273. Panama’s Brutish Conquistador Who Found The Pacific and Lost His Head (Part 1)

Summary

Empire Podcast Summary: Episode 273 Title: Panama’s Brutish Conquistador Who Found The Pacific and Lost His Head (Part 1) Hosts: William Dalrymple & Anita Anand Release Date: July 16, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode 273 of Empire, hosts William Dalrymple and Anita Anand delve into the tumultuous history of Spanish colonization in Panama, focusing on the rise and fall of the notorious conquistador, Vasco Núñez de Balboa. Joined by maritime historical archaeologist Mark Horton, the trio unpacks the brutal tactics, ambitious explorations, and political machinations that defined Panama's early colonial period.

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Setting the Stage: The Scottish Darien Colony

The discussion begins with a brief overview of the Scottish attempt to establish a colony in Darien, Panama. Mark Horton explains the dire circumstances that led Scotland to invest in this ill-fated endeavor:

• Mark Horton [03:00]: "The Scottish colony was an attempt to create an entrepôt on the Atlantic coast. Scotland was financially bankrupt. William Paterson... persuaded most of Scotland to invest in a madcap colony on the coast of Darien."

This venture resulted in the loss of approximately 2,500 Scotsmen between 1698 and 1700, contributing to Scotland's eventual union with England in 1707.

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Spanish Colonization: A Catastrophic Misstep

Shifting focus to the Spanish, Horton highlights the catastrophic decision to establish the first mainland settlement in Darien:

• Mark Horton [04:00]: "The Spanish alighted upon this bit of land sort of by mistake... a massive mistake... it's the first area of the mainland of the New World that the Spanish colonized."

Darien's harsh climate, rampant diseases, and inhospitable environment made it an unlikely choice for successful colonization, contrasting sharply with their established settlements on islands like Hispaniola.

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Encounter with the Cueva: Cultural Misunderstandings and Violence

The Spanish settlers, led by Balboa, encountered the indigenous Cueva people, whose complex social structures and fluid gender identities were misunderstood and brutally suppressed by the Spaniards:

• Mark Horton [16:02]: "They were basically trans. Many native peoples are trans. And Balboa obviously misinterpreted this as sodomy."
• Mark Horton [12:13]: "Balboa... was completely the rogue... he was particularly keen on looting and terrorizing the local Indians."

A particularly gruesome incident illustrates the brutality:

• Mark Horton [12:27]: "He had a pack of bloodhounds... there's a wonderful illustration... these dogs destroying, killing and disemboweling 40 natives."

These violent actions led to the near-extermination of the Cueva within a few decades.

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Balboa's Ambitious Expedition: Discovery of the Pacific

Balboa's ambition drove him to explore beyond the settled areas, culminating in the historic discovery of the Pacific Ocean:

• Mark Horton [14:07]: "He travels up and down the coast, negotiating with different Indian chieftains... In 1513, he takes that route and is the first person to sight the Pacific Ocean."

Balboa's discovery transformed Panama's strategic importance, shifting Spanish focus from a failed colony to a pivotal maritime crossroad.

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Conflict and Betrayal: The Downfall of Balboa

Internal strife among the Spaniards led to Balboa's downfall. Ambitious rivals, including Pedrarius Davila and Martin Fernandez Enciso, conspired against him:

• Mark Horton [35:19]: "Pedrarius Davila... saw Balboa as a threat to his colonial ambitions and created trumped-up charges to dispose of him."
• Mark Horton [35:53]: "Davila the Cruel... extermination was widespread."

Balboa was arrested, tried for high treason, and executed along with several of his followers in Acla's town square in 1515, marking a tragic end to his promising legacy.

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Founding of Acla: The Rise of a New Colonial Hub

Despite Balboa's demise, his efforts led to the establishment of Acla, the second mainland settlement:

• Mark Horton [26:07]: "He creates a new city called Acla... the first place that's actually laid out on the colonial grid system in the mainland."

Acla became a crucial point for future explorations and the eventual overland transfer of wealth from the Americas to Europe.

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Archaeological Insights: Unearthing Acla

Mark Horton shares his personal archaeological discoveries in Panama:

• Mark Horton [28:33]: "In 1979, I found ceramic evidence, the smoking gun... Brick buildings, remains of structures, possibly a tower."
• Mark Horton [30:36]: "They were clearing out the natives and using their strategic location to establish the new colonial city."

These findings provide tangible links to the early Spanish colonial efforts and the harsh realities faced by both settlers and indigenous populations.

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Economic Implications: The Rise of the Spanish Dollar

The exploitation of Panama as a transit point for silver from South America had profound economic repercussions:

• William Dalrymple [41:03]: "Silver reflates Europe... The Spanish dollar becomes the coin of value as far away as China."
• Mark Horton [42:17]: "The Panama isthmus is where that silver is being shipped across and into Galleons for Spain."

This influx of wealth not only reshaped European economies but also had global impacts, influencing trade routes and economic systems worldwide.

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Conclusion and Tease for Next Episode

As the episode wraps, Dalrymple and Anand hint at the ensuing chaos brought by English pirates and the legendary Sir Francis Drake, setting the stage for the next installment:

• William Dalrymple [43:08]: "What we're going to see next... is the arrival of a whole bunch of ne'er-do-well English pirates."
• Anita Anand [43:42]: "Sir Francis Drake set it all up for us... the arrival on this coast of a whole bunch of English pirates."

