Juan Ponce de León's Appointment as Governor of Florida

Juan Ponce de León's Appointment as Governor of Florida

King Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452-1516) signed this document on September 27th, 1514 in Valladolid, which appointed Juan Ponce de León (1474-1521) as Adelantado de La Florida. It consists of eight pages and details the new governor’s rights and privileges in what was initially believed to be an island. The King also knighted Ponce de León and reaffirmed him as governor of Puerto Rico, where he alternated between fighting with the Native Americans and colonizing them by more peaceful means such as offering affable treatment to their chieftains.

Search for the Fountain of Youth

Ponce de León was appointed governor of a new, lush land that he had discovered and named “Florida”, where he hoped to find the mythical Fountain of Youth. Stories of this spring, which could restore the youth of anyone who bathed in or drank of its waters, were common not only in Western culture but were confirmed by the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, who claimed it was in a land called Bimini (not to be confused with the island in the modern Bahamas). The death of the King, Ponce de León’s staunch supporter, delayed the second expedition because the explorer had to stay in Spain to protect his newly won rights. Ponce de León finally returned to Florida in 1521 with 200 men including priests, farmers, and artisans to establish a colony, landing on the southwestern coast. However, they were attacked by the fierce Calusa, the indigenous people who dominated southern Florida, before the colony could be established and fortifications erected. Ponce de León was mortally wounded in the skirmish, possibly by a poison arrow, and the expedition withdrew to Havana, where he soon died of his wounds.