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Vasco Núñez de Balboa

By: History.com Editors

Updated: August 14, 2023 | Original: December 18, 2009

The 16th-century Spanish conquistador and explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa helped establish the first stable settlement on the South American continent at Darién, on the coast of the Isthmus of Panama.

In 1513, while leading an expedition in search of gold, he sighted the Pacific Ocean. Balboa claimed the ocean and all of its shores for Spain, opening the way for later Spanish exploration and conquest along the western coast of South America. Balboa’s achievement and ambition posed a threat to Pedro Arias Dávila, the Spanish governor of Darién, who falsely accused him of treason and had him executed in early 1519.

Early Life and Career 

Balboa was born in 1475 in Jerez de los Caballeros, a town in the impoverished Extremadura region of Spain. His father was believed to be a nobleman, but the family was not wealthy; like many of his class, Balboa decided to seek his fortune in the New World.

Around 1500, he joined Spanish explorers on an expedition the coast of present-day Colombia, then returned to the island of Hispaniola (present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and sought to make his living as a farmer. After falling into debt, he fled his creditors by stowing away on an expedition carrying supplies to the colony of San Sebastian, located on the coast of Urabá (now Colombia), in 1510.

Did you know? The Spanish region of Extremadura, where Vasco Núñez de Balboa was born, was home to many other famous New World conquistadors, including Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, Hernando de Soto and Francisco de Orellana.

The colony had been largely abandoned by the time they arrived, after local Native Americans killed many of the colonists. At Balboa’s suggestion, they decided to move to the western side of the Gulf of Urabá, on the coast of the Isthmus of Panama, the small strip of land connecting Central and South America.

In that region, the local Indians were more peaceful, and the new colony, Darién, would become the first stable Spanish settlement on the South American continent.

Balboa Sees the Pacific

By 1511, Balboa was acting as interim governor of Darién. Under his authority, the Spaniards dealt harshly with native inhabitants of the region in order to get gold and other riches; from some of these Indians, they learned that a wealthy empire lay to the south (possibly a reference to the Inca ).

In September 1513, Balboa led an expedition of some 190 Spaniards and a number of Indians southward across the Isthmus of Panama. Late that same month, Balboa climbed a mountain peak and sighted the Pacific Ocean, which the Spaniards called the Mar del Sur (South Sea).

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Balboa, King Ferdinand II had appointed the elderly nobleman Pedro Arias Dávila (usually called Pedrarias) as the new governor of Darién.

As a reward for his explorations, Balboa was named governor of the provinces of Panama and Coiba, but remained under the authority of Pedrarias, who arrived in Darién in mid-1514, soon after Balboa returned.

Balboa’s Later Explorations and Downfall

Though suspicious of each other, the two men reached a precarious peace, and Pedrarias even betrothed his daughter María (in Spain) to Balboa by proxy. He also reluctantly gave him permission to mount another expedition to explore and conquer the Mar del Sur and its surrounding lands.

Balboa began these explorations in 1517-18, after having a fleet of ships painstakingly built and transported in pieces over the mountains to the Pacific.

Balboa Beheaded

Meanwhile, Pedrarias’ many enemies had convinced King Ferdinand to send a replacement for him from Spain and order a judicial inquiry into his conduct as leader of Darién.

Suspecting Balboa would speak against him, and fearing his influence and popularity, Pedrarias summoned the explorer home and had him arrested and tried for rebellion and high treason, among other charges.

In the highly biased trial that ensued, presided over by Pedrarias’ ally Gaspar de Espinosa, Balboa was found guilty and condemned to death. He was beheaded, along with four alleged accomplices, in 1519.

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Vasco Nuñez de Balboa. The Mariners’ Museum and Park . Following in the Footsteps of Balboa. Smithsonian Magazine .

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Vasco Núñez de Balboa

Explorer and conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean.

(1475-1519)

Who Was Vasco Núñez de Balboa?

Explorer and conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa helped establish the town of Darién on the Isthmus of Panama, becoming interim governor. In 1513, he led the first European expedition to the Pacific Ocean, but news of the discovery arrived after the king had sent Pedro Arias de Ávila to serve as the new governor of Darién. Ávila, reportedly jealous of Balboa, had him beheaded for treason in 1519.