Listeners are left anticipating the further unraveling of Panama's colonial legacy and its pivotal role in global history.

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Key Takeaways

• Brutality of Conquest: Balboa's ruthless tactics against the Cueva exemplify the often brutal nature of early colonial endeavors.
• Strategic Discoveries: The discovery of the Pacific Ocean by Balboa elevated Panama's importance in global trade and exploration.
• Internal Strife: Power struggles among conquistadors like Davila and Enciso highlight the fragile and treacherous nature of colonial leadership.
• Economic Impact: Panama's role in facilitating the flow of silver significantly influenced the global economy, establishing the Spanish dollar's prominence.
• Archaeological Significance: Horton’s discoveries provide crucial insights into the early colonial period and the interactions between Europeans and indigenous populations.

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Notable Quotes

• Mark Horton [12:13]: "Balboa... was completely the rogue... he was particularly keen on looting and terrorizing the local Indians."
• Mark Horton [16:02]: "They were basically trans. Many native peoples are trans. And Balboa obviously misinterpreted this as sodomy."
• Mark Horton [35:19]: "Pedrarius Davila... created trumped-up charges to dispose of him."
• William Dalrymple [43:08]: "What we're going to see next... is the arrival of a whole bunch of ne'er-do-well English pirates."

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Final Thoughts

Episode 273 of Empire offers a compelling narrative of ambition, betrayal, and the relentless pursuit of wealth that shaped Panama's early colonial history. Through engaging storytelling and expert analysis, William Dalrymple, Anita Anand, and Mark Horton illuminate the complex interplay of personalities and events that left an indelible mark on world history.

For those eager to continue exploring these riveting historical tales, stay tuned for the next episode, where the saga of English pirates and their impact on Panama unfolds.

Transcript

[William Dalrymple]

If you want access to bonus episodes, reading lists for every series of Empire, a chat, community discounts for all the books mentioned in the week's podcast ad, free listening, and a weekly newsletter, sign up to empire [e-mail]. the McDonald's snack wrap is back. You brought it back. Ranch snack wrap. Spicy snack wrap. You broke the Internet for a snack? Snack wrap is.

[Anita Arnon]

Hello, and welcome to Empire with me.

[William Dalrymple]

Anita Arnon and me, William Dalrymple.

[Anita Arnon]

Now, inadvertently, Donald Trump has given us a theme quite a few of these miniseries.

[William Dalrymple]

How grateful we are.

[Anita Arnon]

Yes, yes.

[William Dalrymple]

To our great leader.

[Anita Arnon]

A podcast thanks him. But we decided that we would work down his shopping list. You know, he's been expressing interest in buying all sorts of things. And, you know, we started with Greenland, we moved on to Canada, and now we are heading south to Panama in Central America. And we want to really try and understand why this former Spanish colony has made it onto his list. And we've got that brilliant man with us again. You love him. We love him. Brilliant maritime historical archaeologist Mark Horton, who has given us some, some absolute jaw dropping scoops on this podcast, let me tell you. Do you know, the last time you were on Mark, Willy and I just had to pinch ourselves because we thought we knew a story. And then you kept dropping new facts on us that basically left us shook. Shook down to our little shoes. It did.

[William Dalrymple]

So you will remember from Mark's wonderful appearance on the Roanoke episode that Mark has a habit of falling on major archaeological sites in rather nice parts of the world where he can go on holiday.

[Anita Arnon]

You're making it sound like he trips over stuff in sunny climes. This man is meticulous and finds things that nobody else can find.

[William Dalrymple]

As someone who has worked in the field with Mark with my trowel, I know how Mark likes to. A lot of his work was centered around the lovely Kenyan beach resort of Lamu for a long time.

[Anita Arnon]

Yeah, that's all right. He's taking me to the Bahamas.

[Mark Horton]

Aren't you, Mark?

[Anita Arnon]

That was the agreement, Mark. That was the agreement. You and me and a trowel going to the Bahamas. Now, look, let's talk about this oldest Spanish colony in mainland America. How did you come to be digging around with your trowel over there?

[Mark Horton]

It ties into the Scots. So we were doing a big expedition looking for the abandoned Scottish colony. The famous Darien colony.

[William Dalrymple]

Exactly. Which of course, Empire listeners who plugged into our Scottish Empire episodes last year, we'll know all about. But just give us a quick sketch of that before we move on, Mark.

[Mark Horton]

The Scottish colony was an attempt to create a entrepot on the Atlantic coast. Scotland was financially bankrupt. And the idea, and this is the theme that's going to come through all this about crossing the isthmus. And a financier, brilliant economist, but practically useless man called William Paterson, managed to persuade most of Scotland to invest in a madcap colony on the coast of Darien. And between 1698 and 1700, about two and a half thousand Scotsmen died, bankrupting Scotland and some would say forcing Scotland into a union with England in 1707.

[William Dalrymple]

I think that's very much the case. But what we're talking about today, Mark, is the earlier period. Take us before then, what's happening in the area where the Scots landed before they ever got there, and take us way back. Take us to the pre colonial history.

