Ponce De Leon lived the live any ordinary person dreams of; discover three new lands, sustain a happy marriage, have three kids, accumulate a small fortune, even die a heroic death. Juan Ponce De Leon was born in 1460 in Santervas de Campos, Spain, into a destitute yet noble family. As a minor, he trained as a page in the court of Aragon, where he learned social skills, religion, and military tactics. As an adolescent, he trained as a knight and fought at the Moors in Granada. He was first introduced to sailing when he volunteered to accompany Christopher Columbus on his second expedition to Hispaniola in 1493 at the age of 33. He soon set out to be a Spanish explorer and was sponsored by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. When he …show more content…
Spain wanted to expand. Expanding Spanish territory had many positive aspects. They got natural resources. The Americas had lots of fresh water, vegetation, and wildlife spread out all over the continent, making it a desired home for any civilization. This also makes it a way to spread out the population. One recurring problem for all Europeans is overpopulation. By gaining all of this new land, they could settle it and bring Spaniards over to create more room in Spain. They also get fame. By consistently claiming new land all over the world, Spain and all of Europe has made themselves a strong, sturdy reputation overseas. Their power to conquer the natives gives them an advantage above all local tribes in the area, and other places (as far as we know) aren’t as advanced...except for Portugal. They also want to get gold. Money and wealth have always been a huge part of Spanish life. Money is equal to happiness in their eyes. Which is why all of this new found riches keep the Spanish coming back to the Americas to collect more. Ponce De Leon also had some goals for his explorations. He wanted to get rich. Finding new land for Spain gave him a profitable amount of wealth which is the main reason people set out to become explorers. He also wants fame. He wants to be in the books, known by all, admired even. By achieving this he also gets power. As you will read later, Ponce De Leon becomes the governor of …show more content…
From 1500-1508 he built successful settlements in Hispaniola (now Haiti and Dominican Republic) with Christopher Columbus. In 1504 he became governor of the eastern part and held the position for three years. In 1507 he sailed back to Spain, where married a woman named Lenora and had three children. In 1508 he traveled to Puerto Rico to search for riches. Once he found enough gold, he went back to Hispaniola to meet his family. He and his family soon went back to Puerto Rico (borinquen at the time) to settle it further. Ponce De Leon was then named governor and held the position for one year. He was thrown from the position by Diego Columbus, Christopher Columbus’ son, and lived in a small house with his family for three years. In 1512, King Ferdinand sent him out to search for an island called Bimini (now part of the Bahamas) to search for more gold. Rumors say that he was also looking for the Fountain of Youth, which some said was hidden there. Ponce De Leon also struck a deal with the king. The deal was any uninhabited place he found, he would become governor of. In March, 1513, Ponce De Leon led the expedition to Bimini from Puerto Rico with 200 men and one ship. A month later in April 1513, Ponce De Leon sighted land. He knew he didn’t find Bimini but thought it was just another island instead of Americas mainland. Since it was mid-spring, he decided to name it La Florida, meaning “flowery”, because
Reading both passages of the two explorers, Christopher Columbus and Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, gives a great description of how the world was back in the 1500s. Now, although both were Spaniard explorers, each had different experiences and discoveries. One of the differences is how they approached exploring the new world. For instance, Columbus went to find new land in the west, while Cabeza de Vaca went as an expedition to already found lands. In addition, Columbus had a lot of success, while Cabeza de Vaca since the beginning, because of Narváez, “endured many disasters” (Baym, et al., 2013, p. 28). Furthermore, Christopher Columbus considered most important to find more land, and especially the route to reach Asia.
Juan Ponce de Leon is most recognized as the Spanish explorer who discovered Florida. However this was not his only achievement or contribution to the Spanish empire. Prior to discovering Florida he helped fight off the last of the Moors in Granada, he prevented the Indians from attacking the Spaniards in Hispaniola, he served as the first governor of Puerto Rico, discovered other geographical features off of Florida’s coast all while never giving up on his quest for gold or to gain the same recognition as Christopher Columbus.
