Everything about Juan Ponce De Le N totally explained
Juan Ponce de León /hwan.ˌponʒɛ.dɛ.lɛ.'on/(
1460 – July
1521) was a
Spanish conquistador. He was born in
Santervás de Campos (
Valladolid). As a young man he joined the war to conquer
Granada, the last
Moorish state on the
Iberian peninsula.
Ponce de León accompanied
Christopher Columbus on the latter's second voyage to the
New World. He became the first
Governor of Puerto Rico by appointment of the Spanish Crown. He is also notable for his voyage to
Florida, the first known
European excursion there, as well as for being associated with the legend of the
Fountain of Youth, which was said to be in Florida.
Arrival in the New World
It is thought that Ponce de León first landed on the site where
Cockburn Town is, on
Grand Turk in the
Turks & Caicos Islands but soon settled in
Hispaniola. He helped conquer the
Taínos of the eastern part of Hispaniola and was rewarded with the governorship of the Province of
Higuey that was created there. While there, he heard stories of the wealth of
Borinquen (now
Puerto Rico), and he sought and received permission to go there.
Governor of Puerto Rico
In 1509, Ponce de León founded the first settlement in Puerto Rico, Caparra. As a result, Ponce de León was named Governor of Puerto Rico in 1509. Ponce de León and the other conquistadors forced the Tainos to work in the mines and to construct fortifications. The Tainos died in great numbers after exposure to the European diseases the sailors brought with them, to which they'd no immunity. Ponce de León, however, became rich while serving as Governor.
Removal from office as governor of Puerto Rico
In 1506, upon the death of Christopher Columbus, who had been appointed lifetime military governor of his discoveries, the Spanish authorities refused to grant the same privilege to his son
Diego Columbus. The Spanish Crown by then had selected Ponce de León to colonize and govern the island of Puerto Rico. In the meantime Diego Columbus had taken his claim to the top court in
Madrid and won his rights: Ponce de León was removed from office in 1512. Feeling that his good name had been damaged and not wishing to serve Diego, Ponce de León obtained title to explore the areas north of
Cuba.
The Fountain of Youth
According to a popular legend, Ponce de León discovered Florida while searching for the
Fountain of Youth. Though stories of vitality-restoring waters were known on both sides of the Atlantic long before Ponce de León, the story of him searching for them wasn't attached to him until after his death. In his
Historia General y Natural de las Indias of 1535,
Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo wrote that Ponce de León was looking for the waters of Bimini to cure his sexual impotence. A similar account appears in
Francisco López de Gómara's
Historia General de las Indias of 1551. Then in 1575,
Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, a shipwreck survivor who had lived with the Native Americans of Florida for 17 years, published his memoir in which he locates the waters in Florida, and says that Ponce de León was supposed to have looked for them there. Though Fontaneda doubted that de León had really gone to Florida looking for the waters, the account was included in the
Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos of
Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas of 1615. Some historians have argued that the search for
gold and the expansion of the
Spanish Empire was far more imperative than the "search" for the fountain or slaves. The actual location of the fountain itself may have been situated in the
Bay of Honduras instead of Florida or the Bahamas. Although the most commonly accepted location is
Saint Augustine, Florida, evidence indicates Ponce came ashore further south near the present location of
Melbourne Beach. Ponce de León claimed "La Florida" for Spain. He named the land
La Florida, meaning
flowery, either because of the vegetation in bloom he saw there, or because he landed there during
Pascua Florida, Spanish for
Flowery Passover, meaning the
Easter season.
Ponce de León then sailed south along the Florida coast, charting the rivers he found, passed around the
Florida Keys, One historian suggests the English John Cabot was the earliest arrival to the Florida peninsula, where he purportedly sailed around it.
During the expedition the Spanish discovered the
Gulf Stream current, which soon became used as the primary return route from the Caribbean to Spain.
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Juan Ponce de León, Statue, Cathedral & Burial Site
in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| The statue was made in New York in 1882 using the bronze from English cannons seized after the English attacked San Juan in 1792. |
Last voyage to Florida
In 1521 Ponce de León organized a colonizing expedition on two ships. It consisted of some 200 men, including priests, farmers and artisans, 50 horses and other domestic animals, and farming implements. The expedition landed on the southwest coast of Florida, in the vicinity of
Caloosahatchee River or
Charlotte Harbor. The colonists were soon attacked by
Calusa Indians and Ponce de León was injured by a poisoned arrow to the shoulder. After this attack, he and colonists sailed to
Havana,
Cuba, where he soon died of the wound. His tomb is in the cathedral in
Old San Juan.
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