Juan Ponce de León

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For other people of the same name, see Juan Ponce (disambiguation).
Juan Ponce de León
Colored portrait of Juan Ponce de León
1st Adelantado of La Florida
In office
1514  –  July 1521
MonarchsJoanna of Castile
(her father, King Ferdinand II of Aragon, being Regent of Castile)
/ Charles I of Spain (from 1516)
Preceded byNew office
Succeeded byPánfilo de Narváez
1st Lieutenant Governor
of Puerto Rico[1]
In office
1508  –  December 1509
MonarchsJoanna of Castile
(her father, King Ferdinand II of Aragon, being Regent of Castile)
Preceded byNew office
Succeeded byJuan Cerón (January 1510)
3rd Lieutenant Governor
of Puerto Rico
In office
late 1510  –  early 1511
MonarchsJoanna of Castile
(her father, King Ferdinand II of Aragon, being Regent of Castile)
Preceded byJuan Cerón
Succeeded byThree in succession:
7th Lieutenant Governor
of Puerto Rico
In office
late 1515  –  early 1519
MonarchsJoanna of Castile
(her father, King Ferdinand II of Aragon, being Regent of Castile)
/ Charles I of Spain (from 1516)
Preceded byCristóbal de Mendoza
Succeeded byThree in succession:
Personal details
Born(1460-04-08)April 8, 1460
Santervás de Campos (in Old Castile)
Crown of Castile
DiedJuly 1521(1521-07-00) (aged 61)
Havana (island of Cuba, Columbian Viceroyalty)
Spanish Empire
SpouseLeonor Ponce de León
ProfessionMilitary officer and colonial governor
Signature

Juan Ponce de León (probably Santervás de Campos c. 1460 – Havana, July 1521) was an adelantado, explorer and Spanish conquistador, who was the first European explorer and governor of Puerto Rico in 1508 and the first European discoverer and explorer of Florida in 1513.

Origins in Spain

Many biographers of Juan Ponce de León have placed his birth in Santervás de Campos, because in this municipality and in others nearby there were many branches of the Ponce surname.[2] The Ponce surname also spread to Andalusia from the north of Spain.[2] It is unknown whether Juan was a nobleman or not, although the branch of the Ponces that settled in Andalusia did include prominent nobles.[2]

Monument to Ponce de León in Santervás de Campos, Province of Valladolid, Spain.

It is unknown when he was born. Some biographies have placed his birth in 1460,[3] but the historian Manuel Ballesteros places it around 1470, presuming that he was younger when he undertook his voyage to America.[4]

According to Friar Bartolomé de las Casas, Juan was a "mozo de espuelas" (footman) of Pedro Núñez de Guzmán.[5]

Pedro Núñez de Guzmán would become a commander of the Order of Calatrava and would be tutor of Ferdinand II of Habsburg.[6] He was the brother of Ramiro Núñez de Guzmán, who later became a famous comunero.[7]

Voyages

Beginnings in the New World

According to Bartolomé de las Casas, Juan Ponce de León came to America as a "peón" (foot soldier).[5]

Ruins of Ponce de León's residence in Caparra, a settlement from 1508,[8] in a 2008 image.

Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo was the first to state, in his Historia general y natural de las Indias, that Juan Ponce de León went to America on the second voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1493.[9]

In recent times it has been suggested that Ponce de León may have arrived in America with Nicolás de Ovando in 1502.[9]

There is a letter of recommendation from Pedro Núñez de Guzmán in favor of Juan Ponce de León addressed to Nicolás de Ovando, who had been appointed Governor of the Indies. It is recorded that Pedro Núñez de Guzmán and Nicolás de Ovando met at a court organized by the Catholic Monarchs for Prince John in Almazán in 1496.[6] With Ovando's arrival in America in 1502, Ponce de León's career was given a boost.[10]

In 1504, on the island of Hispaniola, the natives of the region of Higüey, led by the cacique Cotubanamá, carried out a massacre of Spaniards.[11] Nicolás de Ovando organized a repression of these natives. To do so, he appointed a captain for each of the towns on the island and named Juan de Esquivel captain general. Juan Ponce de León took part as captain for the town of Santiago.[12] When the repression, which was recounted by Bartolomé de las Casas, was over, the cacique was captured in Saona.[11]

After this, Ovando decided to found two new towns in Higüey: Santa Cruz de Aycayaguna and Salvaleón. Ovando appointed Ponce de León as his lieutenant and captain in Salvaleón.[12]

Juan Ponce de León married his second cousin, Leonor Ponce de León. The couple lived in Hispaniola.[13] They had four children: Luis, Juana, María and Isabel.[14]

Salvaleón was at the mouth of the Yuna River, and the stone house in which Ponce lived, near the present-day municipality of San Rafael del Yuma, still stands among royal palms.[15] Ovando entrusted Juan Ponce de León with leading an expedition to establish contact with the Indians of a nearby island, called Borinquen by the Taíno Indians.[15]

Between November 19 and 22, 1493, Christopher Columbus had been on its coasts and named it San Juan Bautista, but the natives merely fled from the ships. The island was later visited by Vicente Yáñez Pinzón in 1500, Antonio de Torres in 1502 and García Alonso-Cansino in 1505.[16][17]