From this short blurbs of what is said about the west they make inferences of what it is like, and how can it be possible for another land mass to be unknown to many for so long. But for those who do know what is past the Atlantic know that this Agenda of the King and Queen must be fulfilled and to do so would be to claim land for Spain for it to be settled upon. On top of that is to further collect riches of the Americas to benefit Spain in conquest of the Americas. Bartolome de las casas had hoped to prevent further harm to Indians, and clarify that they were not barbarians.
On October 12, 1492 Christopher Columbus landed on unknown territory, however, in his perspective of Earth he thought he made a new route to Asia. He travels throughout the lands, soon, he discovers new forms of inhabitant plants, as well as, indigenous people that were native to those lands. Years later he soon unravels that it was all unaccustomed terrain. The monarchy of Spain also discovers Columbus’s new discoveries, then, they send more explorers to conquer the lands. In 1520, Hernan Cortes goes with the order from Spanish royalty to go to the newly discovered lands to conquer them, also, help expand the Spanish empire. Overall, Columbus and Cortes both reported the new lands they recently discovered back to Spain, however, their descriptions
In 1539 Hernando de Soto and five hundred adventurers began on a journey of exploration that would take 4 years and would travel through 10 states in the southeast United States. His goal was to discover a source of wealth, preferably gold, and around his mines establish a settlement. During his travels through La Florida he encountered numerous groups of native peoples, making friends of some and enemies of others. His expedition was not the first in La Florida; however, it was the most extensive. In its aftermath, thousands of Indians would die by disease that the Spaniards brought from the Old World. De Soto would initially be remembered as a great explorer but, would be later viewed as a destroyer of native culture. However, in truth de Soto was neither a hero or a villain but rather an adventurer.
In a modern sense, his main goal was to kick out the Aztec Indians there and show them who the boss is. The Native Americans were full of malice, as according to Spanish History, yet they respected Hernan Cortes. Some of them thought that Hernan Cortes was their god, Quezacoatl, reincarnated to lead them the way. At first, the Moctezuma, the Aztec's leader, sent rich gifts to Cortes. The sight of such wealth only made Cortes and his men march faster to the capital. It's just like following a trail of pieces of candy. You don't just want the little pieces found, but the entire bag.
Juan Ponce de Leon in 1513 discovered Florida and was later met by a southern Indian tribe that would cut Leon’s triumphant moment short. A second attempt to colonize in America was led unsuccessful by Panfilo de Norvaez in 1528. Many men were lost at sea and others were among the Indian people. The first Spanish expedition in 1539 to what would later be known as Florida was an invasion that would be soon attacked twice by natives. Herman de Soto and his group of men in 1542 were defeated along with the rest of the Spanish attempts. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was another explorer in 1540 that attempted to bring back any rare goods to Spain. The army traveled through the southwest and to the Great Plains, returning empty-handed.
Spanish armies had a taste for conquest. ”It has been argued that after 750 years of fighting against the "infidel," the Spanish were psychologically committed to "conquest" but needed new territories. Christopher Columbus, who set sail in 1492, who may have witnessed the Fall of Granada, may have thought that in the East (which he thought he would reach by sailing West which of course he would have done if he had not stopped on the way) he would find the legendary Prester John, and persuade him to attack the Muslim world from the East while European Christians did so from the West.[9] Instead leading the Spanish to the Americas, Columbus set in motion the Spanish conquest of what they called the New World. There, fresh from defeating the Muslims as crusaders for Christ, with "sword in one hand and Bible in the other" they "arrived like thunderbolts among the unsuspecting native population." What followed has been described as cultural genocide, "the Spanish robbed the Indians of their language, their culture and their dignity."[10] 1492 changed the history of the world.”750 years of war would leave a desire for conquest in your mouth so it is easy to see why the Spanish would want to conquer more. Spanish conquest of the new world can be seen as good and bad, depending on who you are it can be because what they did was basically genocide, it could also be classified as good because they
The Spaniards arrived at the Americas prior to the English. The Spanish mainly wanted to explore in the first place because after the Black Death, the population increased, and thus, so did the frequency of commerce. There was a sudden new interest in new products and the new strong monarchs who sponsored the journeys wanted to be more affluent. Therefore, explorers such as Christopher Columbus attempted to go west to target Asia. However, he ended up on Cuba and called the natives Indians. The Spanish soon started to consider the Americas less of a blockage and could now see it as a source of resources. In 1518, Cortes arrived into Mexico with his group of conquistadors, or conquerors, which is a proper name because the men after gold exterminated native areas using their military skills, brutality and greed to turn the Southern America into a vast Spanish empire. The smallpox the Spanish unknowingly carried also helped wipe many people out. When they saw the religious ceremonies of the Aztecs that produced many skulls, they thought of these people as savages and not entirely human. This of coarse was quite hypocritical because the Spanish have killed before during the Inquisition for their faith. It was this contempt that made them think it was all right to slaughter the natives. Spanish colonies were established when conquistadors had gotten a license to finance the expedition from the crown to fixture encomiendas. These encomiendas were basically Indian villages that became a source of labor. The Spanish dreamed of becoming wealthier from South America, but they also wanted a profitable agricultural economy and to spread their Catholic religion (the Pueblo Indians converted to Christianity), which became very important in the 1540s.
