Vasco Nunez de Balboa, a member of…

Vasco Nunez de Balboa, a member of Bastidas's crew, had settled in Hispaniola (the island encompassing present-day Dominican Republic and Haiti) but stowed away on a voyage to Panama in 1510 to escape his creditors.

At this time, about eight hundred Spaniards live on the isthmus, but soon the many jungle perils, doubtless including malaria and yellow fever, kill all but sixty of them.

The settlers at Antigua del Darien (Antigua), the first city to be duly constituted by the Spanish crown, finally depose the crown's representative and elect Balboa and Martin Zamudio co-mayors.

Balboa proves to be a good administrator.

He insists that the settlers plant crops rather than depend solely on supply ships, and Antigua becomes a prosperous community.

Balboa leads raids on native settlements like other conquistadors, but unlike most, he proceeds to befriend the conquered tribes. 

He takes the daughter of a chief as his lifelong mistress.