Santa María la Antigua del Darién Chocó Colombia

Balboa now suggests that the settlement of San Sebastián be moved to the region of Darién, to the west of the Gulf of Urabá, where the soil is more fertile and the natives present less resistance.

Fernández de Enciso givs serious consideration to this suggestion, and the regiment later goes to Darién, where the native cacique (chieftain) Cémaco has five hundred warriors waiting, ready for battle.

The Spanish, fearful of the large number of enemy combatants, make a vow to the Virgen de la Antigua, venerated in Seville, that they will name a settlement in the region after her should they prevail.

It is a difficult battle for both sides, but, by a stroke of luck, the Spanish come out victorious.

Cémaco, together with his warriors, abandons the town and heads for the jungle.

The Spanish plunder the houses and gather a treasure-trove of golden ornaments.

Balboa keeps his vow, and, in September 1510, founds the first permanent settlement on mainland American soil, and calls it Santa María la Antigua del Darién.

The victory of the Spanish over the natives and the founding of Santa María la Antigua del Darién, now located in a relatively calm region, has earned Balboa authority and respect among his companions.

They are increasingly hostile toward Alcalde Mayor Fernández de Enciso, whom they consider a greedy despot because of the restrictions he has imposed on their appropriation of the natives' gold.

Balboa takes advantage of the situation, acting as the spokesman for the disgruntled settlers.

He removes Fernández de Enciso from the position of alcalde mayor, using the following legal maneuver: Enciso is now controlling an area in Veragua, to the west of the Gulf of Urabá; since he is substituting for Alonso de Ojeda, his mandate is illegitimate, because the governor of Veragua is Diego de Nicuesa, not Ojeda; therefore, Fernández de Enciso should be deposed and arrested.

After Enciso's ouster, a more open government is established and a municipal council is elected (the first in the Americas).

Two alcaldes are appointed: Martín Samudio and Vasco Núñez de Balboa.

A flotilla led by Rodrigo Enrique  Colmenares arrives shortly after this in Santa María.

His objective is to find Nicuesa, who is also facing some difficulties in the north of Panamá.

When de Colmenares learns of the recent events, he persuades the town's settlers that they should submit to the authority of de Nicuesa, since their land is under his jurisdiction.

Enrique de Colmenares invites two representatives, to be named by the local government, to travel with his flotilla and offer de Nicuesa authority over the city.

The two representatives are Diego de Albites and Diego del Corral.

Enrique de Colmenares, badly wounded and with few men remaining on account of a skirmish with local natives, had established Nicuesa near the town of Nombre de Dios.

After his rescue, Governor de Nicuesa hears about Balboa's exploits, the chieftain Cémaco's bounty, and Santa María's prosperity.

He vows that he will punish Balboa as soon as he gains control of the town, since he regards his actions as a challenge to his authority in Veragua.

A certain Lope de Olano, who has been jailed together with other malcontents, persuades Santa María's representatives that they will be making a serious error in handing control over to Nicuesa, whom he describes as cruel, greedy, and able to single-handedly destroy the town’s prosperity.

With this evidence, Albites and del Corral flee to Darién ahead of Nicuesa and inform Balboa and the municipal authorities of the governor's intentions.

When Nicuesa arrives at the city's port, a mob appears, and the ensuing disturbance prevent the governor from disembarking into the city.

Nicuesa insists on being received, no longer as governor, but as a simple soldier, but still the colonists do not allow him to disembark.

He and seventeen others are forced to board an unseaworthy boat with few supplies, and are put out to sea on March 1, 1511.

The ship disappears, leaving no trace of Nicuesa and his men.

In this way, Balboa becomes governor (gobernador) of Veragua.

With the title of governor comes absolute authority in Santa María and all of Veragua.

One of Balboa's first acts as governor is the trial of Fernández de Enciso, accused of usurping the governor's authority.

Enciso is sentenced to prison and his possessions are confiscated.

However, he is to remain imprisoned only for a short time: Balboa sets him free under the condition that he return immediately to Hispaniola and from there to Spain.

With him on the same ship are two representatives from Balboa, who are to inform the colonial authorities of the situation, and request more men and supplies to continue the conquest of Veragua.

Balboa continues defeating various tribes and befriending others, exploring rivers, mountains, and swamps, while always searching for gold and slaves and enlarging his territory.

He is also able to quell revolts among those of his men who challenge this authority, and, through force, diplomacy, and negotiation, he earns a certain respect and fear among the natives.

In a letter addressed to the King of Spain, he expresses, somewhat ironically, that he has had to act as a conciliatory force during the course of his expeditions.

He succeeds in planting corn, receives fresh supplies from Hispaniola and Spain, and gets his men used to life as explorers in the new territories.

Balboa manages to collect a great deal of gold, much of it from the ornaments worn by the native women, and the rest obtained by violence.

Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, in his De orbe novo decades, wrote how Balboa had fed forty local homosexual men to his dogs.

Balboa, upset with "a brother of the king and other young men, obliging men, [who] dressed effeminately with women's clothing [... of those which the brother of the king] went too far with unnatural" temerity, threw forty of them as food to the dogs.

