Why is ponce de leon important

While there, he found large deposits of gold. Soon after his discovery, he left the island. He returned in on orders from the king of Spain to explore and colonize the island. He renamed the island Puerto Rico. He was the island's governor for two years until the king replaced him with Columbus' son. He was in search of new lands and treasures. He had also heard of a mythical fountain of youth.

Indians spoke of a legendary, magical spring whose water was believed to make older people young again. Turn the pages of the past. The culture of North America changed forever in the year The exact landing spot where Ponce and his men came ashore remains unknown, but it was apparently somewhere between the Cape Canaveral area and the mouth of the St.

Johns River. Searching for this historic site, archeologists have conducted numerous "digs" at the Fountain of Youth, a National Archeological Park, where a Timucuan Indian village called Seloy was located and where the city of St. Augustine had its beginning.

Ponce de Leon was on a mission of exploration, not settlement, and his visit to northeast Florida was brief. Because he arrived during the Easter season, known as the Pascua Florida, Ponce named his new discovery La Florida — a name still used today. Besides naming the land and claiming it for Spain, Ponce de Leon made a discovery that was to lead to the creation of St. Sailing along the Florida coastline, Ponce de Leon realized that a strong current was carrying his ships rapidly northward.

This would aid in quickly returning Spanish ships home and was later called the Gulf Stream. Although Timucuans may not have had much contact with the Spanish after Ponce de Leon sailed away, Native Americans in other parts of Florida welcomed, battled with and fled from numerous Spanish expeditions. Ponce turned his attention to the west coast of Florida where he died from a poisoned arrow. Men like Tristan de Luna, Cabeza de Vaca, and Hernando de Soto followed Ponce de Leon to Florida and reluctantly concluded that major investment in this land was not worthwhile.

It was filled with dangerous animals like alligators and snakes, as well as insects. Heat, humidity, hurricanes and other storms were serious unavoidable problems. In addition, he was not the first European to explore the area. Spanish expeditions had raided the Bahamas on a regular basis for years prior, and there is evidence that some made it as far as the east coast of Florida.

A neighboring tribe of Caribs had burned the settlement to the ground and killed several Spaniards. His own house was destroyed and his family had narrowly escaped death. The Spanish crown also ordered him to organize a small army to subdue a native uprising on Puerto Rico that had continued in his absence.

He left Spain with a small fleet in May Historical accounts of his encounters with the Caribs on Puerto Rico are vague, but it seems there was a series of military engagements with no clear outcome. He stayed there for two years, until he finally received assurances that his financial empire was secure and returned to Puerto Rico.

Records are scarce, but some accounts describe a poorly organized trip. The expedition landed somewhere on the western side of the Florida peninsula, where it was soon attacked by Calusa warriors.

The expedition sailed back to Cuba, where he died in July He built a small financial empire that helped advance Spanish colonization in the Caribbean, and he might have gone even further had he been able to avoid political intrigue with the Columbus family. Many historical sources agree that he treated the native people under his control better than most conquistadors.