Free ebooks ==> http://www.Ebook777.com
Ferdinand dispatched a new governor to the
colony, a ruthless elderly nobleman named
Pedro Arias de Ávila, commonly called
Pedrarias Dávila. Pedrarias arrived with 2,000
settlers and soldiers, who were dismayed to
discover that the grand city they expected to
find at Darién was little more than a frontier
settlement.
Having lost his governorship to Pedrarias,
Balboa busied himself by transporting ship-
building materials to the Pacific coast. Two
ships were constructed and reached the Pearl
Islands in the Gulf of Panama in 1517, but Bal-
boa’s attempts to sail southward were halted
by rough weather. By then, Balboa’s political
enemies had conceived a plan to destroy him.
After luring Balboa back to Darién, Pedrarias
charged him with treason and other crimes.
After a long series of trials on trumped-up
charges, Balboa was beheaded on January 21,
1519.
Pedrarias continued to rule Darién. He
sent expeditions into the countryside in
search of gold, governing with legendary cru-
elty and destroying the friendships Balboa
had cultivated with Indians. During this time,
reports began to reach Darién about a wealthy
land to the south called Virú or Birú. This
land—eventually called Peru—was soon
found by adour soldier Balboa had saved
from starvation in the Gulf of Urabá, with
whom he had marched to the Pacific, and by
whom he had been arrested upon Pedrarias’s
orders—Francisco Pizarro.(^46) B Discovery of the Americas, 1492–1800
http://www.Ebook777.com