committed by his men against the Indians. Balboa also denounced Pedrarias's character, calling him sickly, indifferent to human losses and lax with the corrupt.[29] But the King distrusted Balboa because of his record and because the promised riches were not arriving in Spain.[30]

Despite this, it did not stop Núñez de Balboa's ambitions to explore the South Sea again, so he secretly managed to obtain a contingent of men from Cuba; the vessel bringing them anchored on the outskirts of Santa María, and the man in charge of the vessel notified Balboa and gave him the sum of 70 castellanos. Pedrarias soon noticed the presence of the vessel and, furious, arrested Núñez de Balboa, took from him the men he needed, and was ready to lock the conquistador in a wooden cage; however, Archbishop de Quevedo appealed to him not to inflict such a punishment. In the end Pedrarias absolved Núñez de Balboa.

Decline and death

Execution of Vasco Núñez de Balboa.

The rivalry between Núñez de Balboa and Pedrarias suddenly ceased, partly also because of the action taken by Bishop Juan de Quevedo together with Isabel de Bobadilla to marry Balboa to one of the daughters of Pedrarias, María de Peñalosa, who was in Spain. The wedding was held by proxy in April 1516[31] but the spouses never met (María de Peñalosa would later marry Rodrigo Contreras). With the marriage arranged, the Archbishop set out for Spain. The friendly relations with Pedrarias lasted barely two years, during which Núñez de Balboa began to treat him with apparent filial affection.

In Spain, Cardinal Cisneros, who governed the kingdoms after the death of the sovereign Ferdinand the Catholic in January 1516, ordered Pedrarias in July 1517 to place himself under the authority of the Hieronymite monks who since the previous year had been acting governors general of the Columbian Viceroyalty and were installed in Hispaniola.[32] This added even more complexity to the political situation of Castilla del Oro.

Núñez de Balboa wished to continue the exploration of the newly discovered sea and for this purpose founded a company called the "Company of the South Sea",[33] but his father-in-law delayed his departure as much as possible. In the end, since opposition to this project was no longer sustainable within the apparent cordiality that reigned between the two, Pedrarias consented to Núñez de Balboa carrying out the expedition, granting the conquistador license to explore for a year and a half.

Thus, between 1517 and 1518, Núñez de Balboa moved with 300 men to Acla, where the best-quality wood for shipbuilding was found. He managed to prepare the materials to build the ships, which were transported by natives.

He managed to make his way to the Balsas River, where he built four ships. He sailed 74 kilometers on the Pacific, traveling through the Pearl Islands and then along the coasts of Darién as far as Puerto Piñas, a place where many of these fruits grew. During these explorations he heard news of a great and very rich empire situated in the lands to the south.[34]

In order to travel to those lands he sent a detachment of some 50 men back to Acla to obtain more nautical materials. He also secretly ordered a select group of his closest followers to find out whether any new governor had arrived from Spain and, if so, to return immediately to inform him.[34]

On reaching Acla, one of Balboa's trusted men, Luis Botello, tried to slip into the settlement at night but was arrested. This gave Pedrarias's soldiers grounds to arrest the rest of the detachment.[35]

Immediately afterwards, Pedrarias wrote Balboa a letter in affectionate terms asking him to come before him with great urgency, and Balboa quickly agreed. Halfway there he met a group of men under the command of Francisco Pizarro, who arrested him on the governor's orders. Balboa was accused of treason for attempting to usurp power from Pedrarias and of trying to create a separate government on the South Sea.[36]

Núñez de Balboa indignantly denied this accusation and requested that he be sent to Hispaniola or to Spain for trial, but Pedrarias, in collusion with Alcalde Espinosa, ordered the trial to be held as soon as possible. The proceedings opened in mid-January 1519. On January 15 Núñez de Balboa was sentenced by Espinosa to death by decapitation. Four of his closest collaborators were also condemned: Fernando de Argüello, Luis Botello, Hernán Muñoz and Andrés Valderrábano, accused as accomplices. Two other men of Balboa escaped execution: Andrés de Garavito, who testified against Balboa during the trial, and the priest Rodrigo Pérez.[36]

Núñez de Balboa was led to the scaffold with his friends, and the voice of the town crier who was to proceed with the execution said: "This is the justice that the King and his lieutenant Pedro Arias de Ávila order to be done to this man as a traitor and usurper of the territories of the Crown." Núñez de Balboa could not contain his indignation and replied: "Lies, lies; such a crime never found a place in me; I have served the King loyally, thinking only of increasing his dominions."