On June 15, 1508, Ovando reached an agreement with Ponce for him to go to the island of San Juan Bautista. In a report of 1509, Ponce de León describes to Ovando how they departed from Santo Domingo, how they passed by Mona Island and how they reached the southern coast of the island of San Juan Bautista. On this island he discovered that there were difficulties in sowing and raising crops with which to sustain the settlers, and that the Indians, although they kept good order in their paths and bohíos, did not know how to help with this.[18]

In 1508, Ponce de León founded the first settlement on the island of San Juan, Caparra, in the north of the present-day municipality of Guaynabo.[19] In Caparra he established his home, ordered the construction of a gold smelter and distributed workers among his Spanish followers. He also established an estate in Toa. Later, he would also found the town of San Germán.[20]

On May 2, 1509, he obtained authorization to bring his wife and children to the island of San Juan.[13]

On May 3, 1509, King Ferdinand the Catholic drew up an instruction stating that Ponce's actions on the island of San Juan should be respected.[15][21] In July 1509, Diego Columbus arrived on the island of Hispaniola to govern the Indies.[22]

On July 15, 1509, the King said that nothing should be provided to the island of San Juan until its quality had been seen through experience.[22]

In August 1509, Diego Columbus renewed the agreement Ponce had regarding the island of San Juan and wrote to Ferdinand the Catholic telling him that his intention was for Ponce to go to that island.[23]

In Valladolid, in August 1509, the King wrote to the Treasurer General of the Indies, Miguel de Pasamonte, indicating that he was satisfied with the services of Juan Ponce de León. On April 21, 1509, Pasamonte had proposed Pedro Suárez as governor of the island of San Juan and, in August of the same year, Ferdinand the Catholic issued a document in Valladolid rejecting that request and signed a royal decree appointing Ponce de León to the office.[24]

Diego Columbus wanted to impose his viceregal authority. For this reason, he sent Juan Cerón to the island of San Juan Bautista as alcalde mayor, accompanied by Martín Cerón, García Troche and Alonso de Cea. Juan Cerón was received in office on the island on October 28, 1509.[25]

In March 1510, the King responded by sending Ponce de León his appointment as governor directly and, in addition, strengthened his position by appointing him judge and captain of the island of San Juan.[26] In April 1510, Diego Columbus sent Miguel Díaz de Aux as alguacil mayor of the island of San Juan.[25]

Ponce summoned Juan Cerón and Miguel Díaz and showed them the royal document, telling them to communicate it to Diego Columbus, which they did.[27] Cerón and Díaz said that, before obeying, they had to wait for Diego Columbus's reply. Ponce responded by arresting them in May 1510. On July 10 he sent both prisoners with Captain Juan Bono de Quexo on a ship to Santo Domingo. Diego Columbus wrote a memorial in which he accused Ponce of having seized the ship illegally, of having tormented the captain and of having exchanged some passengers for others.[28]

Some attribute Ponce's acting in this way against those who undermined his authority to the advice of Cristóbal de Sotomayor, a resident of the island of San Juan with contacts at Court.[28]

The Boricua Indians were peaceful farmers who had sparsely populated the island of San Juan. They had had conflicts with the Carib Indians who came from other islands, who were archers who killed the men and kept the women. When the Spaniards arrived, the Boricuas were forced to search for precious metals (to which they attached no value) and to cultivate for them.[29]

Cristóbal de Sotomayor had obtained from Ferdinand the Catholic some lands and rights over some Indians on the island of San Juan, which were given to him by Diego Columbus and not by Ponce. Among the Indians whom Sotomayor received was the cacique Agüeybaná.[29] The King wrote to Ponce from Seville on February 26, 1511, that he should not take the Indians away from Sotomayor unless the latter violated some rule regarding the encomiendas.[30]

A Castilian who was with Cristóbal de Sotomayor in the town of Aguada, Diego de Cuéllar, had a conflict with the cacique Hucoyoa, who left him blind in the left eye. Sotomayor went to speak with Ponce in the town of Caparra about what had happened. Ponce was not prepared for a conflict and advised Sotomayor not to return to Aguada and, if he did, to go with a good escort.[31]

Cristóbal de Sotomayor and his nephew Diego arrived in Aguada, and the interpreter Juan González advised them to withdraw, but they paid no heed and both were killed by the natives and their estate was plundered. González hid on another Spanish estate and, through a messenger sent by Andrés López, Ponce learned of the events. Ponce left Caparra with 50 men to go and look for Sotomayor's body in order to bury it. On the way he learned that the town of Aguada had been burned by the natives and that five Spaniards had died. Ponce then turned back and gathered more men. He then attacked, going above all after the rebel caciques, and managed to capture 60 Indians, who were distributed as slaves among the Spaniards who took part in the repression. A few natives swore loyalty to the King and were pardoned.[32]

After this episode, Ponce de León sent his captains Luis de Añasco, Sancho de Arango and Diego Salazar to travel across the island carrying out armed incursions and taking small amounts of booty. A few prisoners were also taken, among whom were mostly women and children.[33]

At the same time, on May 5, 1511, the Council of Castile recognized Diego Columbus's rights of government over the New World, which would be ratified on June 17 by Queen Joanna.[33]

Ponce convened a cabildo to make sure that the duties owed to the King were fulfilled. He requested the appointment of a procurator charged with taking to Spain what had been collected on the royal estates and the royal fifth of the smelting of precious metals that had been carried out. On June 27, 1511, Pedro Moreno was appointed procurator and was given the said amount, which was 10 000 pesos.[34]

