Juan Ponce de Leon

Juan Ponce de Leon was born in 1460. He was born in Tierra de Campos Palencia, Spain. He came from a long line of nobility although his family had come into hard times. Both of his parents had died when they were young and some people think he might have been raised by a great aunt. When he was a boy he was hired to deliver messages in a royal court. Later he served in many military campaigns.

He began his career as an explorer in 1493 by traveling as part of Columbus’s second voyage to the New World. In the early morning of November 3, 1493, the lookout on Ponce’s ship first spotted land. The leaders realized that this was not Hispaniola where Columbus had left his settlement on his first voyage. It was part of an island chain to the south-east, islands never before seen by Europeans. Columbus claimed them for the Spanish King and Queen. The fleet then sailed on to Hispaniola where they found the settlement that Columbus had left had been destroyed and the Europeans were dead. Hispaniola is now known as Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Ponce remained in Hispaniola after Columbus returned to Spain and was appointed governor of the eastern part of Hispaniola.

When Ponce heard of reports of gold in Puerto Rico he went there in 1508-1509 in search of the gold. He explored and settled Puerto Rico and when he returned to Hispaniola he was named governor of Puerto Rico. Soon after he was displaced as governor by rivals.

The King and Queen of Spain told Ponce to go and find some more islands. Indians told him of an island called Bimini (now part of the Bahamas) where a fountain or spring produced water that would make you young again if you drank from it. In March of 1513, Ponce landed near the site of what is now St. Augustine, Florida. He stayed there for six days. He did not realize he had landed in North America but thought he had landed on an island. The reason he named it Florida was because of all the flowers he saw there (Florida in Spanish means flowery). Ponce also did not know he was the first explorer to explore Florida. On his second day there he claimed the land in the name of the King of Spain. Ponce continued to sail through the Florida Keys to Cuba but did not find the fountain of youth. Not having any luck he turned back and sailed to Spain.

Five years after returning to Spain, Ponce sailed back to Bimini with two ships and 200 men. He landed on the west coast of Florida in February of 1521. Ponce and his men were caught by surprise by Indians. The Indians fired arrows and threw spears at the men. They were everywhere! The Spaniards fought back but when Ponce was hit by an arrow in his thigh his men carried him to a boat on the beach. The arrowhead supposedly had poison on it. He was taken aboard the boat in the bay and taken to a hospital in Cuba. By the time the ship reached Cuba, Ponce’s condition was even worse. He was feverish and weak and he died several days later in 1521. His body was taken to his home in Borinquen. Today it is entombed in the wall of the San Juan Cathedral. Juan Ponce de Leon never did find the fountain of youth or know that Florida was not an island.

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