Astoria

//** Astoria **//

Juan Ponce de Leon Juan Ponce de Leon was the first Spanish explorer to set foot in Florida. He was kind of brutal, but well educated and from a noble family. He is most known for searching for the Fountain of Youth. He was born in Santervas de Campos, Spain. The date he was born is uncertain but it was around 1460. In 1493, my explorer was part of Columbus’ second expedition to the Americas. Columbus had sixteen ships and about 1,500 men. They explored Jamaica and encountered natives and then they went to Haiti. Columbus established a Spanish settlement and searched for gold. When Columbus returned to Spain, Juan Ponce de Leon stayed in the present day Dominican Republic. On my explorer’s next expedition he was given the honor of finding Bimini, in the Bahamas. It is a group of islands said to include the Fountain of Youth which restores health and youth. He left Puerto Rico on March 3, 1513 with three ships, the Santa Maria, the Santiago, and the San Cristobal. On April 2, 1513 he landed in present day Florida and named it Pascua de Florida, Spanish for Feast of Flowers. They left Florida on April 8. His last expedition was in 1521. He was again searching for the Fountain of Youth and island of Bimini. He again landed on Florida, this time encountering natives. There was a fight in which many of Juan’s men were injured by arrows and Juan himself was wounded with a poisoned arrow. He went to Cuba and died in July, 1521 having never found the Fountain of Youth. I think it is very interesting that he was searching for the Fountain of Youth on the island of Bimini.I have seen pictures of Puerto Rico and think it is beautiful there and I wonder if it was that beautiful when Ponce de Leon was there. I think explorers must be very brave to go in ships across the ocean with no weather report or guarantee that they will get back safely. I also think they are lucky to be able to travel the world and name places. I don’t think I would be an explorer though, because of the danger and shortage of food and space on there ships. Juan Ponce de Leon was interesting to study.  By, Astoria