Spain’s initial goals were to discover gold or other mineral wealth, explore the new world, spread Catholicism, and overall, continue Christopher Columbus’s goal of finding passage to the east.
He succumbed to the allure appealing to other 20-something Spanish men in the early 1500s: earning riches and fame. He came to America in 1502 and spent 12 years conquering in the Caribbean, witnessing the exploitation and disease that was rampant among natives. Las Casas even owned slaves during this time .
On November 19, 1493 Ponce de Leon was one of the first Europeans to see the small island of Borinquen, the Indian name for Puerto Rico. Ponce de Leon sailed to Puerto Rico in 1506 with two hundred men to the island and found out that it had rich gold deposits. He enslaved the natives, and forced them to mine gold for him. Ponce de Leon left Puerto Rico and returned again in 1508 this time he brought with him only fifty men. On this voyage his ship went through a terrible storm that caused him to run onto the rocks on two occasions. The crew was forced to throw over much of their supplies in order to keep the ship from sinking. After Ponce de Leon finally arrived in Puerto Rico he became the governor of the island. This caused him to become very wealthy, and the most powerful man on the island, who only received orders from the kind himself!
In the year of 1492, the Queen and King of Spain developed thoughts of strengthening their power and seeking new sources of wealth. This being stated the Queen and King had agreed on financing Christopher Columbus’s expedition, hoping it would bring the kingdom wealth (Ellis 2004). On October 12 Columbus had discovered a new location, due to this discovery; Latin America had been colonized by the Spanish conquistadors sent by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Overall, Latin America had been colonized for the sake of seeking wealth (Ellis 2004). Obtaining gold was the simple way of gaining wealth. Gold was the resource that attracted Spaniards to the Island of Hispaniola, because it was also King Ferdinand's interest (De la Riva 2003 ). Thus it ended up becoming the ultimate goal of the Christian Spaniards sent to Hispaniola to acquire gold and swell themselves in riches. (Las Casas 1552).Trading was also the key to getting wealthy; the more resources available for trade the more wealth will be gained. Resources in the New World attracted the Spanish conquistadors to Latin America; it was also what he...
The fact that Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was educated helped him immensely in his travels. Cabrillo knew how to build ships and was very good at it. This helped the crew make it to the New World without dying in the rough seas. According to the written text by the Mariners Museum, Cabrillo also knew how to read and write which most sailors did not know how to do at that time because of the sparse amounts of schooling they received. With that ability he could read maps and navigate his ship easier than some others. Also, Cabrillo developed a trade between the Spanish, Guatemala, and a few other places in the Americas. He helped Guatemala establish their trade routes and figure out which goods to keep and which ones to trade. Only an educated man could do that. The natives of Guatemala had a lot to thank him for. That goes along with the next point.
Isabella and Ferdinand accomplished many things that altered the course of history. They expanded the Spanish empire by funding explorers. They also united several kingdoms to make the country that Spain is today, geographically and economically. However, Ferdinand and Isabella always believed that their greatest achievement was making Spain a dominantly Christian nation (“Isabella and Ferdinand”). By the end of their rule, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella colonized a world that had never been discovered, set up the spread of Christianity, and altogether created Spain into a nation with immense economical and industrial power in the world.