Pedrarias watched the execution, hidden behind a platform: an executioner with an axe carried out the punishment. The heads of the beheaded men remained on display in the town for several days, to the curiosity and fear of the inhabitants. The fate of Núñez de Balboa's remains is unknown, because the texts and chronicles do not mention what happened after his execution.

Francisco Pizarro, after taking part in the capture of Núñez de Balboa, would obtain Pedrarias's support for organizing the expedition that would lead him to the conquest of Peru. Alcalde Gaspar de Espinosa was the one who would travel along the coasts of the South Sea in the ships that Núñez de Balboa himself had ordered built. Later, in 1520, Ferdinand Magellan would rename the sea the Pacific Ocean, because of its calm waters when he saw them.

Legacy

Monument to Vasco Núñez de Balboa in Panama.
A quarter balboa (cuara), legal tender in Panama.

Balboa had no children, so on his death his property was inherited by his brothers. It is not known what happened to his native companion. His eldest brother, Gonzalo, went to court to recover Vasco's property and good name. Gonzalo and two other brothers of Vasco, Juan and Álvaro, enlisted in the expedition to the South Sea captained by Sebastian Cabot in 1526. However, Gonzalo and Álvaro died on the Río de la Plata at the hands of the natives, while Juan, with a broken leg, returned to Spain.[37]

Most of the letters written by Vasco Núñez de Balboa disappeared, perhaps through a deliberate operation by the descendants of Pedrarias Dávila.[38] His activities were recorded in the chronicles of Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, who coincided with him for a year in Darién, and of Friar Bartolomé de las Casas. Both relied fundamentally on information supplied by Bishop Quevedo[39] and gave a version of events that exalted Balboa over Pedrarias, whom they denigrated as envious, violent and greedy.[40] The memory of Balboa later fell into oblivion until, at the beginning of the 19th century, he was rediscovered by two scholars: the Spaniard Manuel José Quintana, author of the first biography of Balboa, and the American Washington Irving.[41]

The figure of Vasco Núñez de Balboa was systematically extolled in Panama after the Separation of Panama from Colombia. Today various parks and avenues of the capital bear his name, and there is a monument facing the Pacific Ocean dedicated to his taking possession of the South Sea. In his honor the Panamanian currency was named the balboa, and his face appears on the obverse of some coins. His name also designates one of the main ports on the Panama Canal and the administrative district that comprises the Pearl Islands, which he came to discover. The Order of Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the highest decoration awarded by the Panamanian government to distinguished and outstanding figures at the national and international level, was established on January 28, 1933.[42]

In Spain, his name also appears on a street and an underground station of the Madrid Metro (Núñez de Balboa station) and on streets in many other Spanish cities such as Jaén, Seville, Salamanca, Barcelona and Valladolid.[43] In Extremadura a new town named Balboa was founded in 1952, and several companies bear that name: Siderúrgica Balboa, Cementos Balboa and the planned Balboa refinery, which was never built.[44]

In San Diego (California), Balboa Park, the largest in the city, was named after him.

The lunar crater Balboa is named in his honor.

In 2013, commemorating the 500th anniversary of his arrival at the Pacific, the Spanish production company Atrevida Producciones, in a Spanish–Panamanian coproduction, made the documentary film Descubridores por la ruta de Balboa, following the same route that Balboa had used across the Isthmus of Panama in his discovery of the South Sea.[45]