D'Anghiera continues his story saying that the indigenous people's "natural hate for unnatural sin" drove them so that, "spontaneously and violently, they searched for all the rest that they would know who were infected".

After all, D'Anghiera mentions that "only the nobles and the gentlemen practiced that kind of desire. [...The] indigenous people knew that sodomy gravely offended God. [... And that these acts provoked] the tempests that with thunder and lightning so frequently afflicted them, or the floods that drowned their fruits that had caused hunger and sickness."

Balboa arrives at the end of 1512 and the first months of 1513 in a region dominated by the cacique Careta, whom he easily defeats and then befriends.

Careta is baptized and becomes one of Balboa's chief allies; he ensures the survival of the settlers by promising to supply the Spaniards with food.

Balboa then proceeds on his journey, arriving in the lands of Careta's neighbor and rival, cacique Ponca, who flees to the mountains with his people, leaving his village open to the plundering of the Spaniards and Careta's men.

Days later, the expedition arrives in the lands of cacique Comagre, fertile but reportedly dangerous terrain.

However, Balboa is received peacefully and even invited to a feast in his honor; Comagre, like Careta, is then baptized.

Balboa writes a lengthy letter to the King of Spainin 1513, requesting more men (who are already acclimatized) from Hispaniola, weapons, supplies, carpenters versed in shipbuilding, and all the necessary materials for the building of a shipyard.

Balboa, returning from his successful expedition to the Pacific coast of Panama, has crossed the lands of Ponca and Caret to finally arrive in Santa María on January 19, 1514, with a treasure in cotton goods, more than one hundred thousand castellanos worth of gold, to say nothing of the pearls.

All this, however, does not compare to the magnitude of the "discovery" of the South Sea on behalf of Spain.

Balboa commands Pedro de Arbolancha to set sail for Spain with news of this "discovery".

He also sends one fifth of the treasure to the king, as the law requires.

The accusations of Fernández de Enciso, whom Balboa had deposed, and the removal and disappearance of Governor de Ojeda, have forced the king to name Pedro Arias de Ávila as governor of the newly created province of Castilla de Oro.

Arias, better known as Pedrarias Dávila and who will later become notorious for his cruelty, had served as soldier in wars against Moors at Granada, between 1486 and 1492, in Spain, and in North Africa, under Pedro Navarro intervening in the Conquest of Oran, now in Algeria.

In 1514, Ferdinand II places him in command of nineteen vessels and fifteen hundred men, the largest Spanish expedition yet sent to America, thereby ensuring that Balboa's requests to the crown for more men and supplies are met.

Departing from Arbolancha, Pedrarias is accompanied on this expedition by Gaspar de Espinosa, who holds the office of alcalde mayor; the very same Martín Fernández de Enciso whom Balboa had forced into exile, now as Chief Constable (Alguacil Mayor); the royal officer and chronicler Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo; as well as several captains, among them Juan de Ayora, Pedrarias' lieutenant.

There are also several clerics, most notably the Franciscan friar Juan de Quevedo, appointed bishop of Santa María.

There are also women among the travelers, among them Isabel de Bobadilla, Pedrarias' wife.

More than five hundred men die from starvation or due to the inclemency of the weather soon after reaching Darién.

Fernández de Oviedo is to note that knights covered in silk and brocade, who distinguished themselves valiantly in the Italian Wars, would die, consumed by hunger and fever, due to the nature of the tropical jungle.

Balboa receives Pedrarias and his representatives in July 1514 and surrenders his posts as governor and mayor.

The settlers, however, do not like the change and some are planning to take up arms against Pedrarias, even as Balboa shows respect to the new colonial authorities.

As soon as Pedrarias takes charge, Gaspar de Espinosa has Balboa arrested and tried "in absentia", sentencing him to pay reparations to Fernández de Enciso and others.

He is, however, found innocent of the charge of murdering de Nicuesa, so he is freed shortly afterwards.

Pedrarias calls on several expedition members to search for new locations fit for settlement, due to overpopulation in Santa María.

Balboa requests of Pedrarias that he be allowed to explore the Dabaibe region, along the Atrato river, for there is a rumor of the existence of a temple filled with vast riches there.

However, this expedition turns out to be a failure, leaving Balboa wounded due to constant attacks by the region's natives.

This setback, however, does not deter Balboa's ambitions of returning to explore the South Sea.

Secretly, he arranges to recruit a contingent of men from Cuba.

The ship carrying them berths just outside Santa María, and its caretaker informs Balboa of their arrival, receiving in return seventy gold castellanos.

Pedrarias, however, soon finds out about the ship; furious, he has Balboa arrested, takes away all his men and is planning to lock him up in a wooden cage.

He i held back from doing this by Bishop de Quevedo, who appeals to him not to abuse his power on Balboa.

Luckily for Balboa, the Spanish Crown finally recognizes his valuable services around this time.

The king bestows on him the titles of "Adelantado of the South Seas" and "Gobernador of Panama and Coiba".

On top of this, the King instructs Pedrarias to show Balboa the greatest respect and to consult him on all matters pertaining to the conquest and government of Castilla de Oro.

Because of all this, Pedrarias is to release and exonerate Balboa, lifting all charges brought up against him in the matter of the clandestine recruitment of an expeditionary party.