Vasco Núñez.
He was born in Jerez de los Caballeros in 1475. A descendant of the lords of the castle of Balboa, Villafranca, in the current León.
It reached the New World managed to quickly replace Enciso as head of the new colony of Santa Maria de la Antigua del Darien. In 1509, he escaped from his creditors in Santo Domingo, embarked as a stowaway (in a barrel) in the expedition led by the Mayor of New Andalusia Martin Fernandez de Enciso that came to help the governor Alonso de Ojeda. It was soon revealed as a great administrator, also equipped with good military uniforms.
Having heard the natives of a large expanse of water lying beyond the mountains, whose shores were rich in pearls and gold, in 1513 crossed mountains Isthmus of Panama and espuccifirst saw the Pacific Ocean, which took office on behalf of the King of Spain. He was replaced as governor of Castilla de Oro by Pedrarias Davila, who sent you to discover the fantastic treasures Dobayba. Recent failure of the expedition, was appointed in 1515 ahead of the South Sea under the authority of Pedrarias.
He planned an exploration of the Pacific coast to the south with the intention to get to Peru, which had heard in 1513. Required by Pedrarias, was accused of imaginary crimes and with the collaboration of Francisco Pizarro, was convicted and beheaded enAcla 15 January 1519.
Vasco Nunez de Balboa was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from its eastern coast and the first European city to establish a permanent American mainland.
Amerigo Vespucci.
Amerigo Vespucci was a great Italian cartographer who worked in the service of Spain and Portugal, in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century.
Born in Florence on March 9 in 1451. His parents were Nastagio Vespucci (trader) and Lisa di Giovanni Mini. He studied at the school of aristocrats of the Convent of San Marcos.
In 1489 he moved to Seville to work as manager of a bank branch of the Medici. Shortly after it was associated with Juanoto Berardi, and together helped in the preparations of the first voyage of Christopher Columbus (1492).
Friend of Columbus was, but it was one of the first to doubt that his expedition to Asia is coming. In 1499, by order of King Ferdinand of Spain, Vespucci made an expedition that sailed along the north coast of South America. In 1501, he sailed by Brazilian coast commissioned by King Manuel of Portugal.
Their own expeditions convinced him that the land discovered by Columbus were not Asia, but a "Mundus Novus" (New World). By 1504 he developed the world map where the American continent first appears.
In 1507, the editors of the book "Introduction to Cosmography" included the map where the New World appears to which they christened "America" in honor of Vespucci, for being the "intellectual discoverer" of this continent.
Amerigo Vespucci died in Seville on February 22, 1512.
Juan Sebastián Elcano.
He born in 1476 in Guetaria, Guipúzcoa.
His parents were from Puerto Catalina and Juan Domingo Elcano. From his youth he sailed in fishing and commercial vessels.
In 1509 he was part of the military expedition led by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros who conquered Oran and then to Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba headed in Italy.
In Seville I learned of the project from Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan to discover a western route through a narrow passage or through South America to carry the Spice Islands without going through Portuguese dominions. In 1519 he joined the expedition as boatswain of the ship Conception.
The August 10, 1519, in Seville, was announced the departure of the squadron of five ships, captained by Magallanes descending to reach the Guadalquivir Sanlucar de Barrameda, Cadiz, Spanish port on the Atlantic Ocean. On September 20 the expedition sailed from there and the issue suffered many difficulties.
He wintered in the bay of San Julian, Patagonia, where there was an attempted uprising supported the cause Elcano. The October 21, 1520 they entered the strait that Magellan christened All Saints. On November 28 they went to the South Sea, which they named after the Pacific Ocean or Sea of Ladies by the gentle trade winds blowing. The January 24, 1521 they reached the Marianas or Ladrones. Magellan died in the Philippines and Elcano, who was in command of the expedition, went to the Moluccas, where he arrived in late 1521. There, on the island of Tidore, loaded a large shipment of spices, which are it fulfilled the purpose of the trip. He arrived at the island of Timor (1522) where he learned of the existence of other lands and islands, the current China, Java and Indonesia.
And only with the ship Victoria crossed the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope (May 1522) in South Africa and, by heading north, reached the Cape Verde Islands, which belonged to the Portuguese Crown. He completed the first circumnavigation of the globe to arrive at the port of departure, Sanlucar de Barrameda, on September 6, 1522 at the Victoria ship, with only 18 men and the ship loaded with spices, a remarkable achievement at the time. The expedition covered 14,000 miles.
Emperor Charles V (Carlos I of Spain) received the survivors in Valladolid and granted him an annual income of 500 gold ducats and a coat of arms, whose crest was a globe with the Primus legend circumdedisti me (The first thing I You hem).
On a second trip to the Moluccas, Juan Sebastian Elcano died on August 4, 1526 he died of scurvy while crossing the Pacific.