Juan Ponce de León (1474-1521) was a Spanish conquistador and was aboard Christopher Columbus' second voyage to the Americas in 1493. He became a provincial governor on Hispaniola, and led one of the first colonial expeditions to Puerto Rico in 1508, establishing the outpost of Caparra and becoming the first Spanish governor of the island.

But he is most known for his visits to the North American mainland (then assumed to be another large island). In 1513, he named the new land Florida after the Easter festival. While trying to establish a colony there in 1521, de Leon was hit by a poisoned arrow and died later in Havana.