The Exploration of the Pacific Ocean: 500 Years of History

The exhibition 'The Exploration of the Pacific Ocean: 500 Years of History' commemorates the fifth centennial of Vasco Núñez de Balboa’s discovery of the Pacific Ocean.

On September 25, 1502, in the course of his third voyage, Christopher Columbus reached the American continent (the coast of Honduras). In the vicinity of Veragua, he received vague reports of the existence of a very rich country called Ciguara and of the Pacific Ocean, which he considered the sea of Trans-Gangetic India. On September 25, 1513, Vasco Núñez de Balboa sighted the Pacific Ocean, which he called Mar del Sur (South Sea).

Idealized portrait of Vasco Núñez de Balboa. Anonymous. Naval Museum of Madrid.

“Maris Pacifici quod vulgo Mar del zur”. Map from the “Theatrum Orbis Terrarum” by Abraham Ortelius (1589), considered the first modern atlas. 

Ferdinand Magellan held that that the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, were located within the area allocated to Spain by the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) and that it was, moreover, possible to find a route other than that used by the Portuguese (around the Cape of Good Hope) by passing through a strait in South America that would make it possible to reach the Moluccas via the Pacific Ocean.

Magellan’s voyage (1519-1522) resulted in the discovery of the strait that bears his name, opening a new route from Spain to the Moluccas via the Pacific Ocean. It was the first circumnavigation of the world, ultimately completed by Juan Sebastián Elcano, who succeeded Magellan in command, confirming that the Earth was round.

Juan Sebastián Elcano’s return to Sanlúcar de Barrameda in 1522. Only 18 crew members managed to return from the round-the-world voyage aboard the 'Victoria'.

This exhibition is an authentic journey through the maritime history of the last 500 years,...

... showing portraits of its heroes, scientific and navigational instruments, maps, models of vessels, ornaments of Pacific island natives, and drawings of the lands that the explorers reached.

The discovery of this ocean brought great explorations and technological advances. Indeed, all the major expeditions to explore the Pacific coast of South America departed from Panama. 

Map and view of Panama by Antonelli Batista from 1586.

Some myths were not actually myths at all, but true stories of the peoples who lived in the ocean that came to be known as the “Lago Español” (Spanish lake). In the picture, the Carta Universal (map of the world) by Diego Ribero, 1529.

For Spain, after Magellan’s expedition, the world, its lands and its oceans no longer held any major mysteries.

The Pacific voyages did away with fables of human monsters, races of giants, Amazons, pygmies or long-eared men, and no such fantasies were ever mentioned again, as can be seen in the itineraries and chronicles of subsequent voyages. Marine monsters reappeared only in the nineteenth century, in American literature, with Moby Dick.

Jofre de Loaisa, Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón, Hernando de Grijalva, Ruiz López de Villalobos, Álvaro de Mendaña, Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa and Luis Vaez de Torres, among others, discovered a large number of the Caroline, Marshall and Palau Islands throughout the 16th and beginning of the 17th century

Jofre de Loaisa’s departure from Corunna, bound for the Moluccas, in 1525.

Headdress from the island of New Guinea. 

Made of vegetable fiber, feathers and seeds.

Seville was both port of departure and port of entry for the Manila galleon’s route. In the picture, a panoramic view of Seville, 1617.

Knowledge of the Pacific Ocean consolidated and expanded in the eighteenth century. A map of the great ocean from circa 1700 still shows large gaps in northern and southern regions, as well as significant inaccuracies in the location of numerous islands and archipelagos.

In contrast, the general maps drawn up circa 1800 show the advances made by several generations of enlightened navigators, scientists and cartographers. 17th-century globe by Coronelli.

General chart of the regions discovered and explored by the Spanish on the southern coast of California, 1791. 

Cartographers and draftsmen also participated in this enlightening voyage. Their drawings depicted the reality of cities like Lima, Peru.

Vista de Lima desde el paseo de los Amancaes, de Fernando Brambila (1789-1794).

Pacific flora and fauna, such as this California opossum, were skillfully drawn.

Quadruped drawn with a quill, diluted sepia and pigments, by José del Pozo (1789-1794).

Portrait of Macuina, chief of the Punta de Lángara.

Member of the Nuu-chah-nulth tribe of Nutka (present-day Canada).

On May 1, 1606, Pedro Fernández de Quirós reached the main island of the New Hebrides and, believing it to be a part of the sought-after Southern Continent, he called it Australia del Espíritu Santo (Australia of the Holy Spirit). Malaspina would visit the real Australia in 1793.

View of the British colony of Sydney, in New South Wales, by Fernando Brambila (1789-1794).

Explorers’ everyday scenes and scientific experiments were also drawn.

'Gravity experiment[, by Juan Ravenet (1789-1794).

We owe all this to the availability of brushes, compasses, etc.

Baradelle’s box of drawing instruments, 18th century.

Model of 'pontin' from the Philippines.

Filipino vessel used by the people of Luzon and the Visayas for transport and trade, 19th century.