Not many people know about Vasco de Balboa even though he was an influential explorer. Like, did you know he was the first to sight the Pacific Ocean? Vasco de Balboa was an explorer that had many accomplishments and played a big role in exploration. However, he lived only for about 44 years of age and could have had a lot more impact on the world than he did. Vasco de Balboa is not as familiar as Christopher Columbus but he made a big discovery. In fact, Christopher Columbus inspired Balboa!
Vasco de Balboa was born in 1475 in the town of Jerez de los Caballeros(in region of Spain). At one time Balboa’s family was wealthy, well known, and important. But when Balboa was living, his family did not have that much money and was not important.
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Balboa tried to make a living on a farm and raising pigs, but in 1510 got stuck with no money to pay bills. On Hispaniola you have to pay all your bills before you leave, but since Balboa didn’t have any money he hid on one of Hispaniola’s ships and escaped. When the ship was out in the sea, Balboa came out of his hiding place and revealed himself. The crew’s captain, Martin Fernandez de Enciso, accepted him into the crew but was angry when he saw Balboa. Enciso was sailing to try and help a guy named Alonso de Ojeda. Alonso de Ojeda was in pursuit of any gold he could find. He attacked people in villages(mostly attacked Indians) and took all the gold he could find but a lot of Indians attacked them and killed many Spaniards. Ojeda then took charge and told all of the crew to sail west. Enciso disobeyed him though and went back toward Hispaniola. When they sailed they ended up by present day Columbia though. The men built a settlement there named San Sebastian. However, the Indians who lived their were very protective and had poison arrows. Their was also a illness going around called yellow fever that men were dying every day from. Ojeda recognized this and fled to Hispaniola to get help. But Enciso got a group of men, one being Vasco, and went back to San Sebastian to help the other men stuck …show more content…
When the crew got to San Sebastian they rescued the men but could not escape. Every time they tried to sail away they were attacked by the Indians and they were running low on their food too. Then Balboa proposed a plan of sailing to a land that had lots of food. The men all agreed and ended up docking in a village. They named this village Santa Maria de la Antigua del Darién. The Indians in the area had a plethora of gold. However Martin Enciso was the leader of the crew and he recognized that the Indians there had a lot of gold, so he passed a law that only he could trade for gold. The crew was enraged and decided to select another leader. The men chose Vasco Balboa and soon after Enciso left for Spain. This left Balboa in charge of Darién. In 1511 Balboa was serving as an interim governor in the settlement Darién. Balboa dealt the Spaniards that were under him harshly so that Balboa could get riches. He ended up leaving to explore Panama and captured several villages. Vasco then led a group of 190 Spanish soldiers and 800 Indians and crossed the Isthmus of Panama. When Balboa was exploring one day he looked out on top of a mountain pinnacle and looked out. At this moment he made history and on September 29, 1513, was the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean. He called it the Mar del Sur or, in English, The South
From a proud Conquistador, to a castaway, a slave and trader, and then medicine man, Cabeza de Vaca was the first European to explore much of the southern coast of Texas. Cabeza was a 37 year old military veteran in 1527 when he left on the Narvaez Expedition to find gold and colonize the Gulf Coast. He was the expedition’s treasurer. Cabeza de Vaca was enslaved by Indians in 1528 when one of the rafts the crew made crashed on present day Galveston island, he then escaped in 1530 and joined/was enslaved by another tribe called the Charrucos until his escape with 3 other survivors in 1534. He then walked to Mexico City. Cabeza survived this ordeal because of the incredible patience he had, his skills of diplomacy and goodwill, and his amazing wilderness survival skills.
In "The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca", Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca’s fight for survival, while being deprived of the basic necessities of life, proves there is a change in him from the beginning of the narrative to the end. This transformation, though, affected multiple aspects of de Vaca, including his motives, character, and perspective of civilization. Cabeza de Vaca’s experience is crucial to the history of America, as well as Spain, because it was one of the first accounts that revealed a certain equilibrium between the mighty and superior Spaniard and the Indian, once the Spaniard was stripped of his noble stature. The idea of nakedness is consistent throughout the narrative and conveys the tribulations he experienced and a sort of balance between him and the Indians. The original intentions of conquering and populating the area between Florida and a northern part of Mexico quickly shifted Cabeza de Vaca’s focus to the need to survive. His encounter with different Indian tribes and ability to get along with them (no matter what the means), and then prosper as a medicine man, shows that through his beliefs in Christian faith, and in himself, he turned the failure into an unexpected success.
Reading both passages of the two explorers, Christopher Columbus and Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, gives a great description of how the world was back in the 1500s. Now, although both were Spaniard explorers, each had different experiences and discoveries. One of the differences is how they approached exploring the new world. For instance, Columbus went to find new land in the west, while Cabeza de Vaca went as an expedition to already found lands. In addition, Columbus had a lot of success, while Cabeza de Vaca since the beginning, because of Narváez, “endured many disasters” (Baym, et al., 2013, p. 28). Furthermore, Christopher Columbus considered most important to find more land, and especially the route to reach Asia.
