Juan Ponce de León
Juan Ponce de León conquered Puerto Rico and was the first European to record a landing in Florida. Born in Valladolid province around 1474 into a noble family without money, he served as a squire and probably fought in the Granada campaign, and sailed on Columbus's second voyage in 1493. He settled on Hispaniola, put down a Taíno rising in the eastern province, and was rewarded with land and labour. Hearing reports of gold on the neighbouring island of Borinquen, he crossed in 1508, founded a settlement, and was made governor of Puerto Rico. The conquest was rapid and brutal. Indigenous resistance under Agüeybaná II was crushed, the population was distributed among Spaniards under the encomienda, and it collapsed from forced labour and disease. He lost the governorship in 1511 to litigation by Columbus's son, and obtained a royal contract instead to find and settle lands to the north. He sailed in March 1513 and made landfall in early April on the Atlantic coast, naming the place La Florida for the Easter season, Pascua Florida. He then coasted south, rounded the keys, and was carried backwards by a current so strong his ships could not sail against it — the first European record of the Gulf Stream, which became the route for treasure fleets home. The story that he was seeking a fountain of youth appears in accounts written after his death and has no contemporary support. He returned in 1521 to establish a colony, was wounded in the thigh by a Calusa arrow, and died at Havana.
- Lived: 1474 CE – 1521 CE
- Nationality: Spanish
- Roles: explorer, conquistador, governor