On July 21, 1511, Ferdinand the Catholic wrote to Ponce telling him to reinstate, without raising any difficulty, the bachiller Morales in his office of lieutenant of the alcalde mayor, Juan Cerón as alcalde mayor and Miguel Díaz as alguacil mayor.[35]

On July 25, 1511, the King wrote to Cerón and Díaz telling them to treat Juan Ponce de León and the people who were with him well.[35] That same day the monarch wrote to Diego Columbus asking him to collaborate with Cerón in controlling the native uprising on the island of San Juan. The King also instructed Ponce to consider a new settlement.[35]

The procurator Pedro Moreno arrived in Spain in August 1511 and contacted the King, informing him of what was happening on the island of San Juan. On September 9, Ferdinand the Catholic wrote to the officials appointed by Diego Columbus telling them not to trouble Ponce. The monarch also wrote to Ponce telling him to collaborate with Cerón and Díaz in the pacification of the island and to travel to Spain to discuss new expeditions.[36]

Ponce wanted to go to Spain, but Diego Columbus's officials seized the ship on which he had intended to travel.[37] On August 12, 1512, the King wrote that the ship should be placed at Ponce's disposal and that no obstacle whatsoever should be put in his way.[38]

Sancho Velázquez, prosecutor for the Indies appointed by King Ferdinand the Catholic,[37] concluded that Ponce had not kept his accounts properly and that he owed money to the Crown. Ponce appealed, but to no avail, and had to make a payment to the treasurer Cardona on October 10, 1512.[39]

On December 10, 1512, the King, from Logroño, informed the royal officials who were on the island of Hispaniola that Ponce de León would be a good treasurer of the island of San Juan and that he intended to give him command of the fortress to be built on that island for its defense.[39]

While these events were taking place, Spanish armed incursions continued on the island of San Juan, in the lands of the cacique who had rebelled first and also in those of the caciques Orocovis and Humacao.[38] The King, aware of what was happening, proposed collaboration with the caciques so that the natives would work in agriculture and mining. The last decision Juan Cerón made as alcalde mayor was to stop the incursions.[40]

On December 27, 1512, the ship Nuestra Señora de la Consolación arrived at the town of San Germán on the island of San Juan with Rodrigo de Moscoso, who had been appointed by Diego Columbus as Juan Cerón's replacement.[41]

Discovery of Florida

Ponce de León and his explorers in Florida searching for the Fountain of Youth, according to a 19th-century German Romantic drawing
Ponce de León's expedition in Florida, according to an 1885 engraving
Gulf Stream. When Ponce de León made the first European expedition to Florida he also discovered the Gulf Stream, already sensed by Christopher Columbus
Engraving of Ponce de León published in 1858

Bartholomew Columbus had tried to get King Ferdinand the Catholic to grant him jurisdiction over new territories, but the monarch did not want to expand the power of the Columbus family.[42] On February 23, 1512, the King issued a document obliging the royal officials of the island of Hispaniola to conclude capitulations with Ponce de León. That same day, the King wrote to Ponce offering him a new expedition and indicating that all the arrangements would be handled by Miguel de Pasamonte.[43]

Ponce committed himself to the following:[44]

  • A period of three years for the expedition and one to begin it.[44]
  • The expenses would be borne by him, and he could obtain people and supplies from Castile or the island of Hispaniola.[44]
  • Priority of rights over the new territory ahead of others, if he did so within the due period.[44]
  • Governorship of the new territory and administration of civil and criminal justice.[44]
  • Possession and enjoyment of the estates and foundations established at his expense.[44]
  • The appointment of wardens of the fortresses would be the prerogative of the King.[44]
  • To receive a tenth of all the royal revenues, except for the King's farming enterprises.[44]
  • The distribution of natives belonged to the King, with preference for the first Spaniards to arrive in the new lands.[44]
  • He was granted the gold and the fruits of the land, having to pay the King a tenth the first year, a ninth the second, an eighth the third, a seventh the fourth, a sixth the fifth and, thereafter, the royal fifth.[44]
  • Governorship of the neighboring lands if they had not already been discovered.[44]
  • He would hold the office of adelantado of Bimini and of other lands he might discover.[44]
  • The extraction of gold was to be done in the same way as on the island of Hispaniola.[44]
  • Prohibition on taking foreigners.[44]
  • Provision of sureties before departing on the expedition.[44]
  • He was to report any fraud to the royal officials and, if he did not do so, he would be removed from office and suffer a penalty.[44]
  • He was to write a detailed chronicle of everything that happened.[44]

Ponce traveled to the island of Hispaniola to sign the capitulations. On this island he had most of his lands and livestock. On January 23, 1513, the ships for the expedition were registered: the Santa María de la Consolación, with Captain Juan Bono Quexo; and the Santiago, on which Ponce would travel, captained by Diego Bermúdez. They left the port of Yuma, in the Higüey region of Hispaniola, and passed by San Germán, on the island of San Juan. On this island another ship joined the expedition, the San Cristóbal, with Juan Pérez de Ortubia as master. Ponce took advantage of the voyage to transport 17 cows from Hispaniola to his domains on the island of San Juan.[45] Ponce also took a mare and a slave, whom he named Juan de León. The crew of the ship Santiago included the pilot Antón de Alaminos. Among the members of the expedition all were men except one woman, named Juana Ruiz.[46]

