Which explorer reached the Pacific Ocean from the Americas in 1513 after crossing the Isthmus of Panama?

Vasco Núñez de Balboa reached the Pacific Ocean from the Americas in 1513 after crossing the Isthmus of Panama.

Balboa was a Spanish explorer and colonial administrator who organized an expedition across the isthmus after hearing Indigenous reports of a great sea to the west. On September 25, 1513, he became the first European known to see the Pacific Ocean from the eastern side of the Americas.

He called the body of water the “South Sea,” a name later replaced by Ferdinand Magellan’s term “Pacific Ocean.” Balboa claimed the sea and its adjoining lands for the Spanish Crown, although Indigenous peoples had long lived in and navigated the region.

The expedition’s achievement was important because it demonstrated that another ocean lay beyond the newly encountered lands. Balboa’s later career became entangled in Spanish colonial rivalries. He was executed in 1519 after being accused of treason by Pedro Arias Dávila, another Spanish colonial leader.