Question

Which area of the map was explored by the Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa in the 1500s? A) 1 B) 2 C) 3 D) 4

Answer 1

Answer:

C. 3

Explanation:

Spanish explorer and conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa was the first European explorer to see the eastern shores of the Pacific Ocean. In 1511, he was made captain general and interim governor of Darién, the first Spanish settlement in Panama, by king Ferdinand II. The Spanish got news about a fabulously rich Indian kingdom with much gold to the south (probably the Inca empire), a story that encouraged Spanish greed.  In 1513, without waiting for reinforcements, Núñez de Balboa  headed 190 Spanish soldiers and numerous Indian porters and set to explore southwards, crossing dense jungles, swamps and mountains. There he saw the shores of the Pacific. As a reward for his discovery of the Mar del Sur (Southern Sea, the Pacific), the king appointed him Adelantado (envoy).