Who Was Juan Ponce De Leon?

Juan Ponce de Leon was born in 1460 and passed away in 1521. He was politician and an explorer.

After joining Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the Americas in 1493, Ponce de Leon became Spanish governor of both Hispaniola (the island that is today called the Dominican Republic and Haiti) and then Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico natives told him a legend of spring on the island of Bimini in the Bahamas that would make anyone who drank its water young again. Trying to find this island and its miraculous fountain of youth, Ponce de Leon landed instead on the east coast of Florida. Not knowing he had found the North American continent, he named the new "island" for the time of the year and for its lush plant life (Pascua Florida, which is Spanish for Flowers Easter). On his next visit to Florida, Ponce's quest for the fountain of youth was tragically cut short because he was hit by a Seminole arrow and died.

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