Juan Ponce de Leon is most recognized as the Spanish explorer who discovered Florida. However this was not his only achievement or contribution to the Spanish empire. Prior to discovering Florida he helped fight off the last of the Moors in Granada, he prevented the Indians from attacking the Spaniards in Hispaniola, he served as the first governor of Puerto Rico, discovered other geographical features off of Florida’s coast all while never giving up on his quest for gold or to gain the same recognition as Christopher Columbus.
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, and he discovered the new land and wrote a letter to Luis de Sant’ Angel in 1493.Columbus was telling Angel about the island that he landed on it.
In 1514 de Soto sailed with the new governor of modern day Panama. Six years later he was a captain who because of his part in military action against the Indians of Panama had earned the right to own Indian Sl...
In 1492, Christopher Columbus was a self-made man who worked his way up to being the Captain of a merchant vessel. He gained the support of the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, for an expedition to the Indies. With the support of the Spanish monarchy, he set off to find a new and faster trade route to the Indies. Upon the arrival of his first voyage, Columbus wrote a letter to Luis de Santangel, a “royal official and an early supporter of his venture,” in February 1493 (35). The epistle, letter, entitled “Letter to Luis de Santangel Regarding the First Voyage” was copied and then distributed in Spain before being translated and spread throughout Europe. The Letter is held in such regard with the people as it is considered the first printed description of the new world. Through his description of the nature of the islands, Columbus decided the future fate of the islands. His description of the vast beauty of the nature around him, declares both the economic and nationalistic motivations for colonizing the new world.
Bartolomé de Las Casas was born in 1484 AD in Seville and died in 1566 in Madrid. In the ending of the 15th century and the beginning of 16th, he came to America and become a “protector of Indian”. In 1542, most based on his effort, Spain has passed the New Law, which prohibit slaving Indians (Foner, p. 7). In 1552, he published the book A Short Account of the Destruction of The Indies.
Pizarro found much gold and sent it to the governor. The governor decided that he would not fund the expedition anymore. So Pizarro went to Spain to beg the king for funding for the expedition. King Charles...
Columbus went on four voyages in his lifetime to the New World accomplishing many great things along the way. Although all the land Columbus had found was already inhabited by other civilizations he was ultimately the first person to lead the permeant European discovery of the New World or better known as
Cabeza de Vaca was sent to fulfill the quest of claiming territory from Florida to Mexico for Spain. His choice to become a conquistador sent him through an unforgettable journey that he never saw coming. Landing in Florida with his large army, he eventually got split up from his army. Cabeza de Vaca and his men were the few survivors out of everyone who went. Landing in Galveston they found the Karankawa Indians and began living like there slaves. He discovered that his experiences were different from other Spanish conquistadors. He no longer wanted to take away from these people.
Christopher Columbus, one of the most famous explorers with an extraordinary legacy was born in Genoa, Italy in 1451. He was an Italian explorer and navigator and is very well known for his four voyages and his “discovery” of the New World. Columbus began sailing when he was just a teenager in the Mediterranean and Aegean seas. Later, he moved to Lisbon, Portugal and then Spain, where he spent the rest of his life. Columbus’ purpose was to find a passage to Asia by sailing West, but during his voyage he ended up in the Caribbeans and South America. Columbus’ proposal was turned down by King John of Portugal and the rulers of England and France. After several years of being declined, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella funded Columbus’ voyage
und three hundred men. His journey took him around three years and while making this journey he was thinking about no one but himself. Magellan took all the credit for everything and without his crew members he would be nothing and could not have achieved half as much. He also ended up using violence to make people change they way they believe. Magellan was not worth defending and shouldn't get all the credit he does.
Many countries have the pleasure of celebrating Independence Days. These historic holidays are filled with nationalistic celebrations and delicious traditional food. In Chile, the natives celebrate their break from Spain with Fiestas Patrias. In Mexico, the president begins the celebration by ringing a bell and reciting the “Grito de Dolores” and he ends his speech by saying “Viva Mexico” three times.
On November 19, 1493 Ponce de Leon was one of the first Europeans to see the small island of Borinquen, the Indian name for Puerto Rico. Ponce de Leon sailed to Puerto Rico in 1506 with two hundred men to the island and found out that it had rich gold deposits. He enslaved the natives, and forced them to mine gold for him. Ponce de Leon left Puerto Rico and returned again in 1508 this time he brought with him only fifty men. On this voyage his ship went through a terrible storm that caused him to run onto the rocks on two occasions. The crew was forced to throw over much of their supplies in order to keep the ship from sinking. After Ponce de Leon finally arrived in Puerto Rico he became the governor of the island. This caused him to become very wealthy, and the most powerful man on the island, who only received orders from the kind himself!