[Mark Horton]

Yeah, I mean, it's really interesting because the Spanish alighted upon this bit of land sort of by mistake. This is the first area that the Spanish attempt to colonise on the mainland. This was a massive mistake on the Spanish. This is the first area of the mainland of the New World that the Spanish colonized. They previously set up settlements and towns on the islands, particularly in Hispaniola, which is now Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. But they hadn't ventured onto the mainland. And for some rather odd reason that has never really become clear, they light upon the coast of Darien, which is about the most unpleasant place that you could possibly want to settle. It's the kind of armpit of the world. It. It rains steroids for nine months of the year, it's infested with every form of disease that you could possibly want and to try and have that as your foothold for, as it were, colonization of the New World. Odd choice, no?

[Anita Arnon]

And when we're talking about Panama, we should sort of drop people on a map, kindly, gently, with love. So we're talking about a place that's between Costa Rica to the north, Colombia in the south. And actually, I just want to clarify one thing because I was telling one of my sons that we were talking about this isthmus and he completely misheard me and thought I was talking about Christmas and Christmas island and it all got so confusing and pointless. But just for those like my son listening, an isthmus is a strip of land that lies between. So it's like a little finger of fudge. It's a finger of land. And this particular isthmus lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. So in effect, you've Got a bridge, a land bridge linking north and South America. And that is the bit that we're interested in.

[Mark Horton]

Can I just add a critical thing that we have to remember as a geography, that this point, the isthmus, is not running north south, but actually west east. So the coastline that we're talking about is the north coast of Panama, which is the Caribbean side, and the south coast, which faces the Pacific, is of course the South Seas.

[Anita Arnon]

Good. Okay, we got it. It is a crossroads of land, but it is one, therefore, that is crucial for anyone wanting to make long journeys and avoid going the circuitous way that takes so many more days and possibly.

[William Dalrymple]

Into hostile waters, via Argentina and Chile and Tierra del Fuego and all that sort of stuff.

[Mark Horton]

Absolutely. Or via the Northwest Passage, which hadn't been discovered. The imperative was to try and get to the east, but that's a little bit further on. I think that we should go to Columbus first and his fourth voyage.

[William Dalrymple]

Take us there, Mark.

[Mark Horton]

So Columbus to his dying day, thought there was a way through to reach China. And he believed that by coasting along the coast, this was the last throw of his dice. In 1501, he sailed along the coast of Panama looking for gulf that he could sail into. And unfortunately he didn't find it. He lost several ships. The whole thing was a massive disaster. But he did encounter native populations. The really interesting thing is that in this area, we're not talking about great civilizations, we're not talking about Mayas or Aztecs or Incas, we're talking about chieftainships. So every 5, 10 miles, as a separate political entity, probably defined by the rivers as a draining into the Caribbean Sea, these chieftains were heavily decorated with gold. They were clearly incredibly rich, but always fighting each other the whole time, those sorts of internecine battles between the two. It was possible, therefore, to get a foothold by aligning with one against another.

[William Dalrymple]

Exactly. So if you're a colonist, this is good news. A, they're covered in gold, which implies there's some gold mines, and B, they're all squabbling with each other, which means that in the old British manner, you can divide and rule and find a.

[Anita Arnon]

Way in there, not just the British manner. Every colonisation, we talked about this. When Cartier went to America, you know, when he went to Canada, what we now know as Canada, he was very happy to exploit the differences there. So, okay, so you've got glittering jewellery and you've got sort of tribal interests. What does, what does Columbus actually do? I mean, is this a case of taking beads and smallpox, infested blankets and forging allies. How does he work this out?

[Mark Horton]

No, Columbus goes home basically a disappointed man because he's never found the way to China. That's all that he's interested in. And after Columbus's voyage, the Spanish sort of forget about this set of coastline for another five or six years.

[Anita Arnon]

That's really interesting. Same thing happened in Canada as well. You know, they. You know, they didn't see any kind of interest in colonization at the time. It was all about the passage, and it was all about the belief that just beyond that waterfall is China. And they would write these sort of letters home saying, we are just inches away from China.

[William Dalrymple]

But, Mark, as I understand it, Columbus has this idea that there is a hidden strait. He's looking through every bay, hoping to find the way through to China. That if only he could find this hidden straight, that he could finally, after three failed voyages, find what he's actually after, rather than an entirely new continent that he wasn't looking for in the first place.

[Mark Horton]

One of the most magnificent of these bays that he sailed into, which plays a part in the second part of this story, is a place called Portobello that he called Portobello, the most beautiful port, which is on the north coast.

[William Dalrymple]

Of Panama after he goes back. And this is still. So this is 1502, if my histories and memories right. All that stuff with Cortes and the Aztecs isn't until the 1520s. Between Columbus going home and Cortes storming the pyramids of Mexico, we have two other conquistadors turning up. 1509, is that right?

[Mark Horton]

That's correct.

[William Dalrymple]

Tell us about these guys.

[Mark Horton]

In 1508, 1509, the Spanish decide to create a new colony, make a deliberate attempt. A place called Terra Firma is the title. The whole thing is a horrible internal conflict of different conquistadors fighting amongst themselves. They try initially to set up a colony, what's now the north coast of Colombia, but then abandon that and move into what's actually just on the Panamanian Colombian border. It's actually in modern Colombia. And they found a town, upper river, called Santa Maria Lantigua de Darien. And this is the first permanent settlement on the mainland of the New World.

[William Dalrymple]

And Darien is one of these guys, isn't he?

[Mark Horton]

Darion is an Indian term for the location.

[William Dalrymple]

Oh, I see. It's an indigenous term.