Early Life and Exploration

Born in 1475 in Jerez de los Caballeros, in the province of Extremadura in Castile, Spain, Balboa went on to become the first European to see the Pacific Ocean.

At a time when many people in Spain were seeking their fortunes in the New World, Balboa joined an expedition to South America. After exploring the coast of present-day Colombia, Balboa stayed on the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic). While there, he got into debt and fled, hiding away on a ship headed for the fledgling colony of San Sebastian.

Once he arrived at the settlement, Balboa discovered that most of the colonists had been killed by nearby ingenious people. He then convinced the remaining colonists to move to the western side of the Gulf of Uraba. They established the town of Darién on the Isthmus of Panama, which is a small strip of land that connects Central America and South America. Balboa became the interim governor of the settlement.

Seeing the Pacific Ocean

In 1513, Balboa led an expedition from Darién to search for a new sea reportedly to the south and for gold. He hoped that if he was successful, he would win the favor of Ferdinand, the king of Spain. While he didn't find the precious metal, he did see the Pacific Ocean and claimed it and all of its shores for Spain.

The news of the discovery arrived after the king had sent Pedro Arias de Ávila to serve as the new governor of Darién. The new governor was reportedly jealous of Balboa and ordered him to be arrested on charges of treason. After a brief trial, Balboa was beheaded on January 12, 1519, in Acla, near Darién, Panama.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Vasco Núñez de Balboa
• Birth Year: 1475
• Birth City: Jerez de los Caballeros, Extremadura, Castile
• Birth Country: Spain
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Explorer and conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean.
• Nacionalities
• Death Year: 1519
• Death date: January 12, 1519
• Death City: Acla, near Darién
• Death Country: Panama

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Vasco Nunez de Balboa

Vasco Nunez de Balboa

Born in or near the year 1457, the Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa was the first European to see the eastern shore of the Pacific Ocean. He sighted the ocean in 1513 from a mountaintop in what is now Panama. Upon reaching the shore, Balboa waded into the ocean and claimed it and all its shores for Spain.

Balboa was born in Jerez de los Caballeros, Mexico. As a young boy, Balboa had two dreams: to be a famous explorer and to be an Olympic fencing champion. His Olympic dream never materialized, but his ability with the sword was to serve him well in battles throughout his career.

Following the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492, Balboa joined an expedition to South America in 1501. One year later Balboa found himself on the island of Hispaniola trying without success to make a living as a pig farmer. It seems that the native Indian population worshipped the pig as a god and neither they nor the Spanish settlers would eat an animal thought to be a god, no matter how tasty.

The Voyages of Vasco Nunez de Balboa (Click to enlarge)

Several years later, in 1510, Balboa enjoyed a change in fortune when he became acting governor of Darien. From there he led expeditions into Panama, conquering some Indians while allowing other, more friendly, Indians to open gambling casinos. In 1511 friendly Indians told Balboa of a land called Tubanama where he could find much gold. The Indians told him this land was located across the mountains near a great sea.

Hoping to please King Ferdinand of Spain with an exciting discovery, in early September 1513, Balboa led an expedition from Darien. The Panama Canal was temporarily closed due to a strike by native workers, so Balboa and his 190 Spanish followers were forced to take the difficult land route. After a three week journey, during which the expedition lost all radio contact with their home base, Balboa found the great sea he had longed to see: the Pacific Ocean!

Sadly, Balboa was to live only a few more years. A jealous rival falsely accused Balboa of treason to the king, and in January 1519, he was tried and sentenced to death. He was publicly beheaded in the town of Acla in Panama, which he had established only a year earlier. Fortunately, Balboa’s children were not left penniless because they were able to sell their father’s game-used armor, the same armor that their famous father wore when he waded into the Pacific Ocean, on eBay.com for a tidy sum.

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This page last updated on Apr 11, 2017

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A portrait of Vasco Nuñez de Balboa (New York, Harper, 1906.) (Credit: Ober, Frederick A.)

