Spanish royal authorities, who were being
persuaded to punish him for deposing the
colony’s first governors. Hoping to prove his
worth to the king, in 1512 he led a small expe-
dition into the southwestern corner of Colom-
bia and, although he found little more than
cinnamon trees, he was the first European to
see the Andes Mountains. On his return to
Panama, when it seemed likely that he might
be sent to Spain under arrest, Balboa organ-
ized another expedition to search for riches
that would make the colony a success.
Indian guides chose a starting spot near
Puerto Esconcés, on the southeastern shore
ofPanama. On September 1, 1513, the guides
led 190 Spaniards and hundreds of Indian
porters into the mountains. As they
ascended, they were met by nearly impene-
trable forests and had to hack their way
through the jungle with machetes. Through-
out his progress across the isthmus, Balboa
continued his practice of offering peaceful
alliances to friendly Indians and violently
conquering any who resisted his progress.
The expedition struggled for three weeks
through swamps and over mountains that
remain barely accessible even today.
Balboa himself was the first European to
see the Pacific Ocean. On the morning of
September 27, he walked ahead of his men to
the top of a hill and suddenly spotted the vast
waters, which he called Mar del Sur, the “Sea
of the South.” Four days later, the expedition
reached the ocean. Spanish historian Gon-
zalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés reported
the scene in his Historia general y natural de
las Indias (G eneral history of the Indies,
1547):
The water was low, and great areas of mud
exposed; so they sat by the shore waiting for
the tide to rise, which presently it did, rush-
ing into the bay with great speed and force.Then Captain Vasco Núñez held up a ban-
ner with a picture of the blessed Virgin...
and with his drawn swordin his hand and
his shield on his arm, he waded into the salt
sea up to his knees...Pacing back and forth in the surf, Balboa
claimed the sea and all the contiguous lands
for Spain.
On January 18, 1514, Balboa arrived back in
Darién, without having lost a single member of
his expedition. Unfortunately for Balboa, KingIn this illustration published in 1859, Vasco Núñez
de Balboa claims the Pacific Ocean for Spain.
(National Archives of Canada)A New World B 45