[Mark Horton]

Yes. So it's a battle between two. Vasco Nunes de Balboa, who we'll meet extensively. Martin Fernandez and Ciso, who was a wealthy Lawyer and from Hispaniola. And these two people fight like dogs against each other. And the early story of colonization is the battle between these two colorful historical figures.

[Anita Arnon]

We love a pen portrait on this program. You said we'll talk about who and what they're like. It's Martin Fernandez Enciso. What did people say about him at the time? What did they think about him at the time? And did he have a loyal following? Let's talk about those he gathered around him, thought of him.

[Mark Horton]

We actually know very little about him. I mean, history has recounted Balboa, but it was Inisco who was really the key figure in all this. He was a lawyer, made a great deal of money settling disputes in Hispaniola and was really interested in seeing a new career. On the. On the main, he, He. He basically stopped the settlers stealing gold from the Indians, for example, and that created them a huge amount of resentment among the Spanish settlers that came to settle this new town, Balboa took the opportunity of then siding with these annoyed settlers.

[William Dalrymple]

So the one we remember, Balboa, the guy who we're going to be talking about, is actually the rogue.

[Anita Arnon]

That's interesting.

[Mark Horton]

Yeah, he is completely the rogue. And we know that he was particularly keen on looting and terrorizing the local Indians. He had a pack of dogs that he set upon the Indians.

[William Dalrymple]

Bloodhounds.

[Mark Horton]

Bloodhound, indeed. And there's a wonderful illustration a bit later of these dogs destroying, killing and disemboweling 40 natives, because Balboa thought that they were associated with some form of sodomy or homosexuality.

[William Dalrymple]

He just sets his dogs onto them.

[Mark Horton]

Onto them.

[Anita Arnon]

No, but then it's captured in portraiture, for God's sake. That is the. That was the, you know, the holiday snap they decided to do. It's just. That's insane.

[Mark Horton]

And of course, the Indians that living here were known as the Cueva. So brutal was the Spanish intervention that none survive today in other areas of the New World, we have descendants. We have descendants. The Aztecs, we have descendants of the Maya. Maya language still spoken today. But in this area of Panama, the Cueva were exterminated in the course of 30 or 40 years.

[Anita Arnon]

Just. I mean, you mentioned that gruesome portrait of the bloodhounds doing terrible things to indigenous people. But when you look at their portraits, I mean, I always like looking at portraits of people. The way that they prefer to be presented is also interesting. So, you know, you've got one of Balboa who's dressed pretty much in armour, you know, the warrior, he very much Looks like a warrior. And Ciso, he looks like a scholar. You know, he's got the felt hat and feather and the high collar. So the way they even project themselves, one is saying, I am learned, I am a poet. And the other one, you know, I'm going to set my dogs on you.

[Mark Horton]

Falbour was a pig farmer on Hispaniola, a failed pig farmer, and he arrived uninvited, stowed away on the ship with his dog, and then by sheer force of personality, became the de facto leader of Santa Maria.

[William Dalrymple]

He has this idea quite early on of trying to cross the isthmus. Isn't he one of the first that actually thinks that you can make some money and make your name by crossing to what the Indians have told him is the other ocean on the other side.

[Mark Horton]

So from his base at Santa Maria, he goes and travels up and down the coast, negotiating with the different Indian chieftains, siding with some, having battles with others, and getting to know the coastline as it extends to the west. In part of that travels, he learns about the South Seas. One of the Indians tells him there is a route across the Isthmus that he can take. And in 1513, he takes that route and is the first person to, as it were, sight on a peak in Darien, the South Seas.

[William Dalrymple]

So Keats got it wrong. It was nothing to do with Stout Cortes.

[Mark Horton]

No, indeed not Keats. It was Vasco Dunez de Baba, who basically climbed a tree and looked out and saw the South Sea, the Southern Ocean. And from that point, the whole notion of what the Spanish were doing in Panama changed from, as it were, this God forsaken tropical swamp to somewhere that one could exploit as a crossing point to reach the southern seas and eventually reach. Reach China and so forth.

[Anita Arnon]

Mark, May I just circle back, though, to that awful massacre by Balboa, who, you know, by the second, I hope people are going to hate more and more. But what. What he described as sodomy, there is a cultural aspect to the tribe upon which he unleashed this hell that he did not understand? I think I understand that, you know, they have assigned gender identities for males, but I'm not quite sure I get exactly what that means. Can you talk us through that?

[Mark Horton]

Yes, we have some contemporary accounts, particularly a friar called Orviedo, who actually leaves an extensive description of these Cueva people living on the north coast of Panama. And clearly gender is a lot more fluid than Europeans at the time would have accepted. And while he's a friar who doesn't describe sodomy as such, he clearly shows that they cross dress in various ways and acquire female gender at times. So there was an ambiguity in these northern tribes, the quaver, which Babur must have misinterpreted. They were basically trans. Many native peoples are trans. And Babur obviously misinterpreted this as sodomy.

[William Dalrymple]

How interesting. And in India, we have the third sex, we have the hijras, and even in colonial passports, you were offered hijra as an option for sex. There are always three boxes to tick and it's always far more, far more plural than we think of things. Mark, before we come to the break and set off with Balboa on his expedition, just one question. You described him letting off his dogs and being this brute. Is disease already breaking out among the Indians or is that something that happens over 150 years? I mean, are we seeing Indians dying of smallpox and all these important diseases immediately he arrives?

