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Balboa Claimed The Entire Pacific Ocean...And Lost His Head

5/26/2014

 
PictureBalboa claiming the Pacific Ocean for Spain. Wikimedia Commons
Roger M. McCoy

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Vasco Núñez de Balboa came from a Spanish family of limited means. This bit of information contrasts him with some explorers/entrepreneurs who operated at least partly from a reserve of family wealth. But Balboa had an agile mind and enterprising spirit, and soon learned to work events to his advantage. He heard of unlimited opportunity in the New World for anyone with some ingenuity and an inventive mind, and at age twenty-five (c.1500) Balboa accompanied a Captain Bastidas on a ship bound for the northeast coast of South America on a gold-seeking voyage and then on to the island of Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic are now on this island). En route the ship passed the coastline of Darien (now a province of Panama), and Balboa noted an interest in the potential of the area. 

By 1505 he acquired enough land in Hispaniola, using his share of gold from the voyage, to become a planter, producing crops for local consumption and export. This was a very good idea and could have made him wealthy, but Balboa was seriously underfunded for such an enterprise. Soon creditors were hounding him and threatening to seize his holdings and put him in jail. 

  Balboa’s ingenuity saved the day. He had himself packed into a provisioning cask, along with his sword and a change of clothing, to be loaded with a shipment of products from his own farm. We have no information on the size of the cask nor on Balboa’s height and girth...presumably he was smallish. The ship was bound for San Sebastian, a new colony in Darien.

Once at sea Balboa freed himself from the cask and immediately encountered the ship’s owner, Martin de Enciso, who was at first very hostile toward stowaways. The versatile Balboa must have had a charming manner for he soon befriended Enciso.

Upon arrival at San Sebastian the travelers found the colony deserted. Balboa persuaded Enciso to start a new colony on the western shore across the Gulf of Darien. Enciso agreed and founded Santa Maria de l’Antigua del Darien in 1509. Balboa recommended this site because on his prior voyage along this coast he had been told the natives on the west shore of the Gulf of Darien had no poison on their arrows. That would be a positive feature for anyplace, I think. It happens that Santa Maria de l’Antigua del Darien was the first successful settlement on the mainland of the new continent.

The success of Santa Maria, however, brought problems for Balboa. Enciso returned to Spain, leaving Balboa in charge. Diego Columbus, son of the great discoverer, was now governor of the region. He sent official authorization for Balboa to continue as administrator of Santa Maria, with the strict provision that Balboa should produce some achievement to prove himself or be recalled to Spain to account for himself.

Unlike Pizarro and numerous others, Balboa was a conquistador who made an effort to be friendly and considerate of the native people. His humane treatment of the natives caused trouble for him with the other European colonists, who avoided labor and thought the Indians should be enslaved to do the heavy work. Balboa even became a blood brother with the local cacique (tribal chief), Comaco, married one of the cacique’s daughters, and assisted the local natives in their intertribal wars. In return for good treatment, the tribes were willing to provide many needed provisions and act as guides in the area. 

A contemporary Italian historian, Peter Martyr, told of an incident in which the cacique gave Balboa a large quantity of gold ornaments, which Balboa proceeded to divide among his men according to rank.The son of the cacique became disgusted with their greediness and dashed the scale from their hands, scattering the gold. “What is the matter with you Christian men,” the son shouted, “that you so greatly esteem a little  portion of gold more than your own quietness. If your hunger for gold be so insatiable that your desire thereto disquiets so many nations, I shall show you a region flowing with gold where you may satisfy your ravening appetites. When you are passing over these mountains you shall see another sea where they sail with ships as big as yours, though the men be as naked as we are.” 

This outburst by the cacique’s son ignited Balboa’s imagination, not to mention his lust for gold. Such a discovery would be just the thing to convince the powers in Spain that he was worthy of his post and make him a wealthy man at last. Thus began his expedition to cross one of the most impenetrable rain forests in the world. The distance was short and the mountains not high, but the forests and swamps had never been crossed. His success, therefore, was not assured, but he was undaunted...perhaps through ignorance about the extent of danger involved.

Balboa began his trek September 1, 1513 from a point on the coast about fifty miles west of Santa Maria. The isthmus there is only about 45 miles wide, and the peaks are no more than 1,000 feet high, but the dense forests require machetes to clear a path. Balboa began his nearly impossible trek along with 100 Spaniards and several native guides and porters, and a pack of dogs. In 1853 an explorer named Prevost was in the same area and said he could not see the sky for eleven days because the forest was so thick and heavy. Also, when a nineteenth-century German botanical expedition tried to retrace Balboa’s route, not one of them survived.

In addition to dense forests, the expedition had to cross frequent swamps and lakes, which the Balboa party managed by stripping off their clothing and wading or swimming while carrying the clothes in a bundle over their heads. Each such crossing would take hours to complete, and they were faced with such crossings day after day.  

