Letter by Vasco Nuñez de Balboa to King Fernand

Letter by Vasco Núñez de Balboa to King Fernand

It is easy to forget that Spanish and Portuguese explorers did not initially set out to discover new lands but to find new routes to the ancient riches of Asia. Contemporary conquistadors had certainly not forgotten this aim, and thus set out on an exploratory expedition and military campaign to conquer Tierra Firme, now known as the Isthmus of Panama, which reached the Pacific Ocean in 1513. The expedition’s leader, Vasco Núñez de Balboa (ca. 1475–1519), became one of the most famous men of the age. Furthermore, Balboa is one of the most famous characters in world history. He represents, like no other, the idea of the "great man", of the exceptional characters who personally shaped history, and is thus remembered a half-millennium later. Although no one yet realized it, the nature of global trade would be forever changed by this shortcut, which would culminate in the construction of the Panama Canal, which was finished 401 years after Balboa and his men reached the Pacific. The Pacific has ceased to be an insurmountable barrier, and is now an open lane for trade and communication between peoples and civilizations on five continents. This historic event is attested to by the documents at hand, a portolan chart with the first depiction of the Pacific Ocean and a letter from Balboa to King Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452–1516) dated October 16th, 1515 – it is the only letter from the hand of Balboa himself to survive to the present day. The documents are the proud possession of the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel and the General Archive of the Indies in Seville, respectively.