[Mark Horton]

As far as we can see, yes, everyone's dying on both sides. The mortality amongst the Spanish settlers is also extreme. So the life expectancy there was very small. But they obviously introduced European diseases, many of which we don't know exactly what they were because some of these 16th century diseases don't actually have proper medical counterparts.

[William Dalrymple]

Today, the bacalus has died or developed.

[Mark Horton]

There's a huge debate actually how many Indians were here on the Isthmus of Panama. I mean, some would argue it might be 1 or 2 million. I think modern scholarship suggests it was about 200,000 or so. So the population collapse wasn't quite as extreme, but within 50 years they'd all gone.

[William Dalrymple]

What's so interesting, though, is this picture you paint, Mark, of the floundering of these initial attempts. I'd always had the impression that, you know, there's Columbus and then Cortez just walks in and conquers everything. There is this moment, rather like the Scots later, where the Spanish just don't understand how to do it and are dying of disease and are fumbling around making a mess of things.

[Mark Horton]

Yes, And I think it's worth pointing out that this is the training school for the most famous conquistadors. So Pizarro is there, Cortes is there, and they're learning how to do it from Balboa.

[Anita Arnon]

That's amazing. Gosh. So he's kind of, you know, the teacher, the big daddy of all the. So, look, we're going to take a break, but what we have here, we have a man in the shape of Balboa who is ruthless, who doesn't think much of the local population. He doesn't try or care to understand the ways of the local population, thinks nothing of slaughtering and massacring them. But he has his eye on gold and nothing, particularly not the natives, are going to get in his way.

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[William Dalrymple]

Welcome back. So we last saw Balboa shinning up a tree and spotting the ocean from the top of it. In 1512. He secures enough money and backing to launch an expedition, an expl dortary probing inland through territory controlled by several chieftains. One of these comagre is subdued and baptized, but his son is importantly so exasperated by the Spanish complaints of the lack of gold that he tells them to head further south where they'd find not only the vast wealth but the other seas. So that's the moment that we're taking up. Mark, tell us what happens on this expedition. How many are they? How big an event Is this. Is this just a few men stumbling through the jungle, or is this a sort of rather like my favorite film, Aguirre, Wrath of God, with conquistadors hauling cannon up the sides of Machu Picchu and all the rest of it?

[Mark Horton]

Well, at this point, no, it wasn't. It was a relatively small expedition. We don't know exactly how many people were involved and obviously they had their Indians, the ones that were on their side, to guide them through. I mean, today that landscape is primary rainforest, virtually impenetrable, incredibly difficult to move through. So crossing over was a massive achievement. However, we don't know whether in the 16th century it was so forested because the Indians there living and cultivating up the mountainside. So it might have been much more savannah open grassland than the forest that's covering the isthmus today, which, of course.

[William Dalrymple]

Is easier for you and your conquistadors and your bloodhounds to find your way.

[Mark Horton]

Find your way through. That's right. So he then went all the way through and went down to the Chukanakwi river and then took probably canoes down the Chukanaqui and stood at the mouth of Chukanaqui in the Gulf de San Miguel and placed the standard in here for Spain.

[William Dalrymple]

I always, from movies like Aguirre, have this picture of conquistadors on these expeditions, covered in sort of breastplates and helmets and thick leather breeches and boots up to their thighs.

[Anita Arnon]

It's going to be really hot, isn't it? Aren't they going to get very hot?

[William Dalrymple]

Are they clanking in all this stuff? Do they have a lightweight sort of camping kit which they get into when.

[Anita Arnon]

They go off the summer wardrobe. He's asking about the summer wardrobe.

[Mark Horton]

I think they're clanking over. I mean, maybe not in full armour, but certainly breastplates and things, because they're worried at any time they might be ambushed by unfriendly Indians. This is dangerous territory. And so indeed, they're clanking through with armor and muskets. It must have been incredibly horrible.

[William Dalrymple]

And they've got slaves with them, carrying their stuff, is that right?

[Mark Horton]

Well, not at this stage, probably. They're probably. Again, they're using the natives. Slaves come in a little bit later. So he comes and puts canoes in the river at the Chukanaque and takes it all to the entrance to the sea, the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of San Miguel, and he literally puts the Spanish standard in the Pacific Ocean, the South Sea, because of course, he's travelled from the north to the south and claims this great ocean for Spain.

[William Dalrymple]

And this is 29 days after he sets off. So it's quite an expedition. It's a month of jungle clanking.

[Anita Arnon]

Jungle clanking where he loses a lot of men. I mean, to the heat stroke that is obviously going to follow. Clanking through the jungle in intense heat with breastplates and leather stockings. But there he is claiming an entire ocean for Spain. There is John Keats poem which I'll just read to you is it could be about him or someone like him on first looking into Chapman's Homer. And he writes like Stout Cortez when the eagle eyes he stared at the Pacific and all his men looked at each other with a wild surmise silent upon a peak in Darien.

[William Dalrymple]

I remember where I was when I read that poem for the first time. It's such a great, great line.

[Mark Horton]

But of course, you know, Balboa doesn't rhyme like Cortez does.

[Anita Arnon]

No, but I mean, would Keats have known? In all seriousness, would Keats have known about Balboa? I mean, Cortes is a name that clearly was in the schoolrooms. I mean, what about Balboa's name?