At one point they had to fight a battle with a native tribe under a cacique named Quaraqua. Balboa reported that Quaraqua’s retinue was “soiled by the infamous vice” of homosexuality. Balboa captured 40 members of the cacique’s male harem and had them torn apart alive by the pack of dogs. Apparently, Balboa’s compassion for the natives had limits.

At last his native guides told Balboa that from the mountains ahead he would be able to see the waters of the Mar del Sur. The next day, September 25, Balboa climbed to the summit alone and became the first European to view the Pacific Ocean. When the rest of his party arrived they gave thanks to God, erected stone monuments and carved crosses on nearby trees to mark the historic spot. The onlooking natives showed amazement that the Europeans would show such excitement at seeing the ocean.

After four more days of travel the expedition reached the ocean at a bay he named San Miguel because it was the feast day of St. Michael the Archangel. Balboa waded into the breakers and claimed the waters of this vast ocean and all its adjacent lands for Spain and God. Of course he had no idea of the extent of this claim, which was reasonable and legitimate then, but seems preposterous to us now.

Balboa had gathered gold from tribes he encountered along the way and found abundant gold among the natives on the Pacific shore...but not big ships. He returned to Santa Maria by a different route in the expectation of encountering additional tribes with gold for the taking.

Alas, no good deed goes unpunished! Before news of Balboa’s great discovery reached Spain, his replacement was already en route to take command of the Santa Maria colony. The new man, Pedro Arias de Avila, known as Pedrarias, was not a navigator, explorer, nor administrator. In fact his only qualification was his marriage to a lady-in-waiting of Queen Isabella. He arrived with a contingent of twenty ships and 1500 men, and immediately took full command. He turned out to be a cruel and tough administrator, reversing all Balboa’s good relations with the natives. He enslaved them and forced them to bring their provisions to the settlement.

For some time Balboa managed to befriend Pedrarias, but eventually he offended Pedrarias and his luck began to decline. The unfortunate Balboa was once again looking for a way to make something of himself. He spoke of again crossing to the Pacific shore and building boats to explore the west coast as far south as Peru (Pizarro had not yet been there). But before Balboa had a chance to begin his project, Pedrarias caught wind of it and had him arrested on the charge that Balboa intended to ignore Spanish authority and establish himself as emperor of Peru. He was tried, found guilty and condemned to death for treason. Balboa was beheaded in the public square and his body thrown out for vultures to eat. Not long afterward, Pedrarias moved the settlement to a new location and the site of Balboa’s Santa Maria reverted to jungle. 

Monuments and Balboa namesakes abound in Panama, Spain, and the U.S.A. He became a hero among the people despite his ignoble end. I’m often incredulous that our knowledge of these events so often consists of a one-sentence summary, e.g. “Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean.” The backstory is sometimes a stunner.

References
Martyr D'Anghiera, Peter. De Orbe Novo, Volume 1, (1912, written ca.1504–1526).

Morison, Samuel E. The European Discovery of America, The Southern Voyages, New York: Oxford University Press, 1974








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When the USA was named Francesca

5/22/2014

 
PictureVerrazzano's route in 1524
Roger M.McCoy

In the fifty years after 1492, explorers sailed northward along the east and west coasts of North America. The Spanish focussed on islands and mainland coasts along Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, then up the west coast as far as Cape Blanco in today’s Oregon. King Henry VII sent John Cabot to the north where he claimed Newfoundland and everything beyond. Francis the First sent Giovanni Verrazzano to find land and wealth for France. He acquired everything between Florida and Newfoundland. Fifty years after Columbus’s first venture, the basic outline of North America began to appear on maps and it resembled a long-stemmed, lopsided goblet. 

France almost became an earlier, much bigger player in North America by Verrazzano claiming the east coast from Georgia to Newfoundland, and the U.S.A. might then have been named Francesca. France had all that but dropped it. How did this happen? 

 In 1524 a Florentine mariner named Giovanni Verrazzano sailed under the auspices of King Francis the First. His objective was to search the last unexplored area in the midlatitudes of North America hoping to find a passage through the immense land mass that stood between Western Europe and Asia. People of that time were convinced, through hopeful thinking, that a water passage must exist.

Verrazzano started with four ships, but by the time they reached the Portuguese island of Madeira, storms had reduced them to only one. Thus Verrazzano sailed ahead unescorted in the Dauphine, a caravel with a crew of fifty men. They made first landfall roughly near present day Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, sailed south along the coast about 150 miles, then turned and began a northward voyage up the east coast of North America, naming every feature. Verrazzano stopped at a few locations along the way to take on fresh water and firewood and attempt to meet the native people.

The remarkable aspects of Verrazzano’s voyage include features he missed, as much as what he found. One big omission was sailing right past Chesapeake Bay without reporting it. Almost certainly he would have investigated such an attractive possible passage. Perhaps bad weather occurred at the time he passed the area, making visibility bad. 

