Juan ponce de leon years of exploration
Juan ponce de leon interesting facts.
When was juan ponce de león bornJuan Ponce de León
Spanish explorer and conquistador (1474–1521)
"Ponce de León" redirects here. For other uses, see Ponce de León (disambiguation).
Juan Ponce de León[a] (c. 1474 – July 1521) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador known for leading the first official European expedition to Puerto Rico in 1508 and Florida in 1513.
He was born in Santervás de Campos, Valladolid, Spain, in 1474. Though little is known about his family, he was of noble birth and served in the Spanish military from a young age.
10 fun facts about juan ponce de leon
He first came to the Americas as a "gentleman volunteer" with Christopher Columbus's second expedition in 1493.
By the early 1500s, Ponce de León was a top military official in the colonial government of Hispaniola, where he helped crush a rebellion of the native Taíno people.
He was authorized to explore the neighboring island of Puerto Rico in 1508 and to take office as the first Governor of Puerto Rico by appointment of the Spanish crown in 1509. Wh