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| Vasco Nuñez de Balboa |
Hoping to make his fortune, Balboa sailed for America in 1501 with another Spanish explorer. He first tried his hand at farming on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean, but he was not successful.
Some years later, to escape his debts, he hid on a ship bound for the mainland. He finally reached Darien, now called Panama, and became governor there. Balboa conquered the Indians round about, but he treated them so well that they were friendly. From some of the Indian chiefs he heard of a great sea that lay beyond the mountains.
On September 1, 1513, Balboa set out to find this great sea. With him he took 190 Spaniards and 1,000 Indians. They had to hack through deep jungle. The going was always hard. At last, on September 25, Balboa climbed to the top of a bare hill and saw a vast sea in the distance. He named it the Southern Sea. It was, of course, the Pacific Ocean. Balboa was the first white man to see it from the New World.
Four days later Núñez de Balboa reached the shore and waded out into the ocean with his sword held high. He claimed the sea and all the lands that bordered it for Spain. But he got no reward. Four years later he was put to death by a new Spanish governor.
