|
|
  |
|
|
Ponce de Leon By JustinI am Ponce de Leon and I am a Spanish explorer who had a noble family and was raised in the Royal Court. I was born in the 1460’s. My schooling and training were for being a soldier. I served in many military campaigns against the Moors. As a boy, I was a messenger in the Royal Court. When I grew up I was famous for discovering Florida. My first voyage was with Christopher Columbus. That was my first trip with him, but it was his second voyage to the New World. We went to Haiti and the Dominican Republic to conquer the land for Spain. With each voyage out to sea, my life was threatened. Sometimes there was little food or fresh water. Then I heard stories about the Fountain of Youth from the Native Americans. I sailed with five hundred men in search of the Fountain of Youth, even though I didn’t know exactly where it was. At first, I landed in Puerto Rico and discovered gold there. Then, I came across an island I named Florida. In Spain, it means Place of Flowers. After that, I became Governor of the Dominican Province of Huguey, which you may know as Puerto Rico. I married Leonore and had two daughters and a son. In 1521, the second time I went to Florida, unfriendly Native Americans spotted us and threw poison arrows at me. As the poison arrows wounded me, my men fought back and some carried me back to the ship and sailed us to Havana, Cuba. That’s were I died. On my gravestone it said, “Under Here Lies the Bones of a Lion.” |
|
47 Whiting Lane |