Ponce's report of this voyage has not survived. The route they followed is drawn from the work Historia de los hechos de los castellanos en Tierra Firme e islas del mar Océano, published in 1601 and also known as the Décadas, by Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, official chronicler of the Indies, who must have had access to the original documents.[46][47]

On March 4, 1513, they departed from San Germán. They passed by Caycos, Yaguna (possibly Mayaguana), Amaguayo (possibly Samana Cay or Atwoods Cay), Maneguá (possibly Rum Cay or Watling) and Guanahani (possibly Watling or Cat).[46][48]

On March 27 they reached the Abaco Islands, in the north of the Bahamas.[47]

On Saturday, April 2, 1513,[47] during Pascua Florida (Easter), he reached a flat land which he considered to be the one he was looking for. He took possession of it on April 3.[46]

In 1935 Frederick T. Davis, based on the coordinates provided by Antonio de Herrera, deduced that the discovery of Florida took place between St. Augustine Inlet and the mouth of the St. Johns River.[47] In this area between St. Augustine and Jacksonville lies, among others, Ponte Vedra Beach. However, in 1990 Douglas T. Peck deduced that the discovery took place 200 kilometers to the south, at Melbourne Beach, near Cape Canaveral.[49][50]

They left this place and sailed north for a short distance. For reasons that are impossible to know, before reaching the mouth of the St. Johns River they began to sail south parallel to the coast. In the area of Cape Canaveral they came into contact with the Gulf Stream. The current ran from the Caribbean toward the Atlantic and from that moment on made possible a fast sea route back to Europe from the Spanish possessions in America.[51] They dropped anchor south of Cape Canaveral and landed in Florida for the second time, encountering the natives of this land for the first time. They continued sailing south, anchoring at various places. On May 13 they reached Biscayne Bay and continued south to the Florida Keys, from which they set sail on May 15. They sailed through an opening in the Keys and reached the east coast of Cape Sable. On May 18 they left to the west eleven rocky islets which Ponce named Las Tortugas.[47]

He sailed north from Las Tortugas along the west coast of Florida. He passed Cape Romano. He reached the north of Charlotte Harbor on May 23. They then went south and anchored their ships at Pine Island, which he named Matanza because there was a skirmish in which several natives and one Spaniard died. At this place they careened the ship San Cristóbal.[47]

On this expedition they found an Indian in Florida who spoke Spanish.[52]

At all times, Ponce believed that Florida was a large island.[53]

They weighed anchor at Pine Island and went south to Las Tortugas, where they arrived on June 15, 1513.[47] They then explored the western end of Cuba for a time.[47]

After this, Ponce found an Indian woman on a lonely island and took her as a guide. They then reached an island which the woman said was called Bahama. They traveled through the Bahama islands looking for Bimini.[47] They spent the whole month of July searching and ended up meeting a ship sent by Diego Columbus and captained by Diego de Miruelo. Miruelo decided to join Ponce in the search. In September Miruelo's ship sank and the people from this vessel had to move to the other two remaining ships.[54]

At the end of September, Ponce de León went to the island of San Juan and left the ship San Cristóbal in the Bahamas with Alaminos and Ortubia to continue the search.[47]

The fountain of eternal youth

In a document from late 1511, before Ponce de León's expedition to Florida, King Ferdinand the Catholic wrote to him to explore new territories in search of a "secret". It is unknown what he was referring to.[55]

It has been said that Ponce was searching for the fountain of eternal youth.[56][57] He himself never said anything about searching for the fountain,[58] although the explorer Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, in his work Memoria de las cosas y costa y indios de la Florida, of 1575, stated that he had gone in search of it because Indians from Cuba and Santo Domingo had told him about it.[59] The historian Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, in his work of 1601, also attributes this search to Ponce de León.[60]

Voyages to Spain and stays on the island of San Juan

Ponce arrived on the island of San Juan in early October 1513. On June 2, Diego Columbus had arrived at the port of San Germán with people whom he had appointed to various offices on the island. That same day the natives attacked the town of Caparra and set it on fire, killing some Spaniards. Diego Columbus instructed Captain Juan Enríquez to pursue the attacking Indians, although he did not manage to find them.[61]

Diego Columbus's intention was to depopulate Caparra, founded by Ponce, because he considered it unsafe, and to establish the capital of the island in San Germán.[61]

Alaminos and Ortubia returned on the ship San Cristóbal to the island of San Juan in February 1514 with some Indians from Bimini, which they had reached, and from the Lucayan Islands.[62]

Ponce had decided to go to Spain to speak with the King about the dominion over the new lands. He prepared 5 000 pesos for the Crown and left with Ortubia on a ship, reaching Galicia in April.[63]

He reached the Court and on September 27, 1514, obtained the following:[64]

  • Capitulation with King Ferdinand the Catholic (some documents were also signed by Queen Joanna) for the settlement of Florida and Bimini.[64]
  • Appointment as Adelantado and Justicia Mayor of Florida and Bimini.[64]
  • Ordinances for the settlement of these territories.[64]
  • Appointment as Captain of the armada against the Carib Indians that was being organized from Spain.[64]
  • Instructions for the campaign against the Carib Indians.[64]