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "Andrés Contero | Real Academia de la Historia". dbe.rah.es (in español). Retrieved 2021-04-19.
  2. ↑ Correa, p. 85
  3. ↑ Correa, p. 108
  4. ↑ Correa, p. 193
  5. ↑ Correa, p. 207
  6. ↑ Correa, Feliciano (2017). Balboa, La fantástica historia de un hidalgo español (in español). Editora Regional de Extremadura. ISBN 9788477377397. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)
  7. ↑ Correa, p. 174
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Correa, pp. 247-248
  9. ↑ Correa, pp. 251-252
  10. ↑ Correa, pp. 225 - 227
  11. ↑ Correa, pp. 254-255
  12. ↑ Correa, p.264
  13. ↑ Correa, p. 256
  14. ↑ Correa, pp. 271-272
  15. ↑ Arranz Márquez, Luis (1982). Don Diego Colón, almirante, virrey y gobernador de las Indias (in español). Madrid: CSIC. pp. 130–131.
  16. ↑ Correa, pp. 283-284
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 González Gómez, Óscar (julio-diciembre 2008). "Visiones del "otro": la sexualidad de los pueblos originarios de América en las formaciones discursivas de la expansión ibérica". Estudios Latinoamericanos (in español) (22): 119–139. Retrieved July 12, 2014. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ↑ Correa, pp. 210-211
  19. ↑ Correa, pp. 297-298
  20. ↑ Correa, p. 308
  21. ↑ Correa, p. 287, citing Anglería
  22. ↑ Correa, pp. 303 and 308
  23. ↑ Record drawn up by the notary Valderrábano, collected by Fernández de Oviedo. Transcribed in Correa, pp. 312-313
  24. ↑ Villarejo, Esteban (June 9, 2014). "Núñez de Balboa, el extremeño que descubrió la inmensidad del Pacífico" (in español). ABC. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  25. ↑ Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, cited in Correa, p. 312
  26. ↑ Correa, p. 327
  27. ↑ Aram, p. 22
  28. ↑ Correa, p. 344
  29. ↑ Correa, pp. 333-334
  30. ↑ Aram, pp. 124-125
  31. ↑ Correa p. 351
  32. ↑ Correa, p. 342
  33. ↑ Correa pp. 352-353
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Correa, pp. 357-358
  35. ↑ Correa, p. 359
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Correa, p. 365
  37. ↑ Aram, pp. 231-232
  38. ↑ Correa, p. 34
  39. ↑ Aram, pp. 243-244.
  40. ↑ Aram, pp. 249-252
  41. ↑ Correa, p. 29
  42. ↑ Correa, p. 498
  43. ↑ Correa, pp. 495-496
  44. ↑ Correa, pp. 489-491
  45. ↑ Alberto M. Flechoso (2013): «Por la ruta de Núñez de Balboa», Sociedad Geográfica Española. Retrieved April 19, 2023.

Bibliography

  • Aram, Bethany. Leyenda negra y leyendas doradas en la conquista de América: Pedrarias y Balboa. Translated by Antonio J. Carrasco Álvarez. Madrid: Ediciones de Historia. 2007. ISBN 978-84-96467-67-5.
  • Asenjo García, Frutos. Vasco Núñez de Balboa: El descubrimiento del Mar del Sur. «Retratos de antaño» collection. Madrid: Sílex Ediciones, 11/1991. ISBN 84-7737-034-6 and ISBN 978-84-7737-034-5.
  • Correa, Feliciano. Balboa: La fantástica historia de un hidalgo español. Badajoz: Tecnigraf Editores, 2014. ISBN 978-84-96733-40-4
  • Garrison, Omar V. Balboa el conquistador: La odisea de Vasco Núñez, descubridor del Pacífico. «Biografías Gandesa» collection. Barcelona: Editorial Grijalbo, 01/1977. ISBN 84-253-0748-1 and ISBN 978-84-253-0748-5.
  • López de Gómara, Francisco. Historia General de las Indias (virtual book). Chapters LVII to LXVI. Medina del Campo, 1553; Zaragoza, 1555; Madrid, Calpe, 1922, volume 1.
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  • Enciclopedia Ilustrada Cumbre — Tomo 10. Pages 186–188. 32nd edition — 1993. Editorial Hachette Latinoamérica, S.A. de C.V., Mexico. ISBN 970-611-125-5
  • Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, Gonzalo. Historia general y natural de las Indias. Madrid, 1850.
  • Rubio, Ángel. La ruta de Balboa y el descubrimiento del Océano Pacífico. Instituto Panamericano de Geografía e Historia, 1965 - 133 pages
  • Mellander, Gustavo A. (1971). The United States in Panamanian Politics: The Intriguing Formative Years. Danville, Ill.: Interstate Publishers. OCLC 138568.
  • Andagoya, Pascual de. Relación de los sucesos de Pedrarias Dávila. III. Madrid, 1829.
  • Zweig, Stefan. Momentos estelares de la humanidad. Ed. Acantilado, Barcelona, 2002.
  • Rivero, Francisco. Nuñez de Balboa y Nicolás de Ovando. Coloquios Históricos de Extremadura. April 30, 2014
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