Which Spanish explorer was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from the Americas?

Which Spanish explorer was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from the Americas? Vasco Núñez de Balboa was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from the Americas. He reached the ocean after crossing the Isthmus of Panama in 1513.

Balboa learned from Indigenous informants that another great sea lay beyond the mountains. On 1 September 1513, he set out from Santa María la Antigua del Darién with roughly 190 Spanish men, Indigenous guides, and dogs. After crossing dense rainforest and rugged terrain, he first saw the ocean from a mountain on 25 September.

The Spanish called the Pacific the Mar del Sur, or South Sea. Balboa later reached the shore, took possession of the sea for the Spanish Crown, and explored the Gulf of San Miguel. His discovery proved that a vast ocean separated the Atlantic world from the lands Spain hoped would lead toward Asia.

Ferdinand Magellan later gave the ocean its familiar European name, Pacific, during his 1520 voyage. Balboa did not sail across the Pacific, and he was not the first European to circumnavigate the globe. His achievement was seeing and reaching the ocean from the American mainland.