Editing History of Panama (section)

===Balboa expedition===
[[Image:Balboa Voyage 1513.PNG|thumb|upright=1.5|right|[[Vasco Núñez de Balboa]]'s 1513 expedition route to the South Sea-Pacific Ocean]]
[[Image:Balboa südsee.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|right|[[Vasco Núñez de Balboa]] claiming possession of the [[Pacific Ocean|South Sea]].]]
On September 25, 1513, the [[Vasco Núñez de Balboa#European discovery of the Pacific Ocean|Balboa expedition]] verified claims by indigenous people that the Panama isthmus had another coast to the southwest along another ocean. Balboa was the first known European in the Americas to see the Pacific Ocean, which he named the South Sea.<ref>{{cite web |title=Vasco Núñez de Balboa |date=August 14, 2023 |url=https://www.history.com/topics/exploration/vasco-nunez-de-balboa |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814115713/https://www.history.com/topics/exploration/vasco-nunez-de-balboa |url-status=live }}</ref>

The 'fantastic descriptions' of the isthmus by Balboa, as well as by Columbus and other explorers, impressed [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]] and Castilla, who named the territory ''Castilla Aurifica'' (or ''Castilla del Oro'',  Golden Castille). He assigned [[Pedro Arias Dávila]] (Pedrarias Davila) as Royal Governor. Pedrarias arrived in June 1514 with a 22 vessel, 1,500 men armada. Dávila was a veteran soldier who had served in the wars against the Moors at [[Granada]] and in North Africa.