Juan Ponce de Leon Nationality Spanish Lifespan 1460

Juan Ponce de Leon Nationality - Spanish Lifespan - 1460 - 1521 Family - Juan Ponce de Leon was descended from the Spanish Royal family Education - Well educated befitting his noble birth Career - Courtier, Explorer and Soldier Famous as the first European to set foot in Florida. He also discovered the Gulf Stream and was famous for searching for the "fountain of youth". He also established the oldest European settlement in Puerto Rico

• Juan Ponce de Leon (1460? -1521) was a Spanish explorer and soldier who was the first European to set foot in Florida. Born in Santervas, Spain, in 1460 (the date is uncertain), Ponce de Leon was a soldier fighting Muslims in southern Spain in the early 1490's.

trip • He took 50 soldiers with him on a single ship and explored the island, settling near what is now San Juan. A year later, he returned to Hispaniola, having found much gold but running short on supplies, and was named governor of Puerto Rico.

Question? ? ? • How many months did he voyage take • 7 months

The last trip • In 1521 Ponce de León organized a colonizing expedition on two ships. It consisted of some 200 men, including priests, farmers and artisans, 50 horses and other domestic animals, and farming implements. The expedition landed on the southwest coast of Florida, in the vicinity of Caloosahatchee River or Charlotte Harbor.

Death • Accounts of the battle that ensued after his arrival are spotty, but in 1521, Ponce de León sailed again for Florida with two ships and 200 men, intent on settling the land. This time, though, he was wounded by an arrow during an Indian attack, after which he and his colonists sailed to Cuba, where he soon died of the wound