wild animals, various kinds of birds, and an
infinite number of trees, all aromatic. We
brought home pearls in their growing state
and gold in the grain.... We brought many
other stones which appeared beautiful to us,
but of all these we did not bring a large quan-
tity, as we were continually busy in naviga-
tion, and did not stay long in any one place.Sailing for Portugal instead of Spain in
1501, Vespucci returned to Brazil and contin-
ued south, perhaps as far as South Georgia in
the Falkland Islands. It is unknown how far
south he reached, but the voyage had the sig-
nificant effect of convincing many Europeans
that the Western Hemisphere was indeed a
“New World,” not part of Asia.
Vespucci claimed to have returned to the
coast of Brazil again in 1503–05, but lack of
records again makes the claim controversial.
In any case, Vespucci returned to Spain, where
he was appointed “pilot major,” or chief navi-
gator, by King Ferdinand. Vespucci spent the
rest of his life serving in this important post,
which made him responsible for training and
licensing pilots, preparing maps, and collect-
ing information from sea captains returning
from the New World.BALBOA REACHES
THE PACIFIC
One failed Spanish settler in the Caribbean
later emerged as one of its most noteworthy
explorers. Vasco Núñez de Balboa sailed from
Spain in 1501 with an expedition commanded
by Rodrigo de Bastidas and Juan de la Cosa.
During the voyage they crossed the Gulf of
Urabá, on the northern coast of present-day
Colombia, and visited the Indian coastal vil-
lage of Darién in southeastern Panama.
Balboa settled on the island of Hispaniola
and became a planter, but by 1510 he was
broke. To escape his creditors, he hid inside a
barrel aboard ashipload of reinforcements
bound for a settlement on the eastern shore ofA New W orld B 43