BALBOA, VASCO NUNEZ DE (c. Spanish explorer and conquistador, the discoverer of the Pacific, was born at Jerez de los Caballeros, in Estremadura, about 1475, of gentle parentage. In 15oI he followed Rodrigo de Bastidas in his voy age of discovery to the western seas. He appears to have settled in Hispaniola and taken to cultivating land in the neighbourhood of Salvatierra. In 1509 the famous Ojeda (Hojeda) sailed from San Domingo with an expedition and founded the settlement of San Sebastian. He had left orders with Enciso, an adventurous lawyer of the town, to fit out two ships and convey provisions to the new settlement. Enciso set sail in 151o, and Balboa, whose debts made the town unpleasant to him, managed to accompany him by concealing himself, it is said, in a cask of "victuals for the voyage," which was conveyed from his farm to the ship. The expedition reached San Sebastian to find Ojeda gone and the settle ment in ruins. While Enciso was undecided how to act, Balboa proposed that they should sail for Darien, on the Gulf of Uraba, where he had touched when with Bastidas. His proposal was accepted and a new town was founded, named Sta Maria de la Antigua del Darien ; but quarrels soon broke out among the ad venturers, and Enciso was deposed, thrown into prison, and finally sent off to Spain with Balboa's ally, the alcalde Zamudio. Being thus left in authority, Balboa began to conquer the surrounding country, and by his bravery, courtesy, kindness of heart, and just dealing gained the friendship of several native chiefs. On one of these excursions he heard for the first time, frcm the cacique Comogre, of the ocean on the other side of the mountains and of the gold of Peru. Soon after his return to Darien he received let ters from Zamudio, informing him that Enciso had complained to the king and had obtained a sentence condemning Balboa and summoning him to Spain. In his despair at this message Vasco Nunez resolved to attempt some great enterprise, the success of which he trusted would conciliate his sovereign. On Sept. 1, 1513, he set out with 190 Spaniards (Francisco Pizarro among them) and i,000 natives; on Sept. 25 or 26 he reached the summit of the range and sighted the Pacific. Pizarro and two others were sent on to reconnoitre ; one of these scouts, Alonzo Martin, was the first European actually to embark upon the new-found ocean, in St. Michael's Gulf. On Sept. 29 Balboa himself arrived upon the shore, and formally took possession of the "Great South Sea" in the name of the Spanish monarch. He remained on the coast for some time, heard again of Peru, visited the Pearl Islands, and thence returned to Darien, which he entered in triumph with great booty on Jan. 18, 1514. He at once sent messengers to Spain bearing presents, to give an account of his discoveries; and the king, Ferdinand the Catholic, partly reconciled to his daring sub ject, named him Adelantado of the South Sea, or admiral of the Pacific, and governor of Panama and Coyba. None the less an expedition sailed from Spain under Don Pedro Arias de Avila (generally called Pedrarias Davila) to replace Balboa in the gov ernment of the Darien colony itself. Meanwhile the latter had crossed the isthmus and revisited the Pacific several (some say more than 2o) times; plans of the conquest of Peru and of the exploration of the western ocean began to shape themselves in his mind; and, with a view to realizing these projects, two light brigantines were built, launched, and armed. With these Vasco Nunez took possession of the Pearl Islands, and, had it not been for the weather, would have reached the coast of Peru. His career was stopped by the jealousy of Pedrarias, who enticed him to Acla, near Darien, by a crafty message. As soon as he had him in his power he threw him into prison, had him tried for treason, and forced the judge to condemn him to death. The sentence was carried out on the public square of Acla in 1517.