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Life and letters of Vasco Núñez de Balboa, including the conquest and settlement of Darien and Panama, the odyssey of the discovery of the South sea, a description of the splendid armada to Castilla del Oro, and the execution of the adelantado at Acla; a history of the first years of the introduction of Christian civilization on the continent of America

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Encouraged by Spanish successes on the Isthmus of Panama (1510) , King Ferdinand II created the Governorate of Castilla de Oro to administer the region in 1513. While establishing Spanish rule, Vasco Núñez de Balboa learned from a local chief that a vast “South Sea” lay beyond Panama’s mountains—and a gold-rich empire ( the Incas ) lay beyond that. Balboa eagerly headed south to confirm these claims, reaching the Pacific Ocean in late September.

Main Events

1511 aguilar and guerrero ▲.

In 1511 a Spanish caravel traveling from Santa María la Antigua del Darién to Santo Domingo was shipwrecked near the Yucatán Peninsula and the dozen or so survivors captured by the local Maya. Most of the Spaniards died—either through human sacrifice, disease, or overwork—but Gerónimo de Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerrero escaped to be taken in by another chiefdom which was hostile to the first. When, eight years later, Hernán Cortés invaded Mexico, he heard of two bearded men living among the Maya and, correctly believing them to be fellow Spaniards, sent word to them. Aguilar agreed to join him but Guerrero—who had since become a war chief in Chektumal, married a rich Maya woman, and raised a mestizo family—insisted on remaining with the Maya. Both men appear to have died in the 1530s. in wikipedia

3 Mar–15 Oct 1513 La Florida ▲

In 1512 King Ferdinand II authorized Juan Ponce de León, the former governor of San Juan Bautista (Puerto Rico), to examine rumors of undiscovered lands to the northwest of Hispaniola, hoping to forestall their discovery by the Columbus family. Ponce de León left Puerto Rico with three ships and at least 200 men in March 1513, sighting the coast of Florida—which he named “La Florida” on account of its flowers and the Easter season ( Pascua Florida in Spanish)—in early April. Landing near what is now St. Augustine, Ponce de León claimed the land for Spain, continuing on to explore the east and west coasts of the peninsula before returning to Puerto Rico. in wikipedia

May 1513 Castilla de Oro ▲

Following promising reports from Spanish explorers in the Isthmus of Panama, King Ferdinand II of Aragon, then also regent of the Crown of Castile, officially created the Governorate of Castilla de Oro to administer the region. Situated between the Belén River and the Gulf of Urabá, the new governorate included the settlements of Nombre de Dios and Santa María la Antigua del Darién and effectively superseded the Kingdom of Tierra Firme. Veragua—Panama and Central America to the west of the Belén River—was disputed with Diego Columbus’ Viceroyalty of the Indies, owing to Christopher Columbus’ earlier settlement there. in wikipedia

29 Sep 1513 European discovery of the Pacific ▲

In 1512–13 Vasco Núñez de Balboa traveled west from Santa María la Antigua del Darién to extend Spanish control over local chiefs Careta and Comagre. Comagre told him of a vast “South Sea”, beyond which was a great kingdom, rich in gold (presumably the Inca Empire). Excited, Balboa set out from Santa María la Antigua on 1 September 1513 with a force of 190 Spaniards, 810 Indian auxiliaries, and a number of war dogs, crossing the Isthmus of Panama to become the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean from the New World on the 25th and reach it four days later. On 17 October Balboa and 70 followers set out onto the ocean in canoes to explore the nearby Pearl Islands, after which he returned back across the isthmus. in wikipedia

Vasco Nunez De Balboa | 10 Facts On The Spanish Explorer

Vasco Nunez De Balboa was a Spanish explorer and conquistador most famous for founding Santa Maria la Antigua del Darien , the first permanent European settlement in mainland of the Americas; and for his discovery of the Pacific. He also served as governor of Darien for a period and was given the title of Adelantado of the South Seas . Know about the life, family, voyages, exploration, discoveries, accomplishments and death of Vasco Nunez De Balboa through these 10 interesting facts.

