Vasco Núñez de Balboa Reaches Pacific Ocean (1513)

Balboa was a Spanish conquistador who, while fleeing creditors, hid on a vessel and wound up in Panama. Once there, he founded the Panamanian colony of Darién, the first stable settlement on the South American continent, and won the friendship of the indigenous people—which was unusual given the cruelty of most conquistadors. Balboa then crossed the Isthmus of Panama and reached the Pacific Ocean, claiming it and all shores washed by it for the Spanish crown. What did he call this ocean? Discuss

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