Background
He was born probably in 1460 at San Servos in the province of Campos, Spain; as a lad, was page to Don Pedro Nuñez de Guzman; and as a youth, fought against the Moors of Granada.
He was born probably in 1460 at San Servos in the province of Campos, Spain; as a lad, was page to Don Pedro Nuñez de Guzman; and as a youth, fought against the Moors of Granada.
There is no information about his education.
He is thought to have shipped with Columbus in 1493 on his second voyage to Hispaniola, where in 1502-04 he served with great credit in the conquest of Higuey under Nicolas de Ovando, who appointed him governor of that province.
About the year 1508 an Indian of Boriquen (Puerto Rico), which as yet the Spaniards had not explored, crossing to Hispaniola in a canoe, brought Juan Ponce some grains and a nugget of gold, with the report that in San Juan de Puerto Rico the sands were full of gold. Ponce fitted out a caravel and, guided by the Indian, crossed to Puerto Rico, where he found gold in considerable quantities. He returned at once to Hispaniola and was empowered by Ovando to enlist soldiers for the subjugation of the former isle. The conquest was effected, and Ponce was appointed governor in 1509.
Meanwhile, however, from the fruit of the island in gold, lands, and slaves, Ponce had derived a fortune. His success in Puerto Rico caused him to listen eagerly to the tales told by Indians of the Lesser Antilles - Caribs accustomed to long voyages - of an island called Bimini, where there abounded all that man could desire, gold and delicious fruits, and a spring the waters of which had the power of making the aged young again. It became his ambition to find Bimini, and on February 23, 1512, he was commissioned by King Ferdinand of Spain to discover, possess, and colonize this wonderful island; and at the same time he was given the title of adelantado, or governor, for life.
On March 3, 1513, he set out with three vessels from Puerto Rico. He cast anchor at the island known today as Grand Turk, and from there sailed on to Guanahani, the San Salvador of Columbus. Continuing to Little Bahama Bank, he proceeded westward, and on April 2 struck the coast of Florida, in true latitude 27° 30', a little north of Rio de Canoas (Indian River Inlet) and about 175 miles south of the site of St. Augustine.
Turning southward on April 8, Juan Ponce on April 20 discovered some Indian huts on the shore, and cast anchor opposite them. The Indians signaled to the crew to land, and when they did so, tried to take possession of their boat and arms. A fight ensued, during which two Spaniards were wounded but the Indians suffered little. Hereabouts (Jupiter Inlet), Ponce took water and firewood and seized one Indian for a pilot, from whom he also expected to learn the language. Continuing southward along the Florida coast, he stopped at Lakeworth Inlet, and passed the bay at the modern Miami.
His course was next along the Florida Keys to Key West, thence to the Tortugas group, and thence northeast to some islands off the west Florida mainland between Cape Romano and Charlotte Harbor. From Cape Romano, on June 14 he began to retrace his route (by way of Cuba) to the vicinity of the modern Miami, whence he crossed the Bahama Channel, still in search of Bimini, supposed to lie somewhere in the western part of the Bahama Archipelago, the sole official object of his voyage.
His course took him to the island of Eleuthera northwestward of San Salvador. Here he detailed one of his smaller vessels under Juan Pérez de Ortubía, with Anton de Alaminos, who had been at one time with Columbus, as pilot, to continue the search for Bimini while he himself sailed homeward. Alaminos, working westward, found Habacon, the modern Andros Island, which from its water places and woodlands he identified with Bimini, but which disappointingly offered no fountain of youth. Having regained Puerto Rico, Juan Ponce found it necessary to pacify the island, a task which he valiantly undertook but accomplished only in part.
Thereupon he proceeded to Spain to make known to King Ferdinand conditions in the island and to relate his adventures. The King listened graciously and in September 1514 commissioned Ponce to settle "the isle of Bimini and the isle of Florida which he had discovered under the royal orders. " Before settling the new islands, however, he was to lead an expedition against the Caribs of the islands south of Boriquen (Puerto Rico). This expedition, in 1515, met with fierce resistance, and Ponce returned to Puerto Rico, where for five years he remained in a state of "growling repose. " Then on a day in 1521 he fitted out two ships with 200 men, fifty horses, and other domestic animals and farm implements, and sailed for Florida.
On the second expedition to Florida, Ponce made land on the west coast, probably in the neighborhood of Charlotte Harbor, or possibly of Tampa Bay. Whatever the point, he and his landing party were met by the Indians in fierce array. Ponce himself was smitten by an arrow in the body and so severely hurt that as soon as he had been carried aboard his flagship it set sail for Cuba. Here, within a few days, he died.
He had married in Hispaniola and was survived by a son and a daughter. The son was granted his father's title and rights in Florida but of his fate nothing further is known.