[William Dalrymple]

Not only does Keats know about Balboa, Sir Thomas Browne gets a copy of his diary and so on the Norfolk. Those of you who've read the rings of Saturn W.G. sebold will know all about Sir Thomas Browne sitting somewhere in East Anglia.

[Anita Arnon]

Well, who is he? For those who have not read that.

[William Dalrymple]

Venerable tome, Sir Thomas Browne is a wonderful sort of Elizabethan alchemist and thinker and geographer and botanist and sort of man of letters and learning who writes wonderful complicated poems. He does write a journal about this that appears in England. So he's a known quantity.

[Anita Arnon]

So then Keats is a screw up rather than ignorance. I mean, I bet you were saying, Mark, that actually not many people did know about Barbera. So I'm confused now. So it was sort of like a handful of intelligentsia who write clever books who know about him. But Keats was one such. So how did he come to say it was Cortes rather than Balboa? I mean, do we know how that happened? Just a screw.

[Mark Horton]

I screw up, I think.

[Anita Arnon]

Okay, even great men can screw up. There we are. I feel better about myself.

[William Dalrymple]

Keats is about sort of 18 when he writes it. He's not much older than your boys later. So he's lied to.

[Anita Arnon]

Well, then screw ups are likely, let me say.

[Mark Horton]

Okay, okay, so. So he's discovered the Pacific in 1513, hurries back to Santa Maria with The news that all this is discovered. But meanwhile, a very nasty piece of work arrives as the new governor of Santa Maria, a called Pedrarius Davila. And he has a royal warrant to dispose Babur as the governor. And what's more, Enciso is there in the ship with Davila, and they together conspire to take revenge on Balboa, who he had deposed a few years earlier. So this was a powder keg for internicine war between the two. And Balboa decides to get the hell out. And in 1514, 1515, he moves along the coast and found his own new city called Acla, the second city on the mainland of the New World. And this is a very, as it were, significant place. It's probably the first place that's actually laid out on the colonial grid system in the mainland. And great, as it were, hope is made that this is going to be a really significant new settlement.

[William Dalrymple]

Mark, just to put this in the wider history of colonialism, what other colonies are there of Europe at this time, other than the Crusader states, which have been and gone by this time in the 15th century? Is this the first colonial grid plan ever built?

[Mark Horton]

Well, there's a possibility that they might have built them on Hispaniol. Some of the earliest early towns there, Santo Domingo, and might be on the grid pattern. But certainly on the actual mainland of America. This is probably the first, as it were, colonially planned city.

[William Dalrymple]

I said this before, but we have this image of everything kicking off with Cortez and Mexico. There's this whole history I had no.

[Anita Arnon]

Knowledge of, archaeologically speaking. How much of the lost city can you find at all? Have you found any of it at all?

[Mark Horton]

So in 1979, I found actually.

[William Dalrymple]

That's very clever of you, Mark.

[Anita Arnon]

Were you the first to find Ackler?

[Mark Horton]

People had speculated roughly where it was, but we found the ceramic evidence, the smoking gun evidence that this was Balboa City.

[Anita Arnon]

So what did you find? Like, let me describe.

[Mark Horton]

So we found ceramics and I stumbled across a whole lot of pottery called Isabella Polychrome, which is a type of pottery that goes out of use by around 1520. That was a really good bit of evidence. Found brick buildings, remains of various structures, a brick tower possibly in the midst. We didn't have time to clear the site and do extensive excavations, but we were pretty certain that this is the place we could put it on the map.

[Anita Arnon]

I have many questions because I'm just fascinated with you, completely besotted with you. Yes. But also fascinated with the work that you do. So when you go to a place like that, is. Is it completely overgrown, a place where you suspect there is a lost city? Or is there, you know, sort of some kind of urban life that's going along and you have to sort of wind in. What do you. What are you walking into? What is it that you see and what is it that makes your heart beat faster? Going, you know what I think here, this is where we put the trench.

[Mark Horton]

Oh, the problem is you go in and basically it's coconuts along the beach probably, but you go in a few yards inland and it's pretty impenetrable. Unless it's farmed by the kuna, it's impenetrable forest. So you literally have to hack your way through with a machete and you very rapidly lose any sense of direction. And of course, back in 1979, GPS and anything else hadn't been invented. So actually plotting and mapping these sites is really hard to actually work out. What you found in the middle of forest. Where the hell are you?

[Anita Arnon]

The lost archaeologist after the lost city is never to be seen again. Right. Because. Okay, but you did find a spot and something, a spidey sense or whatever it is that makes you tick, thought actually here there'd be not gold, but there'd be something interesting right here. So what is it that made you stop where you stopped?

[William Dalrymple]

Yeah. Were the walls overgrown with lianas and vines? What are we talking about?

[Mark Horton]

Yes, no, the one walls. It's a scatter of bricks and things. Unfortunately, the Spanish had refortified it in the 18th century. So it was a massive wall that at first one thought, ah, that is actually the town wall of Acla. And who looked it carefully and worked out that it was an 18th century Spanish fort on the top of the site? I suppose the other thing about it is that it was a native site. So there's huge amount of native pottery in there alongside it. So, you know, separating out the colonial from the Native American was really hard.

[William Dalrymple]

So do we imagine horrible Babbo with his bloodhounds again, sort of setting them off at a whole new tribe and massacre them, clearing the natives out and then moving into their houses, Is that what we're talking?

