Vasco Nunez de Balboa (1475-1519) :
Spanish navigator and conquistador who discovered the Pacific Ocean. Born in the village of Extremadura

Jerez de los Caballeros ( Badajoz ) . He embarked in 1500 for the New World in the expedition of Rodrigo de Bastidas , who explored the Caribbean coast from Cabo de la Vela in the Guajira Peninsula to the Gulf of Darien . On his return in 1502 went through Jamaica and settled in The Spanish , in the town of Salvatierra , where
he lived several years without any financial success and loaded with debt. In 1510 he embarked as a stowaway on one of the ships of the expedition that Martin Fernandez de Enciso proposed aid to reach his partner Alonso de Ojeda , in Nueva Andalucía , on the Colombian coast of Urabá . On arrival , Enciso , a proposal from Balboa , the site moved to Darien in the Panamanian coast . Here they founded in 1510 the first stable settlement that lasted in America, the municipality of Santa María la Antigua del Darién , which the colonists deposed Enciso and elected a council. Nicuesa Diego , governor of Veragua , future Castilla del Oro, considered the settlement an intrusion on their territory and decided to punish the colonists . Balboa defeated him and thus not only able to win the sympathy of the settlers but also got that in December the same year, the viceroy Diego Colón , the highest authority in America, will appoint his lieutenant in Darien . The king , meanwhile , was named the December 23, 1511 Captain and acting governor of Darien .


The South Sea and navigation in the American Pacific 
On the eve of the celebration of one of the most significant events for our country and world history , we remember what happened five hundred years ago and how it influenced our future as a nation.

The monument to Vasco Nunez de Balboa , consisting of a bronze statue on a globe stake held by four figures , was made ​​in honor of the Spanish conquistador and donated in 1921 by King Alfonso XIII of Spain to the Panamanian Government chaired by Dr. Belisario Porras.
Surely , the adventurous 38-year- old who in 1513 spotted from the Darien mountains , an ocean of great proportions , I knew I had done a major feat . So he hastened to send their Catholic monarchs details of his expedition . I was looking for , essentially , enhance their reputation in court and move up the social ladder. Although some of this got after the grant to him of the titles of Adelantado of the South Sea and Governor of Panama and Coiba , his exploits do not get rid of suffering , a few years later, a violent death.
It is unlikely, however, that before his execution in Acla , in 1519 , that explorer had conceptualized the impact his discovery would have for humanity. The transfer of the news to the old continent (south of the lands discovered there is a big ocean! ) Radically transformed the European worldview , which would soon become dominant in the world. Its effect on the organization of geographical space and the global economy was enormous. In 2013, five hundred years are met in that famous episode of world history .
The discovery of the South Sea confirmed definitively that Christopher Columbus explored territories are part of a vast continent , full of potential, integrated into the European mind from that time. This , finally completed the world map. But when left Santa Maria de la Antigua , on the west bank of the Gulf of Uraba , on September 1, 1513 , Vasco Nunez de Balboa was not sure any of these geographical concepts . Just knew he was on the trail of a sea bordering on precious metal -rich kingdoms . With him were fellow adventurers , Indian allies and a pack of trained dogs , of fearsome predatory capacity , that the Spanish used to employ in their bloodthirsty " inputs" and whose purpose was to tear any enemy pretendiese hamper your business.