#1 HIS PLACE OF BIRTH WAS ALSO THE BIRTHPLACE OF HERNANDO DE SOTO

Vasco Núñez de Balboa was born in Jerez de los Caballeros , a small town in the province of Extremadura in south-western Spain . Jerez de los Caballeros is incidentally also the birthplace of Hernando de Soto , another famous Spanish explorer and conquistador. Vasco’s exact date of birth is not known though most historians put his birth year as 1475 . His father Nuño Arias de Balboa was an impoverished nobleman while his mother was a lady of Badajoz in south-western Spain. Vasco was the third of four boys in his family. His brothers were named Gonzalo, Juan and Álvaro .

#2 HE FIRST SAILED TO THE NEW WORLD IN A VOYAGE LED BY RODRIGO DE BASTIDAS

In his early years Balboa worked in the household of Don Pedro de Portocarrero , lord of Moguer , a port on Spain’s south-western coast. Balboa served initially as a page and then probably as a fencing master. As the news of the voyages of Columbus spread through Spain, like many of lower nobility who were struggling to prosper in Spain, Balboa also decided to seek his fortune in the New World. In 1500, he joined Rodrigo de Bastidas’s expedition to explore the northern coast of South America.

#3 HE SPENT EIGHT YEARS IN HISPANIOLA WORKING AS A PLANTER AND PIG FARMER

The expedition of Bastidas explored along the coast of present-day Colombia gathering riches till their decaying ships forced them to sail to the island of Hispaniola , the home base for all Spanish expeditions. Balboa gained valuable knowledge through the expedition regarding the natives, routes etc. After the expedition, Balboa decided to settle in Hispaniola and worked there as a planter and pig farmer . But this enterprise proved to be disastrous for Balboa and he ended up in great debt. Also Balboa couldn’t leave the island as the law said no person could leave Hispaniola without paying his debts.

#4 HE ESCAPED HIS CREDITORS IN HISPANIOLA BY HIDING ON A SHIP

In 1510, Spanish navigator and geographer, Martín Fernández de Enciso , prepared to set sail from Hispaniola on an expedition to bring aid and reinforcements to San Sebastian, a colony founded by conquistador Alonso de Ojeda on the coast of Uraba in modern Colombia. Balboa saw this as an opportunity to escape his creditors. He offered Enciso grain who readily bought it. Balboa then hid himself on one of the casks of grain along with his faithful hound Leoncico and was carried to the ship. By the time he was discovered by Enciso, the ship was already at sea. Enciso initially threatened to leave Balboa on the first uninhabited island on route but Balboa’s earlier knowledge of the region convinced him otherwise.

#5 HE FOUNDED THE FIRST PERMANENT EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT IN MAINLAND OF AMERICAS

When Enciso’s expedition arrived at San Sebastian, they found that the settlement had largely been abandoned by the colonists after hostilities with the natives had led to numerous deaths. At Balboa’s suggestion, the colonists decided to move across the Gulf of Uraba to Darien on the coast of Panama, where the soil was more fertile and the natives were less hostile. There Vasco Nunez De Balboa founded in September 1510 the first permanent European settlement in mainland of the Americas and called it Santa María la Antigua del Darién .

#6 BALBOA BECAME GOVERNOR OF DARIEN IN 1511

The relationship between Enciso and Balboa had always been hostile. With time the members of Enciso’s crew developed a liking for Balboa due to his charisma and knowledge of the region while Enciso became unpopular. The colonists hence soon deposed Enciso and elected a town council with Balboa one of its two magistrates. With the subsequent departure of Enciso for Hispaniola, Balboa became the undisputed head of the colony. In 1511 , the king of Spain, Ferdinand II , sent orders to make Balboa the interim governor of Darien.

#7 His 1513 EXPEDITION LED TO EUROPEAN DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC

Balboa received information from the natives about a sea that lay in the south and a kingdom rich in gold. He sent news back to Spain but his request for men and supplies was denied. With the available resources of 190 Spaniards and a few native guides, Balboa started his journey across the Isthmus of Panama on September 1, 1513 . Late that month, Vasco Nunez De Balboa sighted the Pacific Ocean while standing on a peak . The Spaniards called the Pacific the Mar del Sur (South Sea) . The expedition descended the mountain and become the first Europeans to navigate the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the New World.