Ferdinand the Catholic wrote to Diego Columbus on November 28, 1514, announcing the arrival of the armada captained by Ponce, which was to fight the Carib Indians, take them prisoner and sell them as slaves. It was at the end of 1514 that the King decided to extend the operations of this armada to Castilla de Oro.[65]

The Casa de Contratación de Indias of Seville prepared the armada. It consisted of three caravels: the Barbola (flagship), the Santa María and the Santiago. The profit for the participants was meager, since it was based on one third of the money they obtained by selling the prisoners as slaves on the island of Hispaniola. Ponce was unable to recruit a sufficient number of Spaniards. Had it been a matter of going to settle, he would have been able to recruit more people, since it offered them a new future. Ponce, however, hoped to be able to recruit more people on the islands of Hispaniola and San Juan.[66]

The armada set sail from Seville on May 14, 1515.[67] They stopped at the Canary Islands to take on supplies. Once in the Antilles, they stopped to take on water on the island of Guadeloupe. When the women went ashore together with some men to wash clothes, the inhabitants of the island suddenly fell upon them, killed the men and captured the women.[68][69][66]

Ponce arrived with his ships at the island of San Juan on July 15, 1515.[70] On this island they made incursions against the natives, causing the caciques Humacao and Daguao to rise up.[71]

At that time there existed on the island of San Juan the towns of San Germán (so named because it was the saint of Germaine of Foix, the second wife of Ferdinand the Catholic) and Caparra (also called Puerto Rico), where Ponce had a house.[72]

The members of Ponce's armada began to abandon it when they saw that the expeditions organized by others such as Bono de Quexo or Cansinos offered them greater economic advantages.[73]

Sancho Velázquez was in charge of distributing Indians to the Spaniards on the island of San Juan.[72] In 1516 Bartolomé de las Casas presented a Memorial de remedios para las Indias[74] in which it was said:

On the island of San Juan it is also necessary that the distribution that has been made be undone, because there are there some squanderers and destroyers of Indians without any conscience, nor virtue, nor fear of God[75]

In January 1516 Ferdinand the Catholic died and Ponce de León made a new voyage to Spain.[76] Ponce was in Seville between 1516[77] and 1517 settling the affairs of the previous armada with the Casa de Contratación.[78] While Ponce was in Spain, some Hieronymite friars, sent by Cardinal Cisneros, traveled to America so that justice would be done to the Indians,[79] passing first through the island of San Juan.[80]

On July 22, 1517, Ponce was given rights over the Indians whom Sancho Velázquez had taken from Florida, and he was confirmed in the grant and holdings on the island of San Juan. On this same date he got Cardinal Cisneros to inquire into what the voyage of Hernández de Córdoba, who had been sent by Sancho Velázquez to Bimini, consisted of.[81]

Ponce told Cisneros that Caparra was better for agriculture and livestock, although he acknowledged that the San Juan Islet was better for defense. The Hieronymite friars dealt with the matter and requested that bridges be built to connect the islet, which indicates that there were already people living on it.[82]

In July the Casa de Contratación de Indias gave Ponce permission to take nine marks of worked silver to America. The affairs of the previous armada were finally settled with the Casa de Contratación on November 27, 1517.[82]

At the beginning of 1518 he was once again on the island of San Juan, confirmed as Adelantado and Justicia Mayor in Florida and as Captain on the island of San Juan.[83]

He wanted to be paid back salaries for his offices, obtaining the support of the Hieronymites for this. He then went to see the Treasurer Andrés de Haro and the accountant Fernando de Mogollón, who recognized his rights.[84]

The residents wanted Caparra to be moved to the San Juan Islet. The Hieronymites supported the move, but respecting Ponce's building and estate. In June 1519 the licentiate Antonio de la Gama arrived as the new governor of the island of San Juan.[85]

On July 13, 1519, Carlos de Figueroa, Justicia Mayor of the island of Hispaniola, appeared before the Cabildo of the island of San Juan and asked its members to give their opinion on moving the town. All voted in favor of the move except Ponce de León.[85]

In 1519 Ponce's wife, Leonor, died, and at the beginning of 1520 Governor De la Gama married one of his daughters.[85]

In 1520 Diego Columbus won a lawsuit against the Crown in Spain and once again obtained jurisdiction over the New World. He took an interest in the island of San Juan and sent Lieutenant Governor Pedro Moreno to its cabildo. The members of the Cabildo refused to admit Moreno to their meetings. Diego Columbus appeared on the island on November 4, ordering the alcaldes and regidores (among them Juan Ponce de León) to receive Moreno. The Cabildo decided to refuse, although Ponce cast a separate vote with reservations.[85]

The move of the residents of Caparra to the San Juan Islet took place in 1521.[8]

His last voyage

In 1521 Hernán Cortés conquered Mexico, and Francisco de Garay received a royal decree authorizing him to settle the Province of Amichel, on the mainland.[86]

In this context, Ponce de León wanted to organize his own expedition. On the island of San Juan there were no means to organize it, and Ponce decided to do so from the island of Hispaniola. He went with Pedro de la Mata. He spent 6 000 gold pesos from his own fortune.[87]

Ponce de León notified Charles V, Cardinal Adrian of Utrecht and the secretary of the Council of the Indies Juan de Samano of his expedition. The first two letters are preserved in the General Archive of the Indies in Seville.[88]