Galleons , usually built in Guayaquil , were part of the Southern Army , which served to move from South America to Spain valuable commodity , using the Isthmus of Panama for that purpose.
Three weeks and a few days later, on September 25 - Balboa first saw the Pacific Ocean from a mountain Darien . A sea itself became the future Come on September 29th - day of St. Michael the Archangel , by what he called the gulf in honor of the chief of the heavenly sea and took possession on behalf of the Crown of Castile, to the which Pope Alexander VI , in his famous bull of 1493 , had " donated" all the territories ( and presumably also the sea ) " found and find " west of an imaginary line drawn across the Atlantic.
Without suspecting it Balboa , the Pacific Ocean sighting led to a globalization that enveloped Panama very early and defined the role of the isthmus in the international economic order . Since then , Panama is a transit route distribution center of people and goods , and strategic landmark for the great powers. Thanks to the discovery of the South Sea , the isthmus of Panama acquired for Spain ( and its successors powers ) , greater importance which merit only in terms of its land area or natural resource availability .
From the city of Panama , founded by Pedrarias Dávila strategic vision ( father and executioner of Balboa ) in 1519 , several expeditions were leaving exploration, conquest and Spanish settlement on the Pacific coast of America. The most important, of course , was under the command of Francisco Pizarro submitted to the Inca Empire in 1532. This historic event , startling and brutal , allowed Europe to agree to the fantastic wealth of gold and silver from South America, prompted the development of modern capitalism and inserted Panama a nautical circuit current even five centuries later. Indeed, the sea route that connects the South American Pacific to the North Atlantic, one that today crosses the Panama Canal , traces its origins to the discovery of the South Sea and the start of the Spanish sailing on that ocean.

The merchandise had to reach Spain was transported by mule across the Isthmus by the Camino Real to Nombre de Dios (later Portobelo ) . Five hundred years ago and today we were still a good passing center .
From early - explains Alfredo Castillero Calvo - Panama was part of the Carrera de Indias, a system of fleets and fairs established by Spain in 1543 , which aimed to ensure the transfer of metals and other valuable resources of the New World to Spain , as to cater to the American territories of consumer goods demanded by the people of this continent . The Atlantic Fleet , which operated between the Iberian Peninsula and the Caribbean Sea , was the central element of the system. To add to the valuable Atlantic convoy products could be obtained in the extensive coastlines of the Pacific , created the Manila galleon , which connected East ( through the Philippines) with the West (through Mexico ) . Navy also established South , whose purpose was to move to Panama the valuable product for South American mines , from our isthmus , this load is re-export to Spain . Both routes operated from very early in the sea , whose existence was revealed to the Europeans by Balboa.
South Fleet , says the historian Alfredo Castillero Calvo , galleon was usually built in Guayaquil , where Spanish times was based the main shipyard of South America. Although the isthmus was early major maritime center , where - in addition , there was plenty of wood and small yards , they were not made in Panama galleons fleet (although they were built brigs and other small vessels ) .

Portobelo was an important natural harbor from where they sailed most of the wealth that would destined for

Europe . Balboa 's expedition sighted five hundred years ago the South Sea world geography changed .
The South Armada sailed normally Peruvian port Callao to Panama in April or May. Her royal treasury and other merchandise , as well as officials , private traders and other travelers . For security - discuss Arauz and Pizzurno historians - and to take advantage of the favorable effect of winds and ocean currents , the ride to the isthmus bordering the coast. The journey from Peru took between fifteen and thirty days. Once in Panama , goods destined for Spain were transported by mule across the Isthmus by the Camino Real to Nombre de Dios (later Portobelo ) . An alternate route not normally used for the royal treasury , departed from Panama to Venta de Cruces and from there used the Chagres River to its mouth .
On return trips , according Arauz and Pizzurno , South Fleet had " tissue iron manufacturing, garments, oil, wine and other Europeans." It is also likely that highly prized Panamanian moved items in other Pacific ports , according to Castillero Calvo. Among the cargo exported from Panama not been unusual to find fine woods used in construction , especially appreciated in Lima , pita plant which extracts a tough fiber used to make bags, murex mollusk of our seas that obtained purple , a dye very expensive ( just for that color ) pearls, which abounded in our South Sea; beef tallow in large quantities, used to make candles and soaps , butter and salted meat , herbs and even brooms.
Although the load crosses the South Sea and from Panama has a different composition today , navigating the South American Pacific still gives boost to the economies of the region, as in the days of Spanish rule . And the antecedent for that route so important to the isthmus and the sister republics of Chile, Peru , Ecuador and Colombia goes back precisely to the issuance of five hundred years Balboa crossed the Darien towards a fabulous ocean , event conducted in Panama which contributed significantly to defining the contours of the modern world .