Vasco Nunez de Balboa

Vasco Nunez de Balboa was born in Spain, in the town of Jerez de los Kaballeros in Extremadura. In his youth he led the wild life, as a result of which he was on the island of Hispaniola (now - Haiti). There he received a piece of land, but its economy did not make a large profit, and it caused a lot of debt. Hiding from creditors, Balboa secretly fled, hiding in a barrel on board one of the ships of the expedition of Martin Hernandez Ersiso its way to the Gulf of Dariц?n.
With great difficulty and loss of the expedition reached the coast of the Isthmus of Panama, where under the leadership of Balboa colonists immediately attacked the local village and looted it. After that Balboa was elected leader of the expedition, and Ersiso deprived of office on the grounds that his rights did not extend to this territory, which was then called "Golden Castile".
All this happened around 1511. Available Balboa was only about 300 sailors and colonists, many of whom could not stand up. However, Balboa these forces began the conquest of inland territories Golden Castile, skillfully using the hostility of local tribes to each other. From the local Indians Balboa discovered the existence of nearby "South Sea". He immediately decided to go there with the expedition, but those plans were realized only after two years, when the news came from Spain that the government considers him a rebel. Balbo needed redemptive deed.
In 1513 he moved to the courts from the mouth of the Atrato River in the north-west along the coast, a distance of about 150 km. There he landed and September 1 with a detachment of one hundred and eighty soldiers moved towards the "South Sea". The expedition was accompanied by six hundred Indian porters, and a pack of hounds.
After twenty transition, accompanied by a continual battle with the Indians, as well as the struggle with the jungle, mosquitoes and disease, Balboa, standing on the crest of the mountain saw Gulf of Panama "South Sea" - the Pacific. On 29 September he went to the bay, which he named St. Miguel.
Balboa is back on the east coast with a rich mining and information about the richest country, "Bir" (ie. Peru), located in the South. He sent to Spain, one fifth of the booty with the description of the discoveries made by him and began to prepare to march south. However, his plans failed to materialize.
The new governor of the Golden Castile, Pedro Arias de Avila brought with him the forgiveness of the king and 22 ships with polutoratysyachnoy crowd of adventurers. Although at the mercy of the Crown to Balboa, Avila saw him as his rival and challenger for governor, and began a secret investigation that ended in 1517 Balboa arrest on charges of sedition. Soon Balboa was executed, and the opening of Peru by the Spaniards had been postponed for another 15 years.

WWC Team