Rodrigo de Bastidas, sailing westward from Venezuela…
1513 CE
Rodrigo de Bastidas, sailing westward from Venezuela in 1501 in search of gold, had been the first European to explore the isthmus of Panama.
A year later, Christopher Columbus had visited the isthmus and established a short-lived settlement in the Darien.
On September 1, 1513, Balboa goes in search of the South Sea with one hundred and ninety Spaniards and one thousand Indians.
His tortuous trek from the Atlantic to the Pacific demonstrates that the Isthmus is, indeed, the path between the seas.
He sights the sea on September 25, 1513, and takes possession of it on September 29 in the Bay of San Miguel.
Balboa is the first European to see Isla del Rey, the largest of the Pearl Islands.
He names it Isla Rica (Rich Island).
He can only see the islands from afar, as the poor weather prevents his canoes from landing there.
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