#8 BALBOA MARRIED MARIA DE PENALOSA BUT THEY NEVER MET

Balboa returned to Santa Maria from his expedition in January 1514. In mid-1514, the elderly nobleman Pedrarias Dávila arrived in Darien. He had been appointed by the Spanish king as the new governor of Darien. This led to a period of rivalry between Balboa and Pedrarias during which Pedrarias had Balboa arrested several times for various charges but he was not found guilty. Their rivalry ceased due to mediation by others and Balboa married María de Peñalosa , one of Pedrarias’s daughters. However the couple was never to meet as she was in Spain and Balboa would never return to his homeland.

#9 VASCO BALBOA WAS EXECUTED IN JANUARY 1519

In 1517, Balboa began a new expedition and explored the Gulf of San Miguel . By this time his relationship with Pedrarias had again deteriorated. Due to charges of misconduct and incapacity leveled against Pedrarias by Balboa and others, the Spanish king ordered a judicial inquiry into his conduct as leader of Darien. Pedrarias feared that Balboa would speak against him and was also wary of his influence. He summoned Balboa home on the pretext of discussing matters of common concern. Halfway to Santa Maria, Balboa was arrested for trying to usurp Pedrarias’s power. His was tried for rebellion and high treason in mid-January, 1519 . Pedrarias’s ally Gaspar de Espinosa presided over the trial and found Balboa guilty of the charges. Vasco Nunez De Balboa was condemned to death and was beheaded, along with four alleged accomplices, in January 1519 in the town of Acla .

#10 A LUNAR CRATER HAS BEEN NAMED AFTER HIM

In 1514, Balboa was conferred with the title of Adelantado of the South Seas . He is credited in Spain for opening the way for later Spanish exploration and conquest in South America. In Panama, numerous places bear his name and several monuments honor his discovery of the Pacific. Places named after him include Balboa, Panama’s main port city and Balboa Park in San Francisco, California . Balboa, one of the official currencies of Panama, is named in his honor. Also the Order of Vasco Núñez de Balboa is one of the highest orders granted by the Panamanian government and a lunar crater has been named Balboa after him .

VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA’S EXECUTION OF HOMOSEXUALS

During their exploration of the New World, the Spanish frequently came to know about the homosexual practices which were prevalent among the native tribes. This was an offense to their limited views about sexuality. The European religious thought associated homosexuality with sin and the Devil leading to the Spanish persecuting any native found guilty of the act. Vasco Nunez de Balboa had forty ‘sodomites’ eaten alive by his dogs during his expedition to Panama and was widely praised for this violent act.

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Dire straits: the story of Ferdinand Magellan's fatal voyage of discovery

The renegade Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan masterminded a Spanish expedition that completed the first circuit of Earth, although it cost him his life. Writing for BBC History Revealed , Pat Kinsella tells the story and timeline of a triumph beset by mutiny, malnutrition and disaster

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If all had gone to plan during Ferdinand Magellan’s life-defining expedition, almost no one would know his name now. As it happened, everything went disastrously wrong for the Portuguese sea captain, yet he has gone down in history as the first explorer to circumnavigate the planet, even though he died in the middle of the journey.

Magellan did, however, become the first European to lead a voyage into the Pacific Ocean – although future sailors would regularly raise alarmed eyebrows at the name he bequeathed to it. The expedition he led (or at least one of the five ships that set out from Spain in 1519) performed the first known complete loop of the globe.

Although Magellan could never have predicted the extraordinary events that would follow, perhaps the thought of reputational immortality would have provided the 41-year-old with a crumb of comfort on 27 April 1521, as he floundered in the shallows of a beach on the island of Mactan in the Philippines, mortally injured and weighed down by his armour. He had been identified as the leader of the invading alien force by the enraged warriors of island chief Lapu-Lapu, and was about to suffer a pointless and wholly avoidable death after his ill-advised show of military might spectacularly backfired.

