Ponce de leon biography
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Ponce de leon biography
Early Life and Career
Born in 1460 into a noble family in León, Spain, Juan Ponce served as a page in the royal court of Aragon. He later became a soldier, fighting in the Spanish campaign against the Moors in Granada.
After that war ended, he may have gone along on the second voyage to the West Indies led by Christopher Columbus in 1493.
Did you know? Juan Ponce de León died in Cuba, but his remains were later transferred to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where they were put to rest in San Juan Cathedral.
Puerto Rico's third-largest city, Ponce, bears the explorer's name.
Nearly a decade later, he was serving as a captain in the force commanded by Nicolás de Ovando, Spain’s royal governor of the island of Hispaniola (present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
After Ponce de León suppressed a mutiny by Native Americans, Ovando rewarded him with the governorship of the eastern province of Hispaniola.
History Lists: Explorers Not Named Columbus