Panama: Crossroads of Empires · Episode 2 of 24 · 24 min
Balboa and the Pacific, 1513: The Stowaway Who Redrew the World Map
A debt-ridden adventurer stowed away from Hispaniola in 1510 and three years later became the first European to see the Pacific from Panama. Balboa's rivalry with the governor Pedrarias Dávila ended with his beheading in 1519. His 'South Sea' showed the Americas were a separate continent, though he was also a conquistador who massacred Indigenous people.
Who's who
- Vasco Núñez de BalboaConquistador; first European to see the Pacific from Panama; beheaded 1519
- Pedrarias Dávila+1 more episodeRoyal governor nicknamed 'Wrath of God'; engineered Balboa's death
- Rodrigo de BastidasFirst European to chart Panama's Caribbean coast in 1501
- Christopher Columbus+1 more episodeFailed to plant a colony on the Veraguas coast in 1502-03
- Francisco PizarroBalboa's lieutenant who carried out his arrest
- Gaspar de EspinosaChief justice who presided over Balboa's trial
- CaretaCueva chief who allied with Balboa
- PanquiacoChief's son who told Balboa of a great sea to the south
Where it happens
- Santa María la Antigua del Darién, PanamaFirst lasting European town on the American mainland
- Gulf of San Miguel, PanamaWhere Balboa claimed the Pacific for Castile
- Acla, PanamaPlace of Balboa's execution
- Veraguas, PanamaCoast where Columbus's colony attempt failed
Timeline
- 1501Bastidas charts Panama's Caribbean coast
- 1510Balboa stows away from Santo Domingo and helps found Santa María la Antigua
- September 1, 1513Balboa sets out across the isthmus with about 190 Spaniards
- September 29, 1513Balboa wades into the Pacific and claims it for Castile
- 1514Pedrarias Dávila arrives to govern Castilla del Oro
- January 1519Balboa is arrested, tried and beheaded at Acla
Still debated
The sighting date is given as September 25 or 27, 1513, and the barrel-stowaway story is the traditional account. The chroniclers Oviedo and Anghiera had their own agendas, and the death tolls at Quarequá come from them. Indigenous voices reach us only through Spanish accounts.
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