History

History

In 1508, the Crown decided to colonize the mainland, the chosen area extending from Cabo Gracias a Dios in western Central America (in the present boundary between Nicaragua and Honduras) to Cabo de la Vela, Venezuela in the east. The provinces on the mainland were Nueva Andalucía, between the Atrato River in the Gulf of Uraba and the Cabo de la Vela in Venezuela and Castilla del Oro (or Veragua), which stretched from the Atrato River to Cabo Gracias a Dios in Central America.

The Governor of Nueva Andalucía was Alonso de Ojeda and the mayor of Castilla del Oro was Diego de Nicuesa, who became the first governor of the Isthmus of Panama. Diego de Nicuesa founded Nombre de Dios in 1510. Martin Fernandez de Enciso founded Santa Maria la Antigua del Darién, west of the Gulf of Urabá, in September 1510 on the advice of Vasco Núñez de Balboa, who had arrived at those lands earlier withRodrigo de Bastidas.

On September 1, 1513, Balboa went in search of the South Sea with 190 Spaniards and 1,000 Indians. He sighted the sea on September 25, 1513, and took possession of it on September 29 in the Gulf of San Miguel.