While on the Run from His Creditors, a Former Pig Farmer and Stowaway Makes a Household Name for Himself
Balboa was born in Jerez de los Caballeros, Spain, in 1475. As with seemingly half the explorers of the early New World seafaring age, Balboa's father was said to be a nobleman who had fallen on less than noble times.
Young explorer-potential talent, however, always seems to gravitate toward those who have money, because money happens to be a much-needed resource when there is a ship or fleet to be outfitted for missions to distant lands. And so it was that the spirited young Balboa served in the household of a moneybags nobleman in the Spanish south-western port of Moguer.
Since the time of Columbus and his sensational, pinch-me-I-must-be-dreaming discovery of a whole new previously unknown world in 1492, there had been a busy beehive of activity in Moguer, from where ships headed for the New World were in need of sailor men and supplies. The impressionable young Balboa must have heard the stories of the old timers who had sailed with Columbus and must have developed a hankering for a sea voyage of his own.
Balboa Puts on a Conquistador Helmet and, in the Company of de Bastidas, Heads West, Young Man
So it was that in the year 1500 Balboa sailed with fellow conquistador pal Rodrigo de Bastidas on a mission of exploration. That mission took them to the far reaches of Colombia and northern Panama, where they explored along the coastal area.
By and by, Balboa settled in Hispañola, which is dividedly known today as the Dominican Republic and Haiti. There he cultivated land and, in the time-honoured tradition of Inca-buster Francisco Pizarro, he raised pigs.
Selling Pig Meat to Pig Worshippers in Hispañola Is Not Such a Good Idea
Unfortunately for Balboa, he suffered from bad-pig luck. The Indian population of Hispañola worshipped the pig as a god, with the result that neither the Indians nor the Spainish setters there had an inclination to eat a pig god.
A Good Time to Change Addresses Is When You've Run up an Impossible-to-Pay Debt
As perhaps often happens to men of bold ambition who are misunderstood by the lesser people around him, Balboa ran up his island tab and ended up owing money to his creditors which he was not in a position to pay. To escape his demon creditors, Balboa stowed away on a voyage to Panama in 1510 on board a ship commanded by Martín Fernández de Enciso. Balboa bravely hid in a barrel with his dog Leoncico.
The further adventures of Balboa and Leoncico can be followed by visiting the article below:
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