Who is Ponce De Leon?

Answer 1

Juan Ponce De León (1474-1521) was a Spanish soldier and conquistador who explored the New World, mainly the islands of the Caribbean Sea. While a provincial governor in Hispaniola, he married and had four children. He discovered and named Florida, and was fatally wounded there on a later voyage. A former member of Columbus' first trip to America in 1492, in 1504 he crushed a rebellion on the island of Hispaniola and was appointed colonial governor of a province. His expedition to Puerto Rico in 1508 established the first European settlement there. After a conflict with the son of his former captain, Columbus, he launched an expedition that reached the North American mainland on Easter Sunday, 1513. Initially assuming it was a large island, De Leon named the new land "Florida" and sailed through the Keys into the Gulf of Mexico. After returning to Spain, he captained a fleet to put down a native attack on Puerto Rico in 1515. In 1521, De Leon launched a colonizing expedition to Florida. Unfortunately, his group was attacked there by native Indians. DeLeon was hit with a poisoned arrow, and died days later in Cuba. == ==