This bust depicts Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the Spanish explorer and conquistador who, in 1513, became the first European to cross the Isthmus of Panama and reach the Pacific Ocean from the New World. His discovery significantly established the strategic importance of Panama as a future transit route between the Atlantic and Pacific, laying the groundwork for what would become the Panama Canal centuries later. The bust is located at the Balboa Academy, an international school established in 1999 and named after this pivotal figure in Panamanian history.