Juan Ponce De Leon Research Paper

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Pages: 3

Juan Ponce de Leon was a spanish explorer sponsored by Spain. Ponce de Leon was born in Santervas de Campos, Spain in 1460. He was raised in very poor noble family. He was a page at the court of Aragon, where he learned many things such as religion, social skills, and military tactics. He put his learning skills to use as he joined the spanish army and drove the Moors which were the last Muslim stronghold in Spain. Then Ponce de Leon seeked exploration for fame and fortune. His first quest was believed to be with Christopher Columbus on the second voyage. In his later explorations he applied the skills he learned in the army, to control the native people of the Caribbean. Around the year of 1500, Ponce de Leon built settlements in Hispaniola …show more content…
Juan successfully settled there by labor of slaves. Ponce de Leon had a lot of success on the island of Puerto Rico, but in 1509 a feud between the Spanish crown and the son of Christopher Columbus broke out resulting in Ponce de Leon losing his leadership as Governor of Puerto Rico. In 1512, King Ferdinand encouraged Juan to keep searching and exploring lands. Later around this time Ponce de Leon discovered a land called Bimini which is rumored to be home of the fountain of youth. Ponce de Leon led an expedition in 1513 with three ships and 200 plus men to Bimini from Puerto Rico. He and his crew landed on the east coastline of Florida a month later. Juan did not realize that he was in North American. He thought he was on another island and named the land Florida. Later that same year, he returned to Puerto Rico and found the island in chaos. A tribe of Caribs had burned everything to the ground and killed several natives. His family was almost killed in the turmoil. Later that year, Juan returned to Spain where he reported his discoveries and was named the military leader of Florida and Bimini. Ponce de Leon left Puerto Rico in 1521 to explore Florida for the