Ponce himself reported that he would leave the island of San Juan around February 15, 1521. According to Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, Ponce took 200 men, 50 horses, as well as mares, calves, pigs, sheep and goats. The expedition also carried seeds, plows, carts and everything necessary for founding a settlement. According to Antonio de Herrera there were only two ships. Fernández de Oviedo indicates that clergymen also went on the expedition.[88]

The fleet reached the Florida peninsula around February 28. Ponce probably headed for the territory of the cacique Escampaba, with whom he had already dealt in a friendly manner. According to the description by the cosmographer Juan López de Velasco, this place was the bay of San Carlos (Mound Key). The Calusa Indians ended up attacking the Spaniards, and the latter organized a punitive incursion. Oviedo recounts that there was a battle in which a group of Spaniards and twice as many Indians died. In this skirmish Ponce was wounded by an arrow (according to Herrera in the thigh) and went to Havana, where he died after receiving the holy sacraments.[88][89][20]

Remains

Tomb of Ponce de León in the Cathedral of San Juan, Puerto Rico

In 1559 Juan Troche Ponce de León, grandson of Juan Ponce de León, moved the remains from Havana, Cuba, to the church of the Dominican convent of San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 1835 the Dominicans were expelled from the cloister and, later, the Jesuits gave the church the name of Church of San José.[90]

In 1863 the remains of Juan Ponce de León were exhumed and it was discovered that he had a wound in the femur, which could have been caused by an arrowhead.[88]

The remains were exhumed on June 18, 1907, from the Church of San José and were kept there, awaiting the construction of a mausoleum in the Cathedral of San Juan.[91] They were moved to the cathedral on August 12, 1908.[90]

The transfer of the remains to the cathedral's mausoleum, made by Miguel Blay, was sponsored by the Casino Español. The sculpture on the mausoleum depicts Hispania kissing the coffin.[90]

Treatment of the natives

According to Francisco Frías Valenzuela, Juan Ponce de León doubted the rationality of the natives (Indians), and held that they were not men but beasts and, therefore, incapable of receiving the faith and of governing themselves.[92]

When Ponce arrived on the island of San Juan he maintained peaceful relations with the cacique Agüeybana.[93]

On May 1, 1509, Ponce wrote to Ovando from the island of San Juan saying that the Indians were at peace and that no settlement would be founded since there were no means for it. For Manuel Ballesteros Gaibrois, with this Ponce was trying to prevent the Spaniards from plundering the natives for their sustenance.[94]

In the capitulations of 1509, Ponce speaks of using the Indians for farming and the mines.[95]

On July 25, 1511, Ponce was given instructions on the work of the Indians (one third having to work in the mines), on good conduct toward those Indians and on teaching them the Christian faith.[96]

In 1512 some ordinances for the treatment of the Indians were approved, known as the Laws of Burgos, expanded in 1513 with supplementary provisions. In September 1514 Ferdinand the Catholic wrote the following to the officials of the island of San Juan:[97]

As to what you say about the harm there has been on this island, and the ill treatment of the Indians, and that this has been the cause of their rising up, because there has been no one to take care of it, and that the declaration of the ordinances was proclaimed, see to it that they are kept, since you, together with the justice, are the executors to have them kept, for with this the present and the future will be remedied[98]

The Spanish authorities of the island of San Juan complied with the ordinances. On August 8, 1515, they wrote to the King asking him for clothing for the natives, and on October 6, 1515, they ordered the women of Mona Island to make hammocks so that the natives would not sleep on the ground.[99]

Ponce waged war on the Indians when they rose up, always using the word "pacification" in the documents.[100]

In Spain, Ponce met with the secretary of the Indies Lope de Conchillos and with King Ferdinand the Catholic, and told them that if the Indians were up in arms it was because they were not treated properly. For this reason, in addition to being appointed Captain of the armada against the Caribs, he was given the captaincy of the island of San Juan. The King entrusted Ponce with everything relating to war, to prevent others from making aggressive incursions without control.[101]

Ponce de León only enslaved Indians taken prisoner in what he considered a "just war".[102]

2011 – Celebration of the Fifth Centenary of the Governorship of Puerto Rico

Statue of Juan Ponce de León next to the Church of San José in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This statue was made in 1882 in New York using bronze obtained from English cannons captured after the English attack on San Juan in 1797.

In 2011 the Fifth Centenary of the Governorship of Puerto Rico was celebrated (Juan Ponce de León was the first governor) with various events in Spain as well as in Puerto Rico and the United States (in Washington, D.C.). In Spain, on January 21, 2011, various events were held in Santervás de Campos and at the University of Valladolid in the presence of Governor Luis Fortuño, Rector Marcos Sacristán and other authorities, as well as the historian István Szászdi, member of the Fifth Centenary Commission, and Professor Mercedes Gómez, Executive Director of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture.[103][104][105][106][107]

2013 – Celebration of the Fifth Centenary of the Discovery of La Florida

In the United States various events have taken place to honor Ponce de León's discovery of Florida. Among them was the traditional reenactment of the landing on the two beaches where Ponce is believed to have first arrived in what is today the United States. Some of these reenactments have had a direct descendant of the conquistador playing Ponce de León.[108][109] The Spanish Navy training ship Juan Sebastián Elcano docked off the coast of Miami at an event attended by the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, García Margallo, who, with the U.S. representation of the Florida Secretary of State, Kent Dentzer, made a floral offering at a monument to Ponce de León.[110] Tomás Regalado, Mayor of Miami, was also present at the commemorative events, both in Madrid and in Florida.[111] Five Spaniards took advantage of the presence of the ship Juan Sebastián Elcano to swear allegiance to the flag before the Minister of Foreign Affairs.[112]

  • The film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides refers to a map written by Ponce de León that contains the location of the mythical fountain of eternal youth.
  • In the video game Grand Theft Auto VI, the State of Leonida is a reference to Ponce de León.
  • In the song Invincible by the band Tool there is a mention of "chasing the ghost soul of Ponce de León".

