European voyagers in the Pacific

In 1513, Spanish explorer Vasco Nuñez de Balboa trekked through the jungles of what is now Panama, climbed a hill, and became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean.

Over the next 300 years, the Spanish, Dutch, French, and English made many voyages into and across the Pacific.

European countries competed with each other for control of Pacific territories and resources. Many believed that somewhere in the region was an enormous continent. They called it Terra Australis Incognita – the unknown southern land. They thought that finding and colonising it would make their own countries wealthier and more powerful.

But instead of a continent, the European voyagers found hundreds of islands that were already inhabited. They made maps and published accounts of their journeys. This sparked an interest in Europeans exploration of the Pacific that would continue until the present day.