Week 6 Brog: (#3) Spanish Gateway Established

Balboa rose to colonial prominence soon after being discovered as a stowaway on Enciso’s boat. Enciso was the lawyer and right hand man of Alonso de Ojeda, who was marooned on the Panama mainland. This group originally set up a survival camp at what would become Portobelo and then moved to Nombre de Dios. This nomenclature resulted from, as the legend goes, a marooned Spaniard’s exhausted exclamation of relief at arriving at the spot of Nombre de Dios. Balboa used his experience and communicative savvy to lead the Spanish followers from starvation to survival in the east Darien region of Panama. His popularity soared and the Spanish deposed Ojeda of his alcade mayor position and elevated the stowaway and indebted Balboa to leading Antigua del Darien.

Balboa was able to maintain his position by way of sheer will and determination. His domination was more officially solidified when Diego Colon appointed Balboa his lieutenant on Tierra Firma and lobbied on Balboa’s behalf to King Ferdinand. Ferdinand made Balboa a provisional governor of the Darien region. Balboa did much to strengthen native alliances to simply survive and then thrive in Panama. Balboa’s zenith rose with his calculated and arguably courageous embarkment to the Pacific Ocean in 1513. Balboa was the first European to discover the Sud de Mer and that gained him notoriety the Spanish court first, and then attention of his enemies as well. Supporters of the humiliated Enciso and Ojeda had influence back in Spain, and the King sent Pedro Arias de Avila, a 70-year old military man, to be Panama’s new governor and command an armada to the new world.

Much changed with Avila’s, or Pedrarias as he was called, arrival. Animosities abounded between the Pedrarias and Balboa camps, with Balboa being arrested on occasion. The situation grew more tenuous when Balboa was given a position of supervision corresponding to his discovery of the Pacific. Pedrarias made the deciding brushstroke and eliminated Balbo from the colonial equation by indicting him on treasonous charges and executed him by beheading.

The year 1519 saw Pedrarias move the principal colonial seat from Antigua del Darien de Santa Maria across the isthmus to Panama, where it would stay and become the capital. Pedrarias also oversaw the reestablishing of Nombre de Dios on the eastern coast, as it was almost a straight shot across from Panama (City). Pedrarias did not continue the native sympathy policy that Balboa had. It seemed that he was more interested in enslavement of the Indians for the building of infrastructures to link the two oceans. Nombre de Dios became the gateway for such men as Pizarro in the new world and Spain’s “conquest”.

These encroachments were not done entirely independent of native resistance; assuredly there was not a “roll over and die” mentality among the natives. The bacteria the Spanish brought with them did decimate the indigenous population that was already thin in the Panamanian region, thus limiting major efforts at rebellion. It seems due to the thinning out of native population, either internal native conflicts, European-native conflicts, and disease, the “conquest” was more successful in Panama. Successful in the sense that Spain was allowed to place an influenced and dominating foothold in the new world, thus opening up all of western South America and the ensuing silver boom that began with Pizarro’s “conquest” of Peru.

There were some valuable commodities intrinsic to Panama’s mainland, yet they were few. These included small gold and silver deposits undoubtedly exhausted soon after Balboa’s establishment of Antigua and the following proliferation of colonists. A generally inhospitable place, many commodities and foodstuffs were imported into the country.

Nombre de Dios and then Portobelo, after 1597, became the locus of giant markets annually held. The trade floodgates had been opened in the western hemisphere. Similar to the European medieval trade fairs, the Nombre de Dios fairs brought natives into the picture as well. These Indians by this point were probably used as servants and/or slaves to help run the fair.

More to come…

Anderson, Charles L.G.. Life and Letters of Vasco Nunez de Balboa. Wesport, Conn.: Greenwood Press , 1941.

Gallup-Diaz, Ignacio. "A Legacy of Strife: Rebellious Slaves in Sixteenth-Century Panama´." Colonial Latin American Review 19 no. 3 (2010): 417-435.

Ward, Christopher. Imperial Panama. Albuquerque, University of Mexico Press. 1993.

Spainish Arrivals and Trials

Panama’s introduction into western civilization came officially in 1501. Rodrigo Galván de las Bastides, an adventurer and hopeful conquistador from Columbus’ second voyage sights land traveling southwest from Hispanõla. The land sighted was part of what would be the east coast of Panama. Deterred by weather and structural problems of the vessel, Bastides turned back and forfeited landfall, deemed not to be the winner.

The next contestant was the Great Admiral himself, Cristobal Colon (Columbus). Columbus embarked from the west of the Morocco in May 1502 on what would be his fourth and final voyage across the Atlantic. Entering the Caribbean and traveling west, Columbus followed the coast down from Mexico all the way to Honduras, to the north of what became Panama. Columbus did make landfall and contact with the natives; but this was for the primary purpose of finding a way to Asia through the Panamanian isthmus. Traveling south and exploring the coast, Columbus sought to procure gold from the natives, often being met with aggressive hostility. These early years of the 16^th century saw Spanish interaction with natives in Central America, but no permanent colony produced

In 1508, attention to the isthmus changed when King Ferdinand II in Spain instituted a Conquest of Tierra Firma, or most of Central America and the north coast of South America. This was in large part a financial investment, as the wars in Spain were taking a fiscal toll on the King. Enter the conquistadors.

The race to Tierra Firma started with Alonso de Ojeda and Diego de Nicuesa, two Spaniards of varying backgrounds and wealth. Ojeda joined with Juan de la Cosa who had traveled with Columbus on previous voyages to the New World. Ferdinand seemed ambivalent as to who would govern the area of Tierra Firma, which would encompass all of Panama along with part of would be Columbia and Costa Rica. Ferdinand split the areas with an ambiguous dividing line. The bickering between the too would-be conquerors caused Ojeda to conscript lawyer Martin Fernandez Enciso to help mediate. With drama brewing, the men brought a growing schism over to Hispanõla to set up a staging area to invade Tierra Firma.

Nicuesa and Ojeda launched their respective forays into Central America and surrounding areas in the fall of 1509 amidst their feud. They both left constituents behind to gather supplies and men to follow in their wake. Ojeda had left Enciso to begin conscripting men and provisions to meet up with later. This proved sensible, since Ojeda was engaged in serious combat with natives near the Spanish province of Nueva Granada and was seriously displaced. Another name entered the conquistador’s competition: Vasco Nunez de Balboa.

Balboa had been living in Hispanola as a pig farmer since Bastides’ expedition in 1501-1502. Son of wealthy landowners in Spain, Balboa traveled with Bastides in search of his own glory and had the capital to finance the venture. The farming was not much of a success, and soon Balboa found himself in debt to Hispanola creditors. These creditors had an interesting rule: one who was in debt was not allowed to leave the island until the debt was paid off. Fast forward to 1513: Balboa claims the Pacific Ocean on Panama’s west coast for the King of Spain. What happened?

The story goes that Balboa of course knew of the drama circulating with the Spaniards itching to claim and establish ports in Panama, and of the expeditions planned. Aided by one of his friends, Balboa was reported to have stowed away on Enciso’s vessel in a food barrel. With his dog! Enciso of course discovers Balboa soon after launch, but is persuaded to keep him because of his value and experience.

Balboa helps to found Santa Maria de Antigua del Darien, which becomes the first governmental seat held by Europeans in the New World.

More to come...this story is real long I'm realizing...!

Sources:

Ward, Christopher. Imperial Panama. Albuquerque, University of Mexico Press. 1993.

http://www.bruceruiz.net/PanamaHistory/panama_history.htm