[Mark Horton]

I suspect so, initially. Indeed. Yes, absolutely. Clearing them out. And of course, because it was a native settlement, it was clear they didn't have to clear the bush or anything in order to settle there.

[William Dalrymple]

So it's easier for him just to kill the locals and move into their houses than it is to cut, cut down vines.

[Mark Horton]

It was a great spot A nice big bay with sort of barrier islands round the outside and two rivers that come in, so that the site was between these two rivers. So lots of fresh water was available, good anchorage, well settled. It was a perfect place to build a new colonial city.

[Anita Arnon]

Did he ever write anything about his exploits? I know stuff was written about him, but was he a record keeper of any sort? So we don't know what his attitude. Well, we kind of guessed what his attitude was towards the native, but nothing from his voice, nothing from his own hand.

[William Dalrymple]

And the fact that he arrived as a stowaway mark and that he's then replaced when the royal warrant arrives by someone. He's an outsider, is he, in Spanish society? He's not from some sort of grand Spanish family.

[Mark Horton]

He was of minor nobility who basically went out to seek his fortune, ended up a pig farmer and realized that he wasn't going to make enough money being a pig farmer. So that's why he made the decision, this new world is opening up and I'm going to be part of of it.

[Anita Arnon]

So here he is, you know, failed pig farmer, but now successful murderer who's come and he's, you know, sort of claimed not just the Pacific Ocean, but this, you know, Clement Bay, where he's cleared out the indigenous population who may have lived there for centuries. What does he do? I mean, is he satisfied with that or does his ambition continue to stretch to the horizon?

[Mark Horton]

Well, having, as it were, claim the Southern Ocean, the next stage is to build a navy there to explore further along the coast. Of course, the route round the New World at this point had not been discovered. Cape Horn hadn't been rounded, Magellan was a few years hence, the Northwest Passage was impenetrable. And so he decided to take ships apart at Acla. There must be a great big shipyard. And then used his natives, under probably some form of duress, to carry the ship plank by plank, fitting by fitting, over to the Pacific Ocean, where they were then reassembled to create a fleet that could then explore along the Pacific coast.

[William Dalrymple]

Crikey. So he's only just discovered the sea and already he's got a fleet bobbing the far side, about to go south, presumably, and discover the Incas.

[Mark Horton]

Yes, he could do if his sad end that we're going to come to hadn't happened.

[Anita Arnon]

Right. Oh, well, okay. Well, you've teed us up. Tell us what happen. A sad end for Balboa. I don't think there's many weeping people out there listening to this. So what happens to Balboa then.

[Mark Horton]

So Inciso and Davila conspire between them to accuse Balboa of exceeding his royal authority by the establishment of Attle and his various activities. And so they set about arresting him. In fact, he's arrested on his way back to Darien, having made these great discoveries and creating a fleet on the Pacific. And in fact, it's Pizarro himself who actually arrests Babur and brings him back to Acla, where he is then summarily tried on accusation of high treason. And then promptly along some of about four of his acolytes beheaded in the town square of Acla.

[Anita Arnon]

Wow.

[William Dalrymple]

What's he done that's actually brought this about? Because people are exceeding their authority a great deal at this time because they're months away from Spain and orders are unclear and so on. Why has he managed to unite even the young Pizarro against him?

[Mark Horton]

It all sets back to Pedrarius Davila, who was a seasoned old warrior, but he was very ambitious.

[William Dalrymple]

And these are presumably just to get the timing. These are people who in their youth were fighting the Moors in Spencer, Spain.

[Mark Horton]

That's right. And the Italians, so they were seasoned soldiers. And I think Pedras Davila saw Balboa as a threat to his colonial ambitions and so creating these trumped up charges to dispose of him.

[Anita Arnon]

Yeah, I mean, just honestly, while you're not crying into your cornflakes over Balboa's fate, can I just tell you, I mean, Davila is. Is arguably even worse because his nickname is Davila the Cruel, isn't it? I mean, he's got a reputation for being quite the bastard.

[Mark Horton]

Absolutely. And so he had no truck with the natives. Extermination was widespread, but what Davila wanted to do was establish a foothold in the South Seas on the south coast. And so he used Balboa's ships to sail along the coast to the west. And finding this wonderful inlet, which then became the site of Panama, was a small native fishing village that was then converted into this, as it were, new city facing in the southeast of the Pacific Ocean.

[William Dalrymple]

What sort of date are we talking now, Mark 15:19.

[Mark Horton]

So this is almost immediately after the.

[William Dalrymple]

Execution of Balboa and immediately before Cortes goes off and attacks Mexico.

[Mark Horton]

That's right. Arklo is sort of semi abandoned at that point. And he creates a second city at a place called Nombre de Dios on the Atlantic coast. And that is the much easier line to cross the isthmus north to south. And of course it's that Line that's then subsequently followed by the Panama Canal.

[Anita Arnon]

Okay. But at the time when he sort of got his mitts on Panama, he's taken Balboa's ships, his life, the land, the city, all of it, and he's found Panama. Is there a stage where he says, aha, do you know what a canal would be great here? Maybe I should write home about a canal, a Panama Canal, or is that just something that never occurs to them at that time?

