Miguel Cabello de Balboa facts for kids

Miguel Cabello de Balboa (born around 1535, died 1608) was a Spanish priest and a talented writer. He lived a long time ago, during a period when Europeans were exploring new lands.

Early Life

Miguel Cabello de Balboa was related to a famous explorer! He was the great-nephew of Captain Vasco Núñez de Balboa. This Captain was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from the New World (the Americas) in 1513.

Miguel was born in Archidona, a town in Málaga, Spain. We don't know his exact birth date, but it was likely around 1530 or 1535.

His Career

Soldier

When Miguel was a young man, he decided to become a soldier. He fought in wars in France and the Netherlands. He served under important leaders like Prince Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy. He also fought in the Battle of Gravelines (1558), where his side won against the French army.

Priest and Writer

Around 1565 or 1566, Miguel returned to Malaga. He then joined the Augustinian order, which is a group of Catholic priests. Soon after, in 1566, he moved to Peru in South America.

From Peru, he traveled to Quito, which is now in Ecuador. There, he started writing his most famous work, called Miscelánea Antártica. He finished this important book in 1586 while living in Lima, Peru.

While in Lima, he wrote many other excellent works, including poems and even two comedies! Between 1602 and 1603, he wrote a letter. This letter gave helpful details about areas in eastern Bolivia, near the Andes mountains and the Beni River. The information in his letter suggests he might have visited these places himself.

Miguel Cabello de Balboa is also a key source of information about the northern Andes region. This includes the Pacific coast and the forests of what are now northern Ecuador and southern Colombia. He passed away in 1608 in Camata, Bolivia.

Miscelánea Antártica

The Miscelánea Antártica is a very important book. It was fully published by San Marcos University in Peru in 1951. Before that, only parts of it had been published.

The book contains stories that are said to be from Amerindian traditions. These stories talk about white men who supposedly came to South America and taught the local people. The book also has a theory that the people of Patagonia and Chile might be related to pirates from Makassar.

A large part of the book tells the legendary history of the Inca civilization. Miguel Cabello de Balboa's account of the Inca's origins is a bit different from what other Spanish writers said. He also wrote about the people living in the lowland areas. These writings were collected in a 1945 book from Ecuador called Verdadera Descripción y Relación de la Provincia y Tierra de las Esmeraldas.

See also

In Spanish: Miguel Cabello de Balboa para niños