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Lista completa de gobernadores de Puerto Rico con sus periodos
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 15.
  3. ↑ Webster's Biographical Dictionary, 1st edition, 1961, G & C. Merriam Co., p. 1200
  4. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 17.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, pp. 15–16.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Szászdi León-Borja 2011, p. 27.
  7. ↑ Szászdi León-Borja 2011, p. 16.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Burset Flores, L. R. (2022). "La villa de Caparra: aciertos y desaciertos de un asentamiento español en el Caribe en las primeras décadas del siglo XVI". Ciencia y Sociedad (in español). 47 (3): 45–67.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Szászdi León-Borja 2011, p. 15.
  10. ↑ Szászdi León-Borja 2011, p. 28.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 20.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Szászdi León-Borja 2011, p. 29.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Aurelio Tió (December 31, 1971). "Presentación ante el Club Cívico de Damas de San Juan, donde se expone la biografía de Leonor Ponce de León" (PDF) (in español).
  14. ↑ Szászdi León-Borja 2011, p. 32.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Szászdi León-Borja 2011, p. 30.
  16. ↑ "¿Pisó Cristóbal Colón tierra puertorriqueña?" (PDF). Boletín de la Academia Puertorriqueña de la Historia (in español). 1 (1): 23–28. November 19, 1968.
  17. ↑ Montserrat León Guerrero (2000). "El segundo viaje colombino" (PDF). Universidad Miguel de Cervantes (in español). Valladolid: 224.
  18. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 24.
  19. ↑ "Ruinas de Caparra" (in español). Municipio de Guaynabo. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Documental del Canal Bio True Story. "Juan Ponce de León. El Primer Conquistador".
  21. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, pp. 24–25.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 25.
  23. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, pp. 28–29.
  24. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 29.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Szászdi León-Borja 2011, pp. 30–31.
  26. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 34.
  27. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 35.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 36.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, pp. 39–40.
  30. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 41.
  31. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, pp. 41–42.
  32. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, pp. 42–44.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 45.
  34. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 47.
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 49.
  36. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, pp. 49–50.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 52.
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 53.
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 54.
  40. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 56.
  41. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 55.
  42. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 60.
  43. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 61.
  44. ↑ 44.00 44.01 44.02 44.03 44.04 44.05 44.06 44.07 44.08 44.09 44.10 44.11 44.12 44.13 44.14 44.15 44.16 Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, pp. 61–62.
  45. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 63.
  46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 46.2 46.3 Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 64.
  47. ↑ 47.00 47.01 47.02 47.03 47.04 47.05 47.06 47.07 47.08 47.09 Davis, T. Frederick (1935). "Ponce de Leon's First Voyage and Discovery of Florida" (PDF). Florida Historical Quarterly. 14 (1).
  48. ↑ "Descubrimiento de la Florida y el Yucatán" (PDF). Boletín de la Academia Puertorriqueña de la Historia (in español). II (8): 39. June 30, 1972.
  49. ↑ Trillo, Manuel (April 17, 2013). "El punto donde tuvo lugar el desembarco de Ponce de León en Florida, en disputa" (in español). ABC.
  50. ↑ Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, Gonzalo (1854). Historia General y Natural de las Indias, Islas y Tierra Firme del Mar Océano (in español). Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia.
  51. ↑ Stan Ulanski. La Corriente del Golfo. Turner ed., Madrid, 2012, p. 13
  52. ↑ Smith, Hale G. and Marc Gottlob. 1978. Spanish-Indian Relationships: Synoptic History and Archaeological Evidence, 1500-1763, in Milanich, Jerald and Proctor, Samuel. Tacachale: Essays on the Indians of Florida and Southeastern Georgia during the Historic Period. Gainesville, Florida: The University Presses of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-0535-3.
  53. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 70.
  54. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 65.
  55. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 58.
  56. ↑ El Día de la Pascua Florida, April 2, is a declared holiday in Florida
  57. ↑ The 2005 Florida Statutes - Chapter 683 - LEGAL HOLIDAYS; SPECIAL OBSERVANCES Archived (Date missing) at flsenate.gov (Error: unknown archive URL) — accessed December 27, 2005.
  58. ↑ Fundación Areces (October 10, 2012). ""Ponce de León, un enigma histórico" Entrevista al Catedrático Juan Gil" (in español). Archived from the original on July 25, 2013. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  59. ↑ Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda (1575). "Memoria de las cosas y costa y indios de la Florida, que ninguno de cuantos la han costeado, no lo han sabido declarar" (PDF) (in español).
  60. ↑ Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas (1601). "Historia General. Década Tercera. Libro I. Página 30" (in español).