[Mark Horton]

No, no, no. They do think about it, but obviously the mountains are very high. Yeah. No one would ever have the capacity to do a canal. In fact, a roadway is probably as good as a canal at this. And I think Philip II vetoes it and says, this is all mad.

[Anita Arnon]

Oh, he don't know. What he says is even better. He said, if God had wanted a canal there, he would have built one.

[Mark Horton]

That's right.

[Anita Arnon]

Which is a, you know, complete abdication of any responsibility to do any kind of improvement to anything at all.

[William Dalrymple]

In my notes here, the guy who comes up with the idea first, certainly in writing, is a Spanish priest called Francisco Lopez de Gomar writing to the king in 1551 saying that it could be possible. This is something you could do. And he says, if there are mountains, there are also hands. To a king of Spain with the wealth of the Indies at his command, when the object to be attained is the spice trade, what is possible is easy. So, like Columbus, they're still not happy with all the gold that they've discovered. They're still thinking about spices, China and.

[Mark Horton]

The East Indies to finish off. At this point, they see these natives wearing lots of gold and realize that this is the wealth of Panama. They hunt for gold mines everywhere, most of which have been largely exploited. And the gold runs out, there's no more gold to be had. In fact, these gold items that the Indians are wearing are stuff that's been handed down, been traded from South America, and. And so they run out of gold.

[Anita Arnon]

Right. When you say gold mines, I mean, are we talking sort of hacking at rock gold mines? Is that what they're doing? Or panning in rivers, gold mines or, you know, where are they seeking to find it?

[Mark Horton]

Oh, they think it's gold mines, but it's placer mining that's most likely, which is panning for gold in these rivers. And these rivers specifically on the Pacific coast and on the north coast in what's known as Varagas area is full of gold in the rivers themselves. So you could pan for gold. You're not talking about Driving adits into.

[Anita Arnon]

The hillside, you're not hacking at land to get it. Well, so this is also interesting because had they not had such disdain for the local population and perhaps learnt a bit of the language and perhaps treated them with respect, they might have said, this is my granny's necklace. This doesn't belong to me. We didn't find this. Please stop killing us because we have no more gold for you.

[Mark Horton]

Ironically, when I was exploring on the Pacific side a few years ago, there were gold miners still there working place the mines in the estuary, looking, going through the gravel of the river and finding tiny little bits of gold Mark.

[William Dalrymple]

We're heading towards the end of this episode now, but let's look ahead and set up what's coming next, because at some point we're going to do a whole series on this is of course, Pizarro and the conquest of the Inca Incas and the discovery of all the gold down in Peru. But looking ahead, this greatly increases the value of the Panama isthmus, because after the conquest of the Incas, this isthmus becomes the overland route for treasures pouring back to Europe. And its value is far greater than anything Balboa or his enemies could have guessed. And before long, you begin to get fleets arriving at the Pacific terminus of the trail, unloading their bull, which would then be transferred across the isthmus to the waiting ships at Nombre de Dios. And one account talks about 1,200 mule loads of precious metal leaving Panama City as early as 1550. So this world that we've seen set up in this expedition is now going to become one of these incredibly rich points of transfer for the silver of the New World to head back to Europe, which completely changes not only the economy of Europe, but as far away as China and as India, there's this sudden flood of riches. And this is the point at which the dollar, the Spanish dollar, becomes the coin of value as far away as China. And when we're talking, even in our Opium War expeditions, the Chinese are still thinking in those terms. Take us now, Mark, to the picture of the silver center that Panama becomes just before we get to what we're going to be dealing with next, which is the arrival of English pirates. And Sir Francis Drake set it all up for us.

[Mark Horton]

After the conquest of the Incas in particular, a huge amount of gold is coming out of South America, but it's always a finite quantity, it's all being melted down and ultimately it's silver, which is the bullion that reflates Europe, as you intimated Willi. And in particular, a particular mountain, what's now in Bolivia called the Potosi Mountain, is discovered as basically a mountain made of silver. And it's the silver coming out of here which is the thing that totally reflates the European economy in the late 16th century onwards. And the key point point is the Panama isthmus is where that silver is being shipped across the isthmus and into Galle Galleons to take it back to Spain.

[William Dalrymple]

And the other key point, presumably, is that the English at this period, being Protestants, are not only not accessing this because they're at war with the Catholic, Portuguese and the Spanish, they're also seeing their enemies enriching themselves, getting fatter and.

[Anita Arnon]

Fatter, or on, you know, shiny silver.

[William Dalrymple]

And so what we're going to see next in the next episode, and Mark is kindly coming back to tell us all about it, is the arrival on this coast of a whole bunch of ne' er do well English pirates.

[Anita Arnon]

And if you can't wait, because, you know, you don't have to, it is a little bit like discovering a mine of precious metal to join the Empire club. That's right. You can get all of this good stuff with one, one big hack. Thank you very much indeed. So if you want to join our club, you get all of these miniseries in one great, gorgeous nugget. It's empirepoduk.com. that's empirepoduk.com. that's all you have to do, join our club. You get loads of extras.

[William Dalrymple]

What do they call them? Doubloons. It's a doubloon of a club.

[Anita Arnon]

It is our chest of doubloon because we have newsletters, we have chat communities, we have early access to things that we do. And you get early access, access to these miniseries. And so, until the next time we meet, it's goodbye from me, Anita Arnan.

[William Dalrymple]

And goodbye from me, William Duranpool.