Juan Ponce de Leon was born into a noble family of the village of Santervas de Campos in the province of Valladolid northwestern Spain. The year of his birth was probably 1474, although some historians place it as late as 1460. His parents came from old and highly respected families but they were not wealthy. They died young, forcing Juan and his brothers to make their own way in the world. When he was just 18 years of age, he served in the 10-year conquest of the Moslem kingdom of Granada in southern Spain. He quickly proved himself strong brave and quick witted enough to become an independant foot soldier, fighting alongside vetern warriors. Afterward, he heard exaggerated accounts of Columbus's discovery and migrated to the island of Hispaniola (modern Dominican Republic and Haiti).
EARLY EXPLORATION
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella encouraged exploration by Spanish explorers. The king and queen wanted to conquer more lands than their rival Portugal, and build an enormous empire for Spain. For this reason they financed European explorers voyages, including that of Christopher Columbus.
In 1493, Ponce de Leon sailed with Christopher Columbus on Columbus' second voyage to the Americas. He and his family settled on an island in the Caribbean named Hispaniola (Dominican Republic). He became a military commander at this post and was appointed deputy governor.
THE FABLED ISLE OF BORINQUEN
Spanish kings and queens gave large farms in conquered territories to explorers, soldiers and settlers. In 1504 Ponce de Leon was given a farm in Higuey in gratitude for his having fought against the local Taino s. These farms were called encomiendas, and had a minimum of 225 acres. In 1506, Ponce de Leon discovered a nearby island named Borinquen, called San Juan Bautista by Spanish explorers. It lay about 70 miles east of Salvaleon in Higuey, where Ponce de Leon and his wife Leonor owned a farm, where they lived and were raising their four children, Juana, Isobel, Maria and Luis. Columbus had stopped here briefly in 1493, and native Taino people traveled regularly between it's western coast and Higuey, bringing with them tales of steams filled with gold nuggets, and local people with gold jewelry to barter. While there, he found large deposits of gold. Soon after his discovery, he left the island. He returned in 1508 on orders from the king of Spain to explore and colonize the island. He renamed the island Puerto Rico. He was the island's governor for two years until the king replaced him with Columbus' son.
THE LEGENDARY FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
According to ancient legend of the native Arawaks in Hispaniola, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, there existed an indescribable paradise called Bimini. Sequene, an Arawak chief from Cuba, had purportedly been unable to resist the lure of the Isle of Bimini one of the Lucayos, and its restorative fountain with it's miraculous curative powers. He gathered a troup of adventurers and sailed north, never to return. Word spread among Sequene's more optimistic tribesmen that he and his followers had located the Fountain of Youth, a fountain of such wonderful virtue as to renew the youth and recall the vigor of every person who bathed in its salutary waters.
The reports of a Fountain of Youth may have held extra meaning for the aging King Ferdinand, whose health was poor. Queen Isabella died in 1504 leaving no son to rule as King Ferdinand's successor. In 1512, at age 60, Ferdinand married a young wife. His hopes were that if this Fountain of Youth were found it's revitalizing and rejuvenating water would make him feel young and strong again and help him father a child.
Spaniards at that time believed Bimini to be one of a chain of islands which included the Bahamas. Ponce de Leon sailed past them and in April 1513, arrived at what he supposed to be the most northerly of the chain. Landing in present day Daytona Beach, he named the land Florida, meaning "The Flowery Place." He found beautiful groves and sparkling springs and limpid streams, but not one of the waters could restore to an old man the vernal greenness of his youth. So Ponce turned his thoughts to more practical subjects. Returning to Spain a few months later, he told the sovereigns of the beautiful land he had discovered, and received the appointment of Governor of Florida on condition that he should plant a colony there. This was not attempted until several years afterward. He had been moping in disappointment at Puerto Rico, after an unsuccessful expedition against the Caribs, until he was assured that Florida was not an island, but a part of the continent. Then ambitious desires moved his sluggish heart, and the brilliant achievements of Cortez in the west, aroused the slumbering energies of the old cavalier.
A PATH IN THE SEA
On April 8, 1513, Ponce de Leon and his men left northern Florida and sailed south along the Gulf Stream. Here he observed one of the most important natural features of the Atlantic ocean. A current like a "river in the sea," which flowed from the tip of Florida northeast to Europe. The first record of satisfactory evidence of the discovery of the Gulf Stream current, comes from this expedition of in 1513 when he was in search of the fountain of youth. Referring to the current in the ship's journal, it seemed as if the ship was moving quickly through the water, but they soon recognized it was an illusion. In fact that they were being driven back because the current was stronger than the wind.
Two vessels, which were somewhat nearer the coast, came to anchor; the third vessel, a brig, being in deeper water, could not anchor, and was soon "carried away by the current and lost from sight although it was a clear day." After a fight between his men and natives in southern Florida, he sailed to Cuba. He tried to sail back to Bimini, but could not find it. De Leon soon returned to Puerto Rico where he sacked a rebellion of natives against Spanish rule. After returning to Spain, he was named Captain General by the King on September 27, 1514. The Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León was the first to describe the Gulf Stream in 1513 as he searched for the fountain of youth in what is now Florida. The Gulf Stream played a major role in the settling of southeastern regions of the United States. North America's oldest city, St. Augustine, sits on the coast of eastern Florida where the Gulf Stream flows. It was founded during the Spanish period, fifty years or so after De León's trek. When the United States acquired Florida, land speculators quickly moved in and formed large plantations.
In 1521 Ponce de León sailed from Puerto Rico for Florida with two ships and 200 men, landing near Charlotte Harbor. With nearly all of his wealth in these two ships, he landed on the shores of Florida, not far from where he had first discovered that land, to prepare for founding a colony there. He was met by a crowd of natives who had gathered near the beach with bows and arrows and long javelins, to defend their land from the intrusion of the pale faces, for they had lately been taught, by the bitter experience of their neighbors, to look upon them as children of the Evil Spirit. A sharp battle ensued. Several of the Spaniards were killed by native warriors in Florida. Ponce de Leon was badly wounded when an arrow gashed his thigh, and his men carried him on board his ship and conveyed him back to Cuba, where he died in July, 1521 at the age of 47. Upon his tomb was written the following inscription, in Latin:
IN THIS SEPULCHRE REST THE BONES OF A MAN WHO WAS LION BY NAME AND STILL MORE BY NATURE.
Tom & Alana Campbell 5214 South 2nd Avenue Everett, Washington 98203-4113 Telephone (425) 252-2981
