Juan Ponce De Leon Essay

1204 Words5 Pages

Austin Clark
Mrs. Green/Mrs. Holland
English/Spanish
24 October 2014
Juan Ponce de Leon Exploration was a highlight of the thirteenth and the fourteenth centuries. During this age, countries wanted more land, resources, and colonies, just like the New World had to offer. Many different explorers such as Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, and Juan Ponce de Leon set the stepping stones for exploration in the New World. Leon was one of many different explorers that the Spanish chose to send with the goal of discovering new lands and finding more resources. Juan Ponce de Leon was a famous Spanish explorer and conqueror who explored and discovered Puerto Rico and Florida.
Juan Ponce de Leon was born in San Servas, Spain in 1460. Leon was born …show more content…

Leon married Leonor de Guzman y Silva. Leon and Siva had four children; Luis, Juana, Maria, and Isabelle. While living in Hispaniola, Leon became a leader of the island by establishing farms, constructing buildings, helping with defense against other countries, and helping to establish a productive economy. The King saw how much Leon cared about Hispaniola after he helped defeat the Indians living in the eastern province of the island in 1504. Governor Nicolas de Ovando named Leon deputy governor of the island. In 1508, Leon crossed over to Puerto Rico to look for gold. Instead, he conquered the island and began to colonize it. Because of these accomplishments, Leon was made governor of Puerto Rico by King Ferdinand of Spain. Since Puerto Rico was rich in natural resources and was well ran by Leon, many new settlers came to the island. When Leon returned to Spain in 1514, he received another grant to establish colonies outside of Florida. In February 1521, after Leon landed on the Florida Coast, he and his crew were attacked by Native Americans. In the process, Leon was wounded in the cross fire, and later died after returning to …show more content…

The story of the Fountain of Youth was told long before Leon started exploring islands for Spain. Many different Spanish explorers such as Francisco Lopez de Gomara and Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda tried to find the Fountain of Youth before and after Leon. Leon first heard of the fountain by an old woman who said that a group of men went to a dream like land to find the age killing water. This land was the island of Bimini, north of the village where the old woman was living. After his death, people believed that the reason Leon wanted to find the fountain was to bottle the water and sell it to the people of