  61. ↑ 61.0 61.1 Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, pp. 65–66.
  62. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 67.
  63. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, pp. 66–67.
  64. ↑ 64.0 64.1 64.2 64.3 64.4 64.5 Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 71.
  65. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 75.
  66. ↑ 66.0 66.1 Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, pp. 75–77.
  67. ↑ Luis Arranz Márquez. "Juan Ponce de León" (in español). Real Academia de la Historia. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  68. ↑ Decade III, book X of Pedro Mártir de Anglería. Mártir de Anglería, Pedro (1944). Décadas del nuevo mundo (in español). Joaquín Torres Asensio (trans.). Buenos Aires: Bajel. ISBN 978-84-9001-301-4. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help), p.293
  69. ↑ "La peligrosa isla de Guadalupe". Historia y Mapas (in español). September 6, 2017. Retrieved December 16, 2018.
  70. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 77.
  71. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 79.
  72. ↑ 72.0 72.1 Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 80.
  73. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 81.
  74. ↑ David T. Orique (2017). "Un muy breve relato de una vida muy larga. Bartolomé de Las Casas (1484-1566)". Itinerantes: Revista de Historia y Religión (in español) (7): 83–105. ISSN 2250-5377.
  75. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 89.
  76. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 85.
  77. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, pp. 88–89.
  78. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, pp. 91.
  79. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, pp. 88.
  80. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 90.
  81. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 92.
  82. ↑ 82.0 82.1 Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 93.
  83. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 95.
  84. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 96.
  85. ↑ 85.0 85.1 85.2 85.3 Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, pp. 96–100.
  86. ↑ Isabelo Macías Domínguez. "Francisco de Garay" (in español). Real Academia de la Historia. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
  87. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 100.
  88. ↑ 88.0 88.1 88.2 88.3 "Apéndice IV. Expedición para poblar la Florida en 1521. Su relación con viajes anteriores" (PDF). Boletín de la Academia Puertorriqueña de la Historia (in español). 2 (8). June 30, 1972.
  89. ↑ Web Marca España. "PONCE DE LEÓN, DESCUBRIDOR DE FLORIDA" (in español). Archived from the original on August 28, 2014. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
  90. ↑ 90.0 90.1 90.2 "Apéndice III. Los restos de Don Juan Ponce de León" (PDF). Boletín de la Academia Puertorriqueña de la Historia (in español). 2 (8). June 30, 1972.
  91. ↑ Gerardo Alberto Hernández-Aponte, La Iglesia Católica en Puerto Rico ante la invasión de Estados Unidos de América. Lucha, sobrevivencia y estabilización: (1898-1921). Second edition, San Juan, Puerto Rico: Academia Puertorriqueña de la Historia y Decanato de Estudios Graduados e Investigación (DEGI) de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras, 2013, pp.327, 329.
  92. ↑ Frias Valenzuela, Francisco (1982). "II". Manual de Historia de Chile (in español). Nascimiento. p. 34.
  93. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 159.
  94. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 129.
  95. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 130.
  96. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, pp. 130–131.
  97. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, pp. 125–126.
  98. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 126.
  99. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, pp. 131–132.
  100. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, pp. 132–133.
  101. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, pp. 136–138.
  102. ↑ Ballesteros Gaibrois 1987, p. 139.
  103. ↑ Santervás rinde homenaje a Ponce de León, El Norte de Castilla, 21/1/2011
  104. ↑ "Quinto Centenario de la Gobernación de Ponce de León" (in español). Archived from the original on February 13, 2015. Retrieved January 25, 2011.
  105. ↑ Nuevo Día, 22/1/2011
  106. ↑ "V Centenario de la 1.ª Gobernación de Puerto Rico, en Lunas de Ponce, Santervás" (in español). Archived from the original on May 24, 2014. Retrieved January 25, 2011.
  107. ↑ "La UVA se une a la conmemoración en Santervás y Valladolid del V Centenario de la Gobernación de Puerto Rico, RTVECYL, 21/1/2011" (in español). Archived from the original on February 13, 2015. Retrieved January 25, 2011.
  108. ↑ "Jimmy Ponce, descendiente de Ponce de León, recrea 500 años después el descubrimiento de Florida en la playa de Ponte Vedra" (in español). ABC. May 3, 2013. Archived from the original on December 16, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2013.
  109. ↑ Trillo, Manuel (May 3, 2013). "Florida grita "¡Viva España!"" (in español).
  110. ↑ EFE (May 1, 2013). "Margallo viaja a Miami para celebrar los 500 años del descubrimiento de Florida" (in español). El Mundo. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2013.
  111. ↑ Trillo, Manuel (May 3, 2013). "Juan Sebastián Elcano llega a Miami 500 años después del descubrimiento de la Florida" (in español). ABC.
  112. ↑ EFE (May 5, 2013). "Cinco españoles juran la bandera en Miami en presencia de García-Margallo" (in español). La Verdad. Archived from the original on June 16, 2016. Retrieved May 23, 2016.

Bibliography

  • Szászdi León-Borja, Istvan (2011). Juan Ponce de León y su época (in español). Diputación de Valladolid.
  • Ballesteros Gaibrois, Manuel (1987). Juan Ponce de León (in español). Historia 16. Quorum.
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