Vasco Nunes deBalboa

By Elspeth Myers

Balboa was a very accomplished man, eventhough he had a rather short life. He befriended Indians instead of killingthem, founded a colony, and even was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean.He was one of the greatest men in the early 1500’s. Now you may be wonderinghow he did this, or even what he did after he saw the pacific. All thesequestions and more will be answered below.

Vasco Nunez de Balboa (Balboa) was born inJerez de los Caballeros, Spain in 1475. We know nothing of his childhood butthat he came from a rather poor family. In 1501 Balboa made the decision thathe was going to go to the new world. Rodrigo de Bastadas hired Balboa at theage of 26 because he looked like a strong worker who could face the manyhardships that came at sea. Balboa’s reason for coming to the new world was that so he could becomerich and famous (which he did). Whenthe crew reached Colombia, Bastadas wanted to build a colony, but the mentalked him out of it because they had neither the food nor the money. Afterthey were docked in a harbor on Hispaniola, they discovered there was a leak inthe boat. Every thing that ship was to do was postponed so they could try andsalvage the ship. For the time being Balboa was to make a living by raising pigs.

But soon, he drove him self into debt, owingmany people in his town large sums. In 1509 Balboa tried to escape his debts byleaving on a ship which was going to establish a colony. But all the people, towhom he owed money to, stopped him from going. As much as those people wantedhim to stay, Balboa wanted to get away and explore even more. That’s why in1510 Balboa decided he could wait no longer and snuck aboard a supply ship. Hehid in a barrel to avoid getting detected by the crew. The ship was takingsupplies to the colony that had been established the previous year. When theylanded the captain Martin Fernandez de Enciso found Balboa curled up inside abarrel. Even though they found him in the most peculiar way, they soon acceptedBalboa as one of their crew members.

When they went to go take the supplies tothe colony, they found it deserted. The colony was most likely deserted forreasons like lack of food or Indian raids. They knew they should build a newcolony, but where? If they built in the same spot, they Indians were sureattack them. Balboa then suggested that they should sail to the west side ofthe gulf so that they could build their colony by more peaceful Indians. So thecrew packed up and off they sailed. When they reached the west coast in 1511,they established a colony. The colony was called Santa Maria de la Antigua DelDarien.

After the colony had been established andit was clear that it was doing well, Enciso went back to Hispaniola. AfterEnciso had set sail, Balboa stepped up and took his place as unofficialgovernor. But soon after becoming governor, Balboa became bored of just sittingaround at his desk all day. So he decided to go out and try to find survivorsfrom the deserted colony; Nombre de Dios. When Balboa and his men came toshore, they found that the colony had not changed much in their absence.Although Balboa knew that there was only a very slim chance that any one hadsurvived, he and his men went into the forest to try and find survivors. Theysearched for hours. Just when Balboaand his men were ready to give up, they found two men who talked and spoke likeIndians. The two survivors told the men that they had been criminals, and to escapedeath they decided to go and join the Indian tribe. They told Balboa of theIndian chief; Carcta, and where he kept a supply of gold hidden.

WhenBalboa heard that Carcta kept gold, he decided he and his men would raid theIndian village. After he and his men had taken all the gold and goods, he took Carctaand his family hostage. Although Carcta was a captive, he still tried to actlike a guest. This impressed Balboa and he soon began to admire the Indianchief. Balboa decided that he should not keep Carcta and his family prisoneranymore. Carcta was so glad to be free; he gave his daughter to Balboa inthanks. After Balboa learned that you could get things by just being nice tothe Indians, not fighting them. One of the Indian chiefs Balboa befriended(Conagra) helped him very much in his biggest discover; the Pacific Ocean.

Conagrawas a very good friend to Balboa. He gave Balboa men, gold, wine, and manyother gifts. One day when Conagra’s son came to give Balboa some gifts, he toldhim of a sea beyond the big mountain range by what is now known as the PanamaCanal. He told of how people lived there that had huge boats. After hearingabout the sea and the people who lived there, Balboa decided to go check itout. In 1513 Balboa set out with Spanish and Indian men to discover this mysteriousocean.

Theytoiled through swamps, dense forests, and mountains. They befriended Indiantribes, and fought battles with hostile ones. On September 26^th,1513, Balboa was the fist European to view the Pacific Ocean (the name pacificrefers the waters seeming to be peaceful). Balboa waded into the sea andclaimed it; and all the lands touching it, to belong to Spain. Balboa knew thiswould help him gain his rightful place as governor of Darien, because he hadnot been officially approved by the king. So he thought for sure that thiswould win the king’s trust. Not knowing that the king already had picked agovernor for Darien, Balboa sent the king all of the gold and goods he hadcollected on his journeys.

Thenew governor of Darien was Pedro Arias de Avila (Pedrarias). Pedrarias heardthat Balboa had sent his gold and goods as well as well as the news of hisdiscovery to the king in hopes of becoming governor of Darien. Pedrarias wasfearful at the thought that he could lose his job, so he sent 2,000 men toarrest Balboa under the claim of treason. The men Pedrarias had sent killedalmost all of Balboa’s Indian companions. Balboa probably could have savedthem, but he was shocked by what the Spanish were doing to the Indians. Finally,King Ferdinand made Balboa the governor of the Pacific. Pedrarias was forced to stop attemptingto arrest Balboa, and Balbo was not charged with treason.

Aftera while Pedrarias got jealous of Balboa again. While he; Pedrarias, had to sitat his desk all day, or be near or inside the city at all times, Balboa wasfree to roam where ever he pleased. When Pedrarias’ wife found out that therewas tension between the two, she offered a marriage of her daughter to Balboa.To everyone’s surprise (and most likely to his own), he accepted. The real mysterylies in what Pedrarias thought. Did he think he could control Balboa if he wasmarried to his daughter? Nobody knows. What’s also weird is that Balboa hadnever met the girl. Maybe he thought that if he accepted the marriage (eventhough he was still living with Carcta’s daughter), the tension between the twowould subside.

Unfortunatelyfor Balboa, his Lt. Francisco Gerabite (who had fallen for Carcta’s daughter)did not approve of Balboa not marrying her. Gerabite decided to send a messageto Pedrarias telling him that Balboa would not marry his daughter and plannedto succeed Pedrarias as governor. When Pedrarias received the letter, hethought it was from Balboa, and got very angry. He decided that Balboa neededto be taught a lesson, so he sent Francisco Pizzaro to arrest him. Balboa was chargedwith treason and Pedrarias had a quick trial for him (so that nobody could finda flaw with the treason charge). The trial ended quickly and accomplished what Pedrarias had previouslyfailed to do. Balboa was convicted and publicly beheaded in January 1519, nearthe town of Acla. Thus Balboa’slife ended at a very early age – he was only 44.

Ifhe hadn’t had help from the Indians We Balboa wouldn’t have been able to be thefirst European to see the pacific. He also discovered a key fact that most exploresdidn’t seem to get. You get more from the Indians if you befriend them and conquerthem with friendship, than you do if you conquer them with war and forcedreligions. Can you image what Cortez could have done if he had learned this? If Balboa hadn’t had the help from theIndians in finding the Pacific Ocean and from all the gold and goods he sent tothe King of Spain, he would probably have lived an even shorter life, due tohis enemies’ greed and desire for power.