Juan Ponce De Leon Essay

Juan Ponce de Leon was born in 1460 in San Seravas, Spain. He was born into Spanish nobility but he and his family were not wealthy, which is unusual for noble families. He then went on to become a knight where he sought fame and fortune. He was given high class education in fighting, manners, and religion while he was serving another knight named Pedro Nunez de Guzman. He would later help in the fight against the Muslim, kingdom Granada in southern Spain. After the war, there was no need for military services. Ponce de Leon began his exploration career. When Christopher Columbus announced he was going to sail again to the new world, Ponce de Leon took this opportunity, and sailed with him.

When he arrived in Hispaniola in 1500, Ponce

In 1512, the king had encouraged Ponce de Leon to continue searching for new lands in great hopes of finding mass amounts of gold and expanding the Spanish empire. Ponce immediately accepted the instructions. He then was told of an Island known as Bimini located in the Caribbean. It was rumored had a mythical fountain which gave the person who drank from it eternal youth. This fountain is more commonly known as the Fountain of Youth. The fable was well known in Europe and many thought that the spring was located in the Garden of Eden, which was often believed to be located in Asia. (early European Spaniards believed America to be Asia.) Though the fountain of youth is believed to be Ponce de Leon’s most motivating force behind the expedition, he was able to strike a deal with the Spanish Crown to fund this expedition, which was personally very lucrative.. He would then hold exclusive rights and be declared governor of every land he came across. Interestingly though, there was no mention of a Fountain of Youth in any of the Crown’s

His fleet consisted of just three ships, with over two-hundred men which would sail to Bimini from Puerto Rico. In one month’s time, he and his men landed on the east coast of what is known today as Florida. Not realizing he was on the mainland of America, he thought he had landed on a large island. He named the region Florida because he discovered it around Easter and named it Pascua de Florida which is Spanish “for feast of flowers”. He named it this because of its vegetation. During this expedition he recorded, “Among my services I have discovered at my own cost and expense, the Island La Florida, and others in its district, that have not been mentioned as they are small and inconsequential.” Though often considered as the explorer who discovered Florida, Ponce de Leon merely landed on an area that was already inhabited. In addition, he was not the first European to explore this area. Spanish slave expeditions to the Bahamas were frequent, and for years had wreaked havoc. There is also evidence that some of those expeditions may have reached as far as