• A voyage from hell: how Magellan’s circumnavigation of the world changed history

Magellan’s final moments were frenzied and violent. But if he hadn’t made the fateful decision to lead a small force against a defending army of 1,500 battle-ready men, then perhaps he wouldn’t have been remembered as one of the greatest explorers of his era.

Who was Ferdinand Magellan?

Born into an aristocratic Portuguese family in 1480, Ferdinand Magellan was orphaned as a young boy and at the age of 12 he entered the royal court in Lisbon as a page of Eleanor of Viseu, consort of King John II. Thirteen years later, he enlisted in the fleet of the Portuguese viceroy to the Indies and spent seven years learning the ropes of his future career during action-packed voyages in Asia and Africa.

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Magellan was part of the invading force that saw Portugal secure control of the region’s most important trading routes when it conquered Malacca on the Malay Peninsula in 1511, and he may have ventured as far east as the Moluccas (Spice Islands) of modern-day Indonesia. During these adventures he bought a Malay-speaking man, Enrique de Malacca, to be his slave, interpreter and companion – and he remained so on all Magellan’s later voyages.

By 1512, Magellan was back in Lisbon with a promising-looking career ahead of him. He soon joined the huge expeditionary force of 500 ships and 15,000 soldiers that John II’s successor, King Manuel I, sent to punish the governor of Morocco for failing to pay his tribute to the Portuguese crown in 1513. It was during a skirmish that he sustained an injury that left him with a lifelong limp. But he was then accused of illegal trading with the Moors, which saw him fall from favour.

A dedicated student of maps and charts, consumed with an urge to explore, Magellan had hatched a plan to pioneer a westward route to the Spice Islands, avoiding the perilous route around the Cape of Good Hope. However, the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas and the expeditions and achievements of explorers such as Vasco da Gama had already granted Portugal full control of the eastwards route around southern Africa, and Manuel was disinterested in Magellan’s ideas.

Great reputations

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This snub left the ambitious and capable captain dangerously disaffected – a blessing for the Spanish, who were desperately seeking an alternative way of accessing the riches of India and the Far East. In 1517, Magellan decamped to Seville in Spain, where he quickly married the daughter of another Portuguese exile, had two children and began bending the ear of Charles I about a western route to the Spice Islands.

The 18-year-old Spanish king – grandson of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, who had commissioned the adventures of Columbus – was desperate to make his mark and smash the dominance his Iberian rivals had over the enormously lucrative spice trade. He seized the potential opportunity to bypass Africa, while avoiding breaking the terms of the treaty with the powerful Portuguese, and commissioned Magellan to undertake the expeditionary mission he had been itching to pursue.

Of course, Magellan wasn’t the first European explorer to sail west in search of a backdoor route to the treasures of the Orient. Columbus had ventured that way across the Atlantic looking for the East Indies in 1492, before bumping into the Bahamas instead, while John Cabot (aka Giovanni Caboto), a Venetian captain commissioned by Henry VII of England, had sailed from Bristol to Newfoundland in 1497.

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Unlike Columbus – who made a further three journeys across the western ocean, but died in denial that he was actually exploring a totally new continent – the Spanish soon realised this was a different land mass (the Americas). While this revelation would ultimately return riches beyond their wildest dreams in terms of gold, Magellan’s focus was on how to get past this ‘New World’ in order to reach the Spice Islands beyond.

No European had sailed around Cape Horn – or indeed even laid eyes on it – but a Spanish adventurer named Vasco Núñez de Balboa had discovered the ocean beyond the New World in 1513, by traversing the Isthmus of Panama. Magellan, a visionary who was working with the most advanced cartographers and cosmographers of the era, was convinced there was a way of getting around the Americas.

Westward ho

In September 1519, Magellan led five vessels, manned by a multinational, 270-strong crew, into the Atlantic – his flagship the Trinidad, plus the Santiago , San Antonio , Concepción and Victoria . Word of his mission reached Manuel I, who jealously dispatched a Portuguese naval detachment to follow the expedition, but Magellan outran them.

But he couldn’t escape all his enemies so easily, especially as some were among his own men. Many of the Spanish sailors in the expeditionary party were suspicious of their Portuguese commander. Some of his crew were criminals released from prison in return for undertaking the dangerous voyage. Others joined just because they were avoiding creditors.

