painting of francisco pizarro, the cathedral

In 1513, he accompanied Vasco Nooez de Balboa in his crossing of the Isthmus of Panama and they became the first Europeans to view the Pacific coast of the New World. The following year, in 1514, Pedro Arias de Avila (Pedrarias) became the newly appointed governor of Castilla de Oro and succeeded Balboa. The next five years Pizarro became a close associate of Pedrarias Dovila and the governor assigned him a repartimiento of natives and cattle. When Pedrarias Dovila decided to get rid of Balboa out of distrust, he instructed Pizarro to personally arrest him and bring him to stand trial. Balboa was duly convicted and beheaded in January of 1519. For his loyalty to Pedrarias D?vila, Pizarro was bestowed the important political position of mayor (Alcalde) and magistrate of the then recently founded Panama City from 1519 to 1523.