As Verrazzano sailed past Pamlico Sound, he declared it to be the Oriental Sea making a connecting passage to Asia. Pamlico Sound, North Carolina is actually an immense lagoon some eighty miles long and varying from fifteen to thirty miles wide. Considering that Verrazzano kept his course well off shore as a precautionary measure, it is not too surprising that he thought the sound was actually a connection to the ocean. Historian Samuel E. Morison flew offshore in a small airplane and determined that an observer on a ship in that position could not have seen the low-lying land west of Pamlico Sound. 

It is easy to imagine Verrazzano’s excitement at seeing what he thought would be the all-important passage. For some reason, however, he did not send a few men in a boat to check it more closely. My guess is that he could find no secure anchorage where the ship would be safe while the area was explored in detail. The location is Cape Hatteras, which is known today for its dangerous shoals, currents, and shipwrecks. There is no bay for safe anchorage, and the Dauphine would have had to anchor in open water where the strong flow of the Gulf Stream could have dragged the anchor. All things considered, Verrazzano probably made a wise decision.

The imaginary Oriental Sea, sometimes called the Sea of Verrazzano, gave Verrazzano a strong selling point in support of a second voyage. The “sea” appeared on two maps published soon after the voyage, and continued appearing on maps until the eighteenth century. Mistaken maps influenced subsequent cartographers for a long time, especially when the mistake shows everyone something they hope is true. 

An important real feature that Verrazzano found and reported was a very large “beautiful lake about three leagues in circumference” known today as New York Bay. He anchored the Dauphine on the north side of the Verrazzano Narrows, led a landing party into the bay by boat, and was met by many natives in canoes who were eager to meet and trade. Verrazzano described the land and the people in the most glowing terms and described a perfect place for supporting settlement with abundant timber and fertile soils. Unfortunately, before they even reached the shore a sudden strong storm forced them back to the Dauphine. He wrote, “we were forced to return to the ship, leaving the land with much regret on account of its favorable conditions and beauty.” New York Bay was not revisited after the storm, rather they sailed on and found another attractive anchorage at Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. Here they stopped for two weeks of much needed rest, probably near the present site of Newport, Rhode Island. Natives of the Wampanoag tribe welcomed the crew, played ball games with them and showed them the local area. 

After this pleasant interlude, the voyage resumed with no further stops except for wood and water. They rounded Cape Cod, crossed Cape Cod Bay, and continued northward until they reached the latitude known to have been reached by John Cabot in 1497. Along the Maine coast they attempted to trade with natives of the Abnaki tribe. The Abnakis would not allow Verrazzano’s men to come ashore, and would only trade by lowering baskets from a cliff for an exchange of goods. Verrazzano wrote in his report to the king, “The people [ Abnakis] were quite different from the others...these were full of crudity and vices, and were so barbarous that we could never make any communication with them.” Probably European fishing ships had already reached this area with some bad results. As Verrazzano’s men rowed away, the Abnakis on the bluff “made all the signs of scorn and shame that any brute creature would make… and they shot at us with their bows.” I would bet “scorn and shame” consisted of mooning, which is an ancient and cross-cultural expression of contempt. Verrazzano no doubt had to restrain the sailors from firing an avenging shot from the falconet attached to the ship’s rail. After this episode, Verrazzano named the Maine coast Land of the Bad People. 

Despite Verrazzano’s fantasy about Pamlico Sound being an arm of the Oriental Sea, he actually proved that North America is a continuous land mass from the tropics to the Arctic. This was discouraging news to kings and merchants hoping for a passage to China and India. To make matters worse, Verrazzano brought back no hint of gold, silver, or any forms of immediate wealth. 

He hoped to arouse interest in another voyage to investigate his supposed passage, but Francis the First was totally embroiled with war against the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V.  Therefore, Francis needed much money and all available ships to support his ongoing squabbles. As a result Verrazzano did not return as an explorer, and France did not follow up on the territorial claim that Verrazzano so flatteringly named Francesca. Ten years later, in 1534, Francis again decided to explore the New World, but he showed no further interest in Francesca, instead he sent Jacques Cartier [Verrazzano was dead by this time] to the lands around the St Lawrence River.

So what became of Verrazzano? He returned to a less glamorous, but more lucrative life as a mariner merchant collecting brazilwood (used for red dye) from South America and the Caribbean islands. On his third such voyage in 1528, he and six sailors met a sudden, bloody death on a Caribbean beach during a brief encounter with Carib cannibals while their helpless shipmates offshore watched from the ship.

References

McCoy, Roger M., On the Edge: Mapping North America’s Coasts, New York:  Oxford University Press, 2012.

Morison, Samuel E. The European Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages, New York: Oxford University Press, 1971.

Wroth, Lawrence C., The Voyages of Giovanni da Verrazzano: 1524-1528, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1970.






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