Many of the Spanish sailors were suspicious of their commander

The fleet was hit by a storm, which caused a delay and resulted in food rationing. Here, Juan de Cartagena – who had been appointed captain of the largest ship, the San Antonio , because of his good connections, despite being green in the business of exploration and an inexperienced seaman – began openly criticising Magellan’s competence and refusing to salute his captain-general. Magellan had Cartagena arrested, relieved of his command and imprisoned in the brig of the Victoria until they reached South America. The incident was a precursor to the much more dramatic and bloody events to come.

In December, the expedition reached South America and made landfall in Rio de Janeiro. For two weeks they interacted with indigenous people, trading trinkets for food and sexual favours, before the fleet sailed south, scouring the coastline in search of an opening. They spent fruitless weeks exploring the estuary of Río de la Plata for this elusive passage, before freezing conditions forced the party to seek shelter for the winter in Port St Julian in Patagonia.

Timeline: Ferdinand Magellan's voyage

Ten landmark moments in magellan’s voyage into the unknown, as plotted out on a 1544 copy of the agnese atlas, produced by the italian mapmaker battista agnese.

Morale was already plummeting when, in April 1520, Cartagena made his move. He escaped Victoria , reboarded the San Antonio , and begun fermenting trouble and securing support from the Spanish crew and officers, playing on bad blood about Magellan’s Portuguese nationality.

In the mutiny that followed, the San Antonio was declared independent of Magellan’s command. The captains of the Concepción and the Victoria (Gaspar de Quesada and Luiz Mendoza) joined them, as did the Victoria ’s pilot Juan Sebastián Elcano, and many of the officers and crew. A letter was sent to Magellan on the Trinidad, demanding he acknowledge that the fleet was no longer under his command.

Magellan sent his reply in the hands of an assassin

Magellan coolly sent his reply back in the hands of an assassin. After coming alongside the Victoria in a small boat, while pretending to hand over the letter to Mendoza, the man fatally stabbed the errant captain instead. Simultaneously, crew loyal to Magellan stormed aboard the ship and attacked the mutineers, who were overcome.

The rebels maintained control of the San Antonio and Concepción , with Cartagena having boarded the latter prior to the fighting breaking out. Magellan positioned the three ships he had at his disposal across the mouth of the bay, and prepared for combat.

During the night, heavy winds caused San Antonio to drag its anchor and drift towards the Trinidad. Magellan met the oncoming ship with a cannon broadside, causing the mutineers aboard the stricken carrack to surrender. Conceding defeat, Cartagena followed suit and gave up the Concepción without resistance the following morning.

Having quelled the revolt, Magellan immediately sentenced 30 men to death, but then (mindful of his threadbare resources) commuted their punishment to hard labour. The leaders of the mutiny weren’t so lucky. Quesada was beheaded for treason, and both his body and that of Mendoza’s were mutilated and put on sticks. Too fearful of Cartagena’s connections to order him executed, Magellan instead left him marooned with Padre Sánchez de la Reina, a priest who’d supported the mutineers. They were never heard of again.

The real deal

Back on course.

In July, Magellan dispatched the Santiago to scout ahead for the elusive passage. She discovered the Rio de Santa Cruz in what is now Argentina, but sank in a storm while trying to make the return journey. Remarkably, the crew survived, and two men trekked overland for 11 days to alert Magellan, who mounted a rescue mission.

In October, the entire fleet set off, and Magellan at last sighted the strait that now bears his name, a route between the tip of mainland South America and the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. However, conditions continued to be rough, and when the fleet split to explore either side of an island, the crew of the San Antonio forced their captain to desert and return to Spain (where they spread scurrilous rumours about Magellan’s brutality to avoid punishment).

While the main fleet waited in vain for the San Antonio , Gonzalo de Espinosa led an advance party along the strait, returning after six days with news that made Magellan weep with joy: they’d sighted open ocean. On 28 November, the expedition emerged into an ocean that seemed so relatively benign on the day, Magellan named it Mar Pacifico, or Peaceful Sea.

The true nature and enormity of the Pacific was soon revealed to the explorer, however. !e fleet left the coast of Chile to sail across the new-found ocean, a journey Magellan expected to last four days, but which took almost four months. The fleet was woefully underprepared and the sailors savaged by scurvy and thirst, many dying.

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Magellan crossed the equator in February 1521 and reached the Pacific island of Guam in March, where the fleet replenished its exhausted supplies. Not long afterwards they finally arrived at the Philippine archipelago. This, though, was just the beginning of Magellan’s real troubles; his erstwhile planning and leadership came dramatically undone when he needlessly embroiled himself in a dispute between two local chiefs.

In the Philippines, Magellan communicated with local rajahs through his Malay slave, Enrique. At the evangelical explorer’s behest, a number of island chiefs – including Cebu’s Rajah Humabon – converted to Christianity.

In return for his soul, however, Humabon sought Magellan’s support in a disagreement with a neighbour, Lapu- Lapu, a chief on Mactan Island, who had already irked the explorer by declining to convert or bow to the Spanish crown.

On 27 April 1521, 60 heavily armed Europeans accompanied a fleet of Filipino boats to Mactan, where Lapu- Lapu again refused to recognise the authority of Humabon or the Spanish. Facing 1,500 warriors, Magellan – confident in the shock-and-awe capability of his superior weaponry, which included guns, crossbows, swords and axes – instructed Humabon to hang back, while he waded ashore with an attack party of 49 men.

They torched several houses in an attempt to scare the islanders, but this only served to whip Lapu-Lapu’s warriors into a battle rage. In the resulting beachfront mêlée, where the Europeans were weighed down by their armour, Magellan was identified and injured by a bamboo spear thrust. Felled, he was then surrounded and killed, along with several others. With their captain dead, the survivors retreated to the boats.

After the battle, when the Europeans refused to release Enrique (despite Magellan’s orders to do so in the event of his death), Humabon turned against the Spanish. Several were poisoned during a feast, including Duarte Barbosa and João Serrão, who had assumed leadership of the expedition following the demise of Magellan.

Rounding the circle

João Carvalho took command of the fleet and ordered an immediate departure. By this time, however, too few men remained to crew the three ships. The Concepción was burnt, and the two remaining vessels made for Brunei, indulging in a spot of piracy en route, and attacking a junk bound for China. Espinosa then replaced Carvalho as leader, as well as being captain of the Trinidad , while Elcano was made the captain of the Victoria .

In November, the expedition finally reached the Spice Islands and managed to trade with the Sultan of Tidore. Loaded with cloves, they attempted to return home by sailing west across the Indian Ocean – which had never been Magellan’s intention – until the Trinidad started leaking. The wounded ship stopped for repairs, and eventually tried to return via the Pacific, but was captured by the Portuguese and subsequently sank.

Meanwhile, under the captaincy of Elcano, the Victoria continued across the Indian Ocean, eventually limping around the Cape of Good Hope in May. Tragically, 20 men starved on the last leg along the Atlantic coast of Africa, and another 13 were abandoned on Cape Verde – Elcano had put into port to resupply, but the Portuguese there caught on that they were part of a Spanish expedition; fearing for his cargo, Elcano fled.

On 6 September 1522, after three years’ absence, Victoria arrived in Spain, becoming the first ship to have sailed around the planet. Only 18 of Magellan’s original 270-man crew arrived with her. Though ultimately successful in finding a western passage that opened up the Pacific and the west coast of the Americas, the Strait of Magellan proved too far south to be a viable trade route to the Orient, which intensified the search for the elusive Northwest Passage from the mid-16th century.

Although Magellan didn’t make it home, he did complete a full circumnavigation of the globe (Philippines to Philippines, albeit in two chunks separated by several years), a feat probably matched by his Malaysian slave Enrique. But the first European to definitively do so in a single voyage was the man who captained Victoria on her final leg – the mutineer Elcano.

Drake's fortune

Pat Kinsella specialises in adventure journalism as a writer, photographer and editor

This article was first published in the September 2019 issue of BBC History Revealed

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