Vasco Núñez de Balboa is one of the most significant persons in Spain.

He lived in a
poor family and no one ever traced his early background when he was still young. As far
as others knew,he was the third of the four boys in the family. He lived in the place
called Jerez de los Caballeros,Spain. He’s father was Hidalgo Nuño Arias de Balboa
and he’s mother was Lady de Badajoz.

He worked as a fencing instructor with the young and upcoming explorers in Spain. He
also worked as a pig farmer. He didn’t found his luck in farming and as a fencing
instructor.He never returned again in Spain. He’s so ambitious and so he decided to left
Spain in 1510. He joined an exploration in searching for gold, silver, tin, and bronze. But
instead of searching those kind of things, he discovered “pearl”. What will they do with
the pearl is that, they will made exchanges with the Indians and trade it with jewelries,
pearls, and other sort of things so that they can earn more. And soon they returned to
Hispaniola, the captain whom he met got angry with him and decided not to joined him
in their group. Since Balboa has a good charisma, he then met the Governor and
impressed the governor in his skill and knowledge of the Caribbean.In 1510 he sailed a
ship and found the place called “Panama”. He also became the Governor of Antigua.

Balboa was a great conquistador. He told the King Ferdinand, who was the ruler during
that time, that he will have an expedition and he needs men in order to discover the
South Sea. In 1512, was his first expedition. He discovered a lot of things. He was
amazed in the placed. So, in 1513, he wrote letter to the King about his discoveries and
expeditions. He left Antigua in September 1,1513 together with his 27 men, and 800
Indians and searched for South Sea. And he discovered South Sea in September
25,1513. He returned back to the King in October and King Ferdinand was very glad
because he brought gold and pearl a lot. In 1514, Balboa a New world and called it
“Golden Castle”. There was a tragic happened in January 1515. King Ferdinand
investigated him with no reason and wants him jailed. So, in 1519,after so many trials
and investigations that they’ve searched for Balboa, he was arrested and charged for
treason. But with all those court findings, he remained innocent of the said accusations.
He was sentenced and judged into a death sentenced and got beheaded. Until now,
there’s still a mystery of why did it happened unto him. Balboa remained as one of the
significant figures in our World History today.