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Explorers

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Explorers
Men and women have explored all ends of the earth and made profound discoveries. Without these discoveries the way we view our world might be different. Ponce De Leon was one of these explorers that help change the way we view earth.
Who exactly was Ponce de Leon? What did he do in his life, and what was his discovery that deemed him one of history’s notable explorers? I will discuss Ponce de Leon’s background, his journeys and his discoveries.
Juan Ponce de Leon was born during the Age of Exploration. Documentation places his birth around 1460 in Santervas De Campos, Spain, but later documentation places it more at 1474. No one is absolutely sure of the exact date of his birth. Ponce de Leon was born of noble parents who taught Ponce how to read and write. As a child he served as a page to Pedro Nunuz de Guzman and delivered messages for the royal court. Once a teenager, he joined the Spanish army and served in military until 1492.
In September 1493 Ponce de Leon was one of 112 men that traveled with Christopher Columbus on Christopher’s second trip to the ‘New World’ but he did not return with Christopher Columbus. While on exploration of the island of Hispaniola, now known as Dominican Republic and Haiti, Ponce de Leon survived disease and bad weather. He also endured shortage of food and water to help colonize the new lands. Forcing Indians into slavery.
Ponce De Leon spent the early part of the 1500s in Hispaniola. He established farms, distributed land rights, help construct buildings to aid in defense, and worked to set up an island economy. At this time Ponce de Leon married Leonor Domingo. Together they had 4 children. Three daughters named Juana, Isabel, and Maria, and one son named Luis. He was named deputy governor of Hispaniola after he helped stop an Indian uprising in the eastern province of the island.
Indians told Ponce de Leon there was gold on the neighboring island; Boriquien, now known as Puerto Rico. 4 years later he went over and conquered Boriquien. He conquered the Indians with a famous greyhound named Bercerillo. It was said Indians they were more afraid of ten Spaniards with Bercerillo then 100 without him. Ponce was anointed governor by King Ferdinand. While governed by Ponce de Leon, the island became popular with other settlers because it was well run, had a large number of slaves, and many natural resources. Ponce de Leon was also recognized for nonviolent treatment of the Indians, which was rare at this time (Enchanted Learning, n.d.).
In 1512 Ponce de Leon was stripped of his governor title because of a political conflict, some say he was because he was actually extremely violet with the Indians. King Ferdinand did grant permission for Ponce de Leon to discover and settle the island of Bimini. He was interested in discovering the body of water that was believe to restore youth called the Fountain of Youth. The “fountain of youth’ was located in the Garden of Eden somewhere in Asia. At this time the Spaniards believed America to be Asia. Ponce de Leon did not document this exploration, it is speculation he searched for the fountain of youth to restore him to his youth. At this time Ponce de Leon was 54 years old. It is documented that Ponce de Leon never found the fountain of youth (Enchanted Learning, n.d.).
He traveled to the Island of Bimini with three ships; the Santa Maria, the Santiago, and the Cristobal along with about 200 men. Failing to find Bimini, they settled the east coast of St. Augustine, Florida in April 1513. Ponce de Leon named the land “Pascua de Florida” (feast of flowers) because he spotted it on April 2nd, 1513 on Palm Sunday. The land was claimed the land, thinking it was an island, for Spain. While traveling southward he encountered a strong current known as the Gulf Stream, from this he discovered the Bahama Channel. The Bahama Channel later became the route of treasure ships on their return from Spain. He explored the East Coast and sailed up the Gulf Coast to Pensacola Bay. On his return he discovered several small islands crowded together inhibited by tortoises and he named the small cluster of islands “Tortugas” or tortoises (Enchanted Learning, n.d.).
In 1514, returning to Spain, Ponce de Leon received a grant to establish colonies in the “Island of Florida” but at his own expense. In February 1521 the expedition landed near Charlotte Harbor. Attacked by Native Americans caused the settlement to be abandoned and Ponce de Leon became wounded in the battle. Ponce de Leon returned to Cube where he died a few days later. He was buried in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His gravestone reads. “Here rest the bones of a valiant Lion (Leon), mightier in deeds than in name. Ponce de Leon was 61 years old (Encyclodia.com, 2003).
Ponce de Leon is remembered far after his death. In 1692 Ponce, Puerto Rico was named after Juan Ponce De Leon and Loaiza. Loaiza is the great grandson of Ponce de Leon. Ponce is now the second largest city in Puerto Rico. Ponce de Leon Springs Park was named for Juan Ponce de Leon. It is said by some that the Ponce de Leon springs is the ‘Fountain of Youth” and the springs will regain their youth by taking a dip in the cool, clear waters. Ponce de Leon, Florida was named after the Spanish explorer to honor his expedition of Florida.
The documentation for his early life and his explorations are not well documented, leaving Ponce de Leon a man of some mystery. One thing is for sure; Ponce was a very important Spanish explorer and helped what we see today on our earth.

References Enchanted Learning. (n.d.). Juan Ponce de Leon:Explorer. Retrieved from http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/d/deleon.shtml Encyclodia.com. (2003). Ponce de Leon, Juan. Retrieved from http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Juan_Ponce_de_Leon.aspx

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