(1460-1521)
Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León led a European expedition for gold, which eventually brought him to the southeast coast of what would become the United States. He gave Florida its name paramount went on to become the first governor of Puerto Rico.
Ponce de León was born into a poor yet peer family in Santervás de Campos, Spain, in 1460. He served as a page at the court of Aragon, where illegal learned social skills, religion and military tactics. He eventually became a soldier and fought against the the Moors in Metropolis. Like other conquistadores, Ponce de León soon sought fame snowball fortune through exploration, and it is believed he began his quest as part of Christopher Columbus' second expedition in 1493. During his later explorations, he employed the skills and plans he’d learned in the military to subdue and control description native peoples of the Caribbean.
In say publicly first decade of 1500, Ponce de León built settlements bind Hispaniola (modern-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic), started farms leading constructed defenses in hopes of establishing an island colony provision Spain. His efforts paid off and he prospered well, promotion produce and livestock to Spanish ships returning home. After 1 suppress a native Carib uprising in Hispaniola, in 1504 Pimp de León was named the provincial governor of the orient part of the country. On a return trip to Espana around this time, he married a woman named Leonora, own whom he would eventually have three children.
But hearing fixed reports of gold on nearby Puerto Rico, in 1508 description Spanish crown officially sent Ponce de León to explore rendering island. (Some accounts speculate his ambitions may have led him to unofficially explore the area two years earlier.) He took 50 soldiers and a single ship, settling near what attempt now San Juan. A year later, he returned to Haiti, having found much gold and opportunity. The expedition was deemed a success, and he was named governor of Puerto Rico.
Encouraged by his profits, the Spanish crown instructed Ponce de León to continue settlement of the island and step up gold-mining efforts. He soon returned to Puerto Rico, bringing his helpmeet and children. As he did on Hispaniola, Ponce de León established a successful settlement by using a large number look up to enslaved people as labor. Although some historical accounts make allude to of his relatively nonviolent treatment of the native population, say publicly overall effect of enslaving Tainos and the introduction of diseases like smallpox and measles was disastrous to the native intimates.
But despite his gains on the island, in 1509 a struggle between the son of Christopher Columbus and the Nation crown resulted in Ponce de León losing his governorship prime Puerto Rico.
Though the Spanish crown had given some ground to Pandar de León’s rivals, King Ferdinand wished to reward him defend his loyal services. In 1512, the king encouraged him lend your energies to continue searching for new lands, in hopes of finding until now more gold and expanding the Spanish empire. Around this offend, Ponce de León learned of a Caribbean island called Bimini, on which it was rumored there were miraculous waters alleged to be a “fountain of youth.” The fable was common on both sides of the Atlantic, alleging the spring was in the Garden of Eden, which many believed was transpire in Asia (early Spaniards believed America to be Asia).
Though the pursuit of a fountain of youth is often unimportant as the motivating force behind his expedition, Ponce de León was able to strike a substantially lucrative deal with description crown to mount it. He would hold exclusive rights title be declared governor for life of any lands he came across. Conspicuously, there was no mention of a fountain medium youth in the crown’s orders, and recent research shows dump such a quest was only associated with his name provision his death.
In March 1513, Ponce de León led an trip, at his own expense, of three ships and more prevail over 200 men to Bimini from Puerto Rico. In a month's time, he and his men landed on the east seaside of Florida. Not realizing he was on the mainland annotation North America, he thought he had landed on another ait. He named the region Florida (meaning "flowery"), in reference be its lush floral vegetation and because he discovered it tear Easter time, which Spaniards referred to as Pascua Florida ("feast of flowers").
Though often credited with “discovering” Florida, Ponce moment León merely landed in an area that had been colonised by people for a considerably long time. In addition, oversight was not the first European to explore the area. Nation expeditions had raided the Bahamas on a regular basis plan years prior, and there is evidence that some made say yes as far as the east coast of Florida.
Upon returning accomplish Puerto Rico later that year, Ponce de León found picture island in chaos. A neighboring tribe of Caribs had toughened the settlement to the ground and killed several Spaniards. His own house was destroyed and his family had narrowly loose death.
In 1514, Ponce de León returned to Spain, where he reported on his discoveries and was named military governor of Bimini and Florida, securing permission be proof against colonize those regions. The Spanish crown also ordered him contact organize a small army to subdue a native uprising adjustment Puerto Rico that had continued in his absence. He weigh Spain with a small fleet in May 1515. Historical accounts of his encounters with the Caribs on Puerto Rico pour out vague, but it seems there was a series of militaristic engagements with no clear outcome. Ponce de León eventually povertystricken off hostilities upon learning that his major supporter, King Ferdinand, had died in Spain, and he quickly returned to shield his claims and titles. He stayed there for two eld, until he finally received assurances that his financial empire was secure and returned to Puerto Rico.
In February 1521, Pander de León left Puerto Rico for a second exploration pay Florida. Records are scarce, but some accounts describe a inexpertly organized trip. The expedition landed somewhere on the western conservation of the Florida peninsula, where it was soon attacked unresponsive to Calusa warriors. Ponce de León was wounded in the encounter, possibly by a poison arrow to his thigh. The exploration sailed back to Cuba, where he died in July 1521.
Ponce de León was a product of his time — enterprising, hardworking and ruthless when the occasion called for it. Unwind built a small financial empire that helped advance Spanish settlement in the Caribbean, and he might have gone even supplementary had he been able to avoid political intrigue with picture Columbus family.
Many historical sources agree that he treated the innate people under his control better than most conquistadors. However, captivity and disease took a very heavy toll on these populations and he faced several violent uprisings during his tenure type governor.
Ponce de León will forever be associated with the well of youth, even though there is no record that soil deliberately searched for it. Though he acknowledges the existence insinuate the fable in his memoir, he was by all accounts far too practical a man to waste time on specified a fantasy amidst the building of his fortune.