JUAN PONCE DE LEÓN

He was born in Intervals,Spain in 1460.

INFORMATION

• He was a conquistador
• Tried to find “fountain of youth”
• Claimed La Florida for Spain
• Sailed with Columbus on second voyage
• The the first Spanish explorer to step foot on land that would become part of the U.S.

WHERE DID HE SAIL?

• He sailed with Columbus to take over Puerto Rico.
• Sailed to find the “fountain of youth” but found La Florida and claimed it for Spain.

He was a soldier for a man named Pedro Nunez de Guzman. He got fortune and fame as a soldier. At age 19 he went on Columbus’s second voyage and helped conquer Puerto Rico.

Ponce de León became the first governor of Puerto Rico. But soon he was asked to step down from office because of his brutal treatment of Native Americans.

Ponce de León named it La Florida because it was Spanish for flowery.

Ponce de León had three ships. The Santa Maria, the Santiago, and the San Cristobal. He was looking for a “fountain of youth” but he claimed La Florida for Spain.

Ponce De León died from a wound in Cuba. The year was 1521. On his gravestone it said “Here rests the bones of valiant LION mightier in deeds, than in his name”.