Ponce de Leon

pon'tha da la-on' (1460-1521), the discoverer of Florida. He was born in Aragon, Spain, and died in Cuba. As a youth he served in the wars of Granada, by which the Moors were expelled from Spain. He served under Columbus on the occasion of the latter's second visit to the New World. He took an active part in the establishment of colonies in the West Indies and held various prominent positions by appointment of King Ferdinand. He was at one time governor of Porto Rico. With other gallants of the age, he believed in the existence of a fountain of youth, that somewhere a fountain welled from the earth, the waters of which were capable of conferring perpetual youth on those who drank. Popular belief located this fountain on an island. In 1512 he obtained a patent for this supposed island, and in the next year he set out with three ships in search of it. March 27, 1513, he came in sight of the mainland of the United States and gave it the name of Florida. April 2d he landed a little northward of the present site of St. Augustine. He coasted southward and westward around the peninsula, still supposing it to be an island. In the autumn, he returned to Porto Rico. In 1521 he again visited Florida, with the purpose of colonization. He was poisoned by an Indian's arrow, on which his expedition returned to Cuba, where he died. The Spanish claim to Florida was based on Ponce